Mid-depth South Atlantic Ocean circulation and chemical stratification during MIS-10 to 12: implications for atmospheric CO 2

A detailed record of benthic foraminifera carbon isotopes from the intermediate-depth South East Atlantic margin shows little glacial-interglacial variability between MIS-12 to MIS-10, suggesting that Northern Atlantic deepwaters consistently penetrated to at least 30° S. Millennial-scale increases...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate of the Past
Main Authors: Dickson, A. J., Leng, M. J., Maslin, M. A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oro.open.ac.uk/27671/
https://oro.open.ac.uk/27671/1/cp-4-333-2008.pdf
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-4-333-2008
Description
Summary:A detailed record of benthic foraminifera carbon isotopes from the intermediate-depth South East Atlantic margin shows little glacial-interglacial variability between MIS-12 to MIS-10, suggesting that Northern Atlantic deepwaters consistently penetrated to at least 30° S. Millennial-scale increases in either the mass or flux of northern-sourced deepwaters over the core site occurred alongside reductions in Lower North Atlantic Deep Water recorded in North Atlantic sediment cores and show that the lower and intermediate limb of the Atlantic deepwater convective cell oscillated in anti-phase during previous glacial periods. In addition, a 500 yr resolution record of the Cape Basin intermediate-deep δ 13 C gradient shows that a reduction in deep Southern Ocean ventilation at the end of MIS-11 was consistent with a modelled CO 2 drawdown of ~21–30 ppm. Further increases in the Southern Ocean chemical divide during the transition into MIS-10 were completed before minimum CO 2 levels were reached, suggesting that other mechanisms such as alkalinity changes were responsible for the remaining ~45 ppm drawdown.