Radiocarbon Variability in the Western North Atlantic During the Last Deglaciation

• Main Authors: Laura F, Daniel S. Scheirer
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: North Atlantic; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.627.8094; http://courses.washington.edu/proxies/Robinson-NW_Atlantic_14C_Deglaciation-Sci05.pdf

We present a detailed history of glacial to Holocene radiocarbon in the deep western North Atlantic from deep-sea corals and paired benthic-planktonic foraminifera. The deglaciation is marked by switches between radiocarbon-enriched and-depleted waters, leading to large radiocarbon gradients in the water column. These changes played an important role in modulating atmo-spheric radiocarbon. The deep-ocean record supports the notion of a bipolar seesawwith increasedNorthern-source deep-water formation linked to Northern Hemisphere warming and the reverse. In contrast, the more frequent radiocarbon variations in the intermediate/deep ocean are associated with roughly synchronous changes at the poles. The last deglaciation was punctuated by nu-merous distinct millennial-scale climate events (1, 2), and understanding the mechanisms be-hind these changes is a major goal of pale-oceanography. The deep ocean stores and