Concentrations of Ti, Fe, and Al and radiogenic isotope data for sediments of ODP Leg 177

Identifying terrigenous sources in deep-sea sediments may reveal temporal trends in paleocirculation and the relative role of eolian, upwelled, and hemipelagic Fe sources to surface waters. Bulk elemental and isotopic geochemistry of deep-sea sediments recovered during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 177 in the southeastern Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean reveal several important aspects of paleocirculation and terrigenous provenance. The sites studied span 43°-53°S and represent different oceanographic settings relative to regional hydrography and sediment type. Bulk sediment geochemistry indicates that terrigenous provenance varied over the past 600 k.y. Site 1089, the northernmost site, exhibits clear glacial-interglacial variability in provenance, while provenance appears to vary regardless of climate state at the more southerly sites (Site 1093 and 1094). Nd and Sr isotopes and Sm/Nd ratios of the terrigenous fraction indicate that study sites have geochemically distinguishable provenance. Nd and Sr isotopes further suggest that Sites 1089 and 1094 both contain detrital components that originated in South America over the past 30 k.y.; however, Site 1089 is also influenced by southern African sources and the strength of the Agulhas Current. The e-Nd data support a more hemipelagic source for the terrigenous material rather than an eolian source based on comparisons with Antarctic ice core data and known sea-ice extent.

Composite stratigraphy of ODP Site 177-1094 and sediment core TTN057-13-PC4 (Table 1)

Visual counts of ice-rafted debris (IRD), foraminifera, and radiolaria were made for ~1500 samples in Site 1094 spanning the last four climatic cycles (marine isotope stages 1-11). Most, but not all, of the IRD variability is captured by whole-core physical properties including magnetic susceptibility and Q-ray attenuation bulk density. Glacial periods are marked by high IRD abundance and millennial-scale variability, which may reflect instability of ice shelves in the Weddell Sea region. Each interglacial period exhibits low IRD and high foraminiferal abundance during the early part of the interglacial, indicating relatively warm sea-surface temperatures and reduced influence of sea ice. IRD increases and foraminiferal abundances decrease during the latter part of each interglacial, indicating a return to more glacial-like conditions. Glacial terminations I and V are each characterized by a step-wise reduction in ice-rafting punctuated by a brief pulse in IRD delivery and reversal in delta18O. The coarse fraction of the sediment is dominated by ash and radiolaria, and the relative abundance of these components is remarkably similar to the concentration of Na+ in Vostok. Each of these variables is believed to be controlled mainly by sea-ice cover, thereby providing a means for sediment-ice core correlation.

Geochemistry of Eocene/Oligocene sediments of ODP Site 177-1090

The Agulhas Ridge, off the tip of Africa between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, is ideally located to capture the evolution of Paleogene-early Neogene circulation patterns associated with global cooling. Multiproxy records of productivity (biogenic barium (Baex), opal, CaCO3 mass accumulation rates (MARs)), nutrient and organic carbon burial (reactive phosphorus (Pr) MARs), and redox state of deep waters (U enrichment) from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1090 reflect hydrographic shifts in this region between the middle Eocene and early Oligocene (~9-33 Ma). Several peaks in increased export productivity and burial of organic matter occurred within the late Eocene (~36.5, ~34, and ~33.7 Ma), which along with surface hydrologic conditions favoring opaline organisms over calcareous organisms could have aided in the draw down of pCO2 to a threshold level that facilitated large ice sheet development on Antarctica in the earliest Oligocene. Our multiproxy approach illustrates the importance of vertical as well as spatial hydrographic reorganization in amplifying or driving climatic cooling of the middle Eocene to early Oligocene by facilitating increases in the relative or absolute burial of organic carbon.

Silicon isotope ratios of ODP Site 177-1089 and sediment core E33-22

Reconstruction of nutrient concentrations in the deep Southern Ocean has produced conflicting results. The cadmium/calcium (Cd/Ca) data set suggests little change in nutrient concentrations during the last glacial period, whereas the carbon isotope data set suggests that nutrient concentrations were higher. We determined the silicon isotope composition of sponge spicules from the Atlantic and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean and found higher silicic acid concentrations in the Pacific sector during the last glacial period. We propose that this increase results from changes in the stoichiometric uptake of silicic acid relative to nitrate and phosphate by diatoms, thus facilitating a redistribution of nutrients across the Pacific and Southern Oceans. Our results are consistent with the global Cd/Ca data set and support the silicic acid leakage hypothesis.

Sea surface temperature estimates and alkenone C37:4 abundances in ODP Site 145-882 and 177-1090

The cold upwelling 'tongue' of the eastern equatorial Pacific is a central energetic feature of the ocean, dominating both the mean state and temporal variability of climate in the tropics and beyond. Recent evidence for the development of the modern cold tongue during the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition has been explained as the result of extratropical cooling that drove a shoaling of the thermocline. We have found that the sub-Antarctic and sub-Arctic regions underwent substantial cooling nearly synchronous to the cold tongue development, thereby providing support for this hypothesis. In addition, we show that sub-Antarctic climate changed in its response to Earth's orbital variations, from a subtropical to a subpolar pattern, as expected if cooling shrank the warm-water sphere of the ocean and thus contracted the subtropical gyres.

Age model and stable isotopes of sediment core RC17-177

A careful comparison is made between the most detailed records of sea level over the last glacial cycle, and two high-quality oxygen isotope records. One is a high-resolution benthonic record that contains superb detail but proves to record temperature change as well as ice volume; the other is a planktonic record from the west equatorial Pacific where the temperature effect may be minimal but where high resolution is not available. A combined record is generated which may be a better approximation to ice volume than was previously available. This approach cannot yet be applied to the whole Pleistocene. However, comparison of glacial extremes suggests that glacial extremes of stages 12 and 16 significantly exceeded the last glacial maximum as regards ice volume and hence as regards sea level lowering. Interglacial stages 7, 13, 15, 17 and 19 did not attain Holocene oxygen isotope values; possibly the sea did not reach its present level. It is unlikely that sea level was glacio-eustatically higher than present by more than a few metres during any interglacial of the past 2.5 million years.

(Table T1) Geochemical composition of ODP Site 177-1089 sediments

A primary objective of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 177 was to document changes in circulation and biogeochemical cycling on glacial/interglacial time scales across a wide latitudinal range of the south Atlantic Ocean. One of the more northerly sites drilled, Site 1089 (41°S, 10°E), is located within the present-day Subantarctic Zone, south of the Subtropical Front. The drilling site itself is located in the southern Cape Basin at a water depth of 4620 m. Pleistocene sediments at this site are dominated by interbedded carbonate and opal oozes. Initial shipboard stratigraphy identified the opal-rich sediments as deposited during glacial intervals and the carbonate-rich sediments as deposited during interglacial intervals (Gersonde, Hodell, Blum, et al., 1999, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.ir.177.1999). Postcruise isotopic stratigraphy, however, verified that this site displayed a Pacific Pleistocene sedimentation pattern with glacial intervals marked by high carbonate content (Hodell and Charles, 1999). To assess changes in biological productivity and terrigenous inputs at this site, a number of geochemical indicators were determined. Phosphorus concentrations and P/metal ratios were determined to assess changes in export production on glacial/interglacial time scales. Metal concentrations, along with elemental ratios, were used to assess terrigenous inputs. Sediment geochemistry allows us to identify changes in the lithologic component using elemental data based on Fe, Al, and Ti concentrations. Records of concentrations and ratios of biologically related elements identify changes in export production. The P and metal results are important to assess the glacial/interglacial changes in P burial and the relationships between a major nutrient such as P with metals (and possibly trace nutrients) like Fe.