Holocene dynamics of the southern westerly winds over the Indian Ocean inferred from a peat dust deposition record

• Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Main Authors: Li, Chuxian, Sonke, Jeroen, E., Le Roux, Gaël, van Der Putten, Nathalie, Piotrowska, Natalia, Jeandel, Catherine, Mattielli, Nadine, Benoit, Mathieu, Wiggs, Giles F.S., de Vleeschouwer, François
• Other Authors: Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (LEFE), Institut Ecologie et Environnement - CNRS Ecologie et Environnement (INEE-CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Toulouse (UT), Géochimie des Isotopes Stables (GIS), Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Skane University Hospital Lund, Silesian University of Technology, Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), School of Geography and the Environment Oxford (SoGE), University of Oxford, Unité de Recherche Argiles et Paléoclimats, Université de Liège
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: southern westerly winds; anthropogenic activities; Amsterdam Island; peat; dust sources; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; Indian; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02895456; https://hal.science/hal-02895456/document; https://hal.science/hal-02895456/file/JQSR_2019_258_revised_Li%20et%20al.%20for%20QSR_main_with%20no%20mark.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106169

International audience The southern westerly winds (SWW) play a major role in climate variability in Southern Hemisphere mid- and high-latitudes, regulating rainfall, ocean circulation, and the Southern Ocean carbon sink. Despite their importance, little is known about millennial scale changes in the SWW and how they have influenced the climate system in the past and interacted with the Earth’s surface elements, such as dust, nutrients and carbon. Here we present a dust record from a 6.6 kyr old peat core in Amsterdam Island (AMS) situated at the northern edge of the SWW (37°S) in the Southern Indian Ocean. Mineral dust flux was used to track atmospheric dust production, long-distance transport and subsequent deposition. Dust provenance was determined from rare earth element (REE) and Nd isotopic signatures (εNd) in the peat core, compared with a reference dataset of Southern Hemisphere dust sources. Using a multi-proxy mixing model, the εNd and REE ratios show a relatively uniform mixture of ca. 40% local, 15% Southern African and 45% Southern South American dust sources since 6.6 cal kyr BP. However, from 1910 AD onwards, there is a doubling in the contribution from Southern Africa (32%). Two mineral dust flux minima occur at 6.2–4.9 cal kyr BP and 3.9–2.7 cal kyr BP, interpreted as periods with equatorward-shifted and/or strengthened SWW at the northern edge of the wind belt. Conversely, periods of higher dust flux at 6.6–6.2 cal kyr BP, 4.9–3.9 cal kyr BP, and 1.4 cal kyr BP onwards are interpreted as poleward-shifted and/or weakened SWW. These interpretations are based on the findings that higher (lower) wind speeds lead to enhanced (less) removal of distal dust on the way to AMS, by wet deposition and turbulence. Published Holocene SWW records at the northern edge of the wind belt (33–41°S) covering South-America, Southern-Africa and Australia, show much variability over the last 6.6 kyr. We suggest this reflects complex regional climate variability in the different SH longitudinal sectors, indicating ...