Age determination and stable isotope record of ODP Hole 162-980B

• Main Authors: Oppo, Delia W, McManus, Jerry F, Cullen, James L
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2003
• Subjects: 162-980B; DRILL; Drilling/drill rig; Joides Resolution; Leg162; North Atlantic Ocean; Ocean Drilling Program; ODP; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.816313; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816313

The conversion of surface water to deep water in the North Atlantic results in the release of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere, which may have amplified millennial-scale climate variability during glacial times (Broecker et al., 1990, doi:10.1029/PA005i004p00469) and could even have contributed to the past 11,700 years of relatively mild climate (known as the Holocene epoch) (Bond et al., 2001, doi:10.1126/science.1065680; Alley et al., 1997, doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0483:HCIAPW>2.3.CO;2; Keigwin and Boyle, 2000, doi:10.1073/pnas.97.4.1343). Here we investigate changes in the carbon-isotope composition of benthic foraminifera throughout the Holocene and find that deep-water production varied on a centennial-millennial timescale. These variations may be linked to surface and atmospheric events that hint at a contribution to climate change over this period.