Seasonal and subseasonal climate changes recorded in laminated diatom ooze

• Main Authors: East Antarctica, V. Mas
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Key words; Adélie Land; Holocene; laminated sediments; diatom ooze; seasonality; sea ice; East Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.582.7480; http://www.epoc.u-bordeaux.fr/indiv/Zaragosi/Denis_et_al_2006.pdf

content measured on two 30 cm long sequences of thin sections. The two sequences originate from two different climate regimes, the colder Neoglacial and the warmer Hypsithermal. Proxies were measured at microscale resolution on 25 laminations for the Neoglacial and 14 laminations for the Hypsithermal. The two sequences reveal alternating light-green and dark-green laminae. Light laminae result from low terrigenous input and high sea-ice edge diatom fluxes and are interpreted to represent the spring season.Dark laminae result from high terrigenous input mixed with a diversified open ocean diatom flora and are interpreted to represent the summerautumn season. The two sequences therefore resolve annual couplets composed of one light plus one dark lamina. Variations in the relative thickness of laminations and annual couplets, associated with diatom assemblage changes, are observed in each sequence and between the two sequences giving information on interannual to millennial changes in environmental conditions.