Sea-surface temperature reconstruction and calibration-function of sediment cores from the Southern Ocean

We provide a new multivariate calibration-function based on South Atlantic modern assemblages of planktonic foraminifera and atlas water column parameters from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the Subtropical Gyre and tropical warm waters (i.e., 60°S to 0°S). Therefore, we used a dataset with the abundance pattern of 35 taxonomic groups of planktonic foraminifera in 141 surface sediment samples. Five factors were taken into consideration for the analysis, which account for 93% of the total variance of the original data representing the regional main oceanographic fronts. The new calibration-function F141-35-5 enables the reconstruction of Late Quaternary summer and winter sea-surface temperatures with a statistical error of ~0.5°C. Our function was verified by its application to a sediment core extracted from the western South Atlantic. The downcore reconstruction shows negative anomalies in sea-surface temperatures during the early-mid Holocene and temperatures within the range of modern values during the late Holocene. This pattern is consistent with available reconstructions.

Geochemistry of sediment samples from ODP Leg 135 holes

The results of inductively coupled argon plasma (ICAP) chemical analyses carried out on some 300 core samples from Ocean Drilling Program Sites 834, 835, 838, and 839 are presented. These sites were drilled during Leg 135 in the Lau Basin. The data are compared with total gamma (SGR) wireline logs at Sites 834 and 835. Pliocene (Piacenzian) nannofossil Zone CN12, which has been identified at Sites 834 and 835, is examined in detail using spectral analyses on core and wireline logs. The potassium and calcium concentrations from the core material were used to calculate an objective depth-to-geological time stretching function, which improved the stratigraphic correlation between sites. The integrated use of chemical analyses, wireline-log data and paleomagnetic results improved confidence in the correlations obtained. Although no significant sedimentation periodicities were obtained from the two sites, a common concentration of energy between 30 and 60 k.y. was recorded.

Miocene to Pliocene planktonic foraminifers in ODP Hole 134-832B

One hundred and sixty core samples were analyzed from Hole 832B to evaluate planktonic foraminiferal datum levels, and to zone and correlate the borehole succession. A total of 32 biostratigraphic events were recognized in the interval from Core 134-832B-59R through 134-832B-73R (702.49 through 846.4 meters below seafloor [mbsf]). These include 17 first appearance datum levels (FAD), 10 last appearance datum levels (LAD), and 5 coiling-change events in trochospiral species. The studied succession has been subdivided into nine planktonic foraminiferal zones (viz. downsequence N.22, N.21, N.20, N.19, N.18, N.17B, N.17A-N.16, N.15, N.8). The zonal index species occur in the expected stratigraphic order for zonal correlation, but some of the zonal boundaries may be diachronous compared to other localities in the western Pacific region. The FAD of Globorotalia (Truncorotalia) truncatulinoides (d' Orbigny) at 714.10 mbsf defines the boundary between the Zone N.22 and N.21; the boundary between Zones N.21 and N.20 at 741.73 mbsf is marked by the FAD of Globorotalia (Truncorotalia) tosaensis Takayanagi and Saito. The lower boundary of Zone N.20 is placed at 747.65 mbsf, based on the FAD of Globorotalia (Truncorotalia) crassaformis s.s. (Galloway and Wissler); the FAD of Sphaeroidinella dehiscens (Parker and Jones) at 756.61 mbsf defines the boundary between Zones N.18 and N.19. The FAD of Globorotalia (Globorotalia) tumida tumida (Brady) at 811.15 mbsf marks the boundary between Zones N.18 and N.17B. The boundary between Zones N.17B and N.17Ais placed at 843.52 mbsf, based on the FAD of Pulleniatina primalis Banner and Blow. A change in depositional conditions occurs at 846.4 mbsf just below the Zone N.17B lower boundary and is marked by the first appearance of abundant planktonic foraminifers in the region. The interval between 849.13 and 856.1 mbsf is placed in undifferentiated Zones N.17A and N.16, based on the rare occurrence of Neogloboquadrina acostaensis (Blow). The sparsely fossiliferous volcanic sandstone unit between 934.19 and 955.67 mbsf is positioned within Zone N.15 based on the presence of Globigerina (Zeaglobigerina) nepenthes Todd and Globigerinoides (Zeaglobigerina) druryi Arkers, and absence of N. acostaensis and Globorotalia (Jenkinsella) siakensis LeRoy. An unconformity between 955.67 and 971.80 mbsf may explain the absence of Zones N.14 through N.9. Basal Zone N.8 is recognized at 971.80 to 1008.60 mbsf by the presence of Globigerinoides sicanus De Stefani and the absence of Praeorbulina and Orbulina spp. The age of the succession between 702.49 and 1008.6 mbsf extends from the latest Pliocene or earliest Pleistocene (Zone N.22) to the earliest middle Miocene (Zone N.8). Among the datum levels evaluated here, the following events are considered to be the most reliable for time correlation in the studied region: the FADs of G. (T.) truncatulinoides, G. (T.) tosaensis, G. (T.) crassaformis, S. dehiscens, G. conglobatus (Brady), G. (G.) tumida tumida, and P. primalis; and the LADs of Globorotalia (Menardella) multicamerata Cushman and Jarvis, and Dentoglobigerina altispira altispira (Cushman and Jarvis). Application of a chronometric scale to part of the succession, suggests that the interval of calcareous sediment between 702.49 and 846.4 mbsf accumulated at about 30 m/m.y.

(Table 2) Oxygen and carbon isotope composition of planktonic foraminiferal species from DSDP Holes 93-603B and 93-604, and one benthic species from Hole 93-604

Holes 603C and 604 of DSDP Leg 93 were drilled on the western Atlantic continental rise at water depths of 4633 m and 2364 m, respectively. In Hole 603C, a nearly continuous, undisturbed, and complete section of Pliocene and lower Pleistocene sediments was recovered by hydraulic piston coring; in Hole 604, a section of uppermost Miocene to Pleistocene sediments was incompletely recovered by rotary coring. In order to reconstruct the Pliocene and Pleistocene history of isotopic variations, 139 oxygen and carbon isotope values were determined for planktonic and monospecific benthic foraminifer samples from these holes. Large parts of the Pleistocene history could not, however, be documented because sample intervals were large and sediments at Site 604 were redeposited. Time correlation is based on magnetostratigraphic (Hole 603C) and micropaleontologic (Hole 603C, Site 604) interpretation. Stable isotope analyses were carried out on the planktonic foraminiferal species Globigerinoides ruber, G. obliquus, and Globorotalia inflata from Hole 603C (48 analyses) and from Site 604 (48 analyses); at Site 604, the benthic foraminifer Uvigerina peregrina (43 analyses) was also studied through the section. Age calibration for Hole 603C is based on the magnetostratigraphy of Canninga et al. (1987; doi:10.2973/dsdp.proc.93.130.1987), which uses the time scale of Lowrie and Alvarez (1981).

Dissolved organic carbon measured on water bottle samples at time series station DYFAMED

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) distribution and dynamics are investigated at the DYFAMED site (central Ligurian Sea, NW Mediterranean) in relation to hydrological and biological contexts, using a 4-year time-series dataset (1991-1994). The DYFAMED site is regarded as a one-dimensional station where simple hydrological mechanisms prevail and where the ecosystem is quite well understood. An average vertical profile of DOC concentration ([DOC]) indicates that maximal concentrations and variability are concentrated in the surface layers. For depths >800 m, the annual variations are on average similar to the analytical standard deviation (~2 µM). The "composite" [DOC] distribution (average distribution over a typical year, integrating about 40 monthly profiles) for surface waters (0-200 m) is closely related to hydrological and phytoplanktonic forcings. It exhibits summer DOC accumulation in surface waters, due to spring-summer stratification and successive phytoplanktonic events such as spring and summer blooms, and winter DOC removal to deeper waters, due to intense vertical mixing. The analysis of vertical [DOC] gradient at 100-m depth as a function of the integrated DOC content in the 0-100-m layer makes it possible to objectively distinguish three specific periods: the winter vertical mixing period, the period of stratification and spring phytoplankton bloom, and the period of stratification re-inforcement and summer-fall phytoplankton bloom. We recalculate the vertical DOC fluxes to deep waters using a larger original dataset, after the first direct calculation (Deep-Sea Res. 40 (10) (1993) 1963, 1972) that was reproduced for other oceanic areas. The seasonal variations of the "composite" [DOC] distribution in surface waters are significantly correlated to the apparent oxygen utilization distribution, but the biogeochemical significance of such a correlation is still under examination. The global significance of our local findings is presented and the role of the oceanic DOC in the global carbon cycle is emphasized, especially with respect to several current issues, such as the oceanic "missing sink" and the equivalence between new production and exported production.

Age models and summer sea surface temperature and winter sea ice concentration for the EPILOG-LGM time slice in the Pacific Southern Ocean

Sea surface temperatures and sea-ice extent are the most critical variables to evaluate the Southern Ocean paleoceanographic evolution in relation to the development of the global carbon cycle, atmospheric CO2 variability and ocean-atmosphere circulation. In contrast to the Atlantic and the Indian sectors, the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean has been insufficiently investigated so far. To cover this gap of information we present diatom-based estimates of summer sea surface temperature (SSST) and winter sea-ice concentration (WSI) from 17 sites in the polar South Pacific to study the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) at the EPILOG time slice (19,000-23,000 cal. years BP). Applied statistical methods are the Imbrie and Kipp Method (IKM) and the Modern Analog Technique (MAT) to estimate temperature and sea-ice concentration, respectively. Our data display a distinct LGM east-west differentiation in SSST and WSI with steeper latitudinal temperature gradients and a winter sea-ice edge located consistently north of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge in the Ross sea sector. In the eastern sector of our study area, which is governed by the Amundsen Abyssal Plain, the estimates yield weaker latitudinal SSST gradients together with a variable extended winter sea-ice field. In this sector, sea-ice extent may have reached sporadically the area of the present Subantarctic Front at its maximum LGM expansion. This pattern points to topographic forcing as major controller of the frontal system location and sea-ice extent in the western Pacific sector whereas atmospheric conditions like the Southern Annular Mode and the ENSO affected the oceanographic conditions in the eastern Pacific sector. Although it is difficult to depict the location and the physical nature of frontal systems separating the glacial Southern Ocean water masses into different zones, we found a distinct temperature gradient in latitudes straddled by the modern Southern Subtropical Front. Considering that the glacial temperatures north of this zone are similar to the modern, we suggest that this represents the Glacial Southern Subtropical Front (GSSTF), which delimits the zone of strongest glacial SSST cooling (>4K) to its North. The southern boundary of the zone of maximum cooling is close to the glacial 4°C isotherm. This isotherm, which is in the range of SSST at the modern Antarctic Polar Front (APF), represents a circum-Antarctic feature and marks the northern edge of the glacial Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). We also assume that a glacial front was established at the northern average winter sea ice edge, comparable with the modern Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (SACCF). During the glacial, this front would be located in the area of the modern APF. The northward deflection of colder than modern surface waters along the South American continent leads to a significant cooling of the glacial Humboldt Current surface waters (4-8K), which affects the temperature regimes as far north as into tropical latitudes. The glacial reduction of ACC temperatures may also result in the significant cooling in the Atlantic and Indian Southern Ocean, thus may enhance thermal differentiation of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic continental cooling. Comparison with temperature and sea ice simulations for the last glacial based on numerical simulations show that the majority of modern models overestimate summer and winter sea ice cover and that there exists few models that reproduce our temperature data rather well.