A High-Resolution Sea-Surface Temperature Record from the Tropical South China Sea (16,500–3000 yr B.P.)

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Steinke, Stephan, Kienast, Markus, Pflaumann, Uwe, Weinelt, Mara, Stattegger, Karl
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2001
• Subjects: Greenland; Greenland Ice Sheet Project; ice core; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.2001.2235; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922355?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922355?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400028490

Abstract The timing and magnitude of sea-surface temperature (SST) changes in the tropical southern South China Sea (SCS) during the last 16,500 years have been reconstructed on a high-resolution, 14 C-dated sediment core using three different foraminiferal transfer functions (SIMMAX28, RAM, FP-12E) and geochemical (U k′ 37 ) SST estimates. In agreement with CLIMAP reconstructions, both the FP-12E and the U k′ 37 SST estimates show an average late glacial–interglacial SST difference of 2.0°C, whereas the RAM and SIMMAX28 foraminiferal transfer functions show only a minor (0.6°C) or no consistent late glacial–interglacial SST change, respectively. Both the U k′ 37 and the FP-12E SST estimates, as well as the planktonic foraminiferal δ 18 O values, indicate an abrupt warming (ca. 1°C in <200 yr) at the end of the last glaciation, synchronous (within dating uncertainties) with the Bølling transition as recorded in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core, whereas the RAM-derived deglacial SST increase appears to lag during this event by ca. 500 yr. The similarity in abruptness and timing of the warming associated with the Bølling transition in Greenland and the southern SCS suggest a true synchrony of the Northern Hemisphere warming at the end of the last glaciation. In contrast to the foraminiferal transfer function estimates that do not indicate any consistent cooling associated with the Younger Dryas (YD) climate event in the tropical SCS, the U k′ 37 SST estimates show a cooling of ca. 0.2–0.6°C compared to the Bølling–Allerød period. These U k′ 37 SST estimates from the southern SCS argue in favor of a Northern Hemisphere-wide, synchronous cooling during the YD period.