Organic carbon concentrations and Cd/Ca ratios of sediment core RC13-229, supplement to: Oppo, Delia W; Rosenthal, Yair (1994): Cd/Ca changes in a deep Cape Basin core over the past 730,000 years: Response of circumpolar deepwater variability to northern hemisphere ice sheet melting? Paleoceanography, 9(5), 661-676

• Main Authors: Oppo, Delia W, Rosenthal, Yair
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 1994
• Subjects: Piston corer; RC13; Robert Conrad; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University LDEO; Pacific; Rosenthal; Ice Sheet; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.729789; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.729789

A comparison of cadmium/calcium (Cd/Ca) records of benthic foraminifera from a deep Cape Basin and a deep eastern equatorial Pacific core suggests that over the past 400,000 years, the nutrient concentration of Circumpolar Deep Water (CPDW) has always been lower than that of the deep Pacific. The data further suggest that at the 100,000- and 23,000-year orbital periods, the contribution of North Atlantic Deep Water to CPDW is at a maximum during periods of ice growth and at a minimum during periods of ice decay. These results are not in agreement with results based on carbon isotope records of benthic foraminifera, which suggest intervals of CPDW nutrient enrichment relative to the deep Pacific and an approximately in-phase relationship between CPDW nutrient concentration and ice volume. Resolution of the apparent conflict between delta13C and Cd/Ca data may provide important constraints on past deep-ocean circulation and nutrient variability.