The long-term stability of the deep ocean carbon storage feedback mechanisms across the Plio- and Pleistocene ...

• Main Authors: Naafs, David, Pancost, Rich, Blewett, Jerome, Lauretano, Vittoria, Hefter, Jens, Pounton, Simon, Stein, Ruediger, Haug, Gerald
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2023
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000644040; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/644040

Storing carbon in the deep ocean is a key-feedback mechanism that allows astronomical forcing to drive the late Pleistocene glacial/interglacial variations. As carbon storage is intrinsically linked to oxygenation, proxies for sediment oxygenation have been used to quantify changes in carbon storage during the late Pleistocene. However, evidence for astronomically-paced changes in carbon storage beyond the late Pleistocene is limited, hindering our understanding of the stability of this feedback mechanisms. Here we used molecular fossils (biomarkers) in marine sediment cores that span the last ~3.5 million years to assess the long-term impact of astronomical forcing on deep ocean oxygenation, and hence carbon storage, and explore the stability of this deep ocean feedback mechanism. Using high-resolution records from three independent cores from the North Atlantic, we find that the concentration of biomarkers from anaerobic bacteria is eccentricity paced during the middle and late Pleistocene with high ... : EGUsphere ...