Response of upper ocean structure to the initiation of the North Hemisphere glaciation in the South China Sea

• Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
• Main Authors: Huang, BQ, Cheng, XR, Jian, ZM, Wang, PX
• Other Authors: Huang, BQ (reprint author), Peking Univ, Coll Environm Sci, Dept Geog, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Coll Environm Sci, Dept Geog, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Tongji Univ, Lab Marine Geol, Shanghai 200092, Peoples R China.
• Format: Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: palaeogeography palaeoclimatology palaeoecology 2003
• Subjects: Northern Hemisphere glaciation; oxygen and carbon isotopes; planktonic foraminifera; South China Sea; upper water column structure; PLANKTONIC-FORAMINIFERA; SURFACE TEMPERATURES; PROGRESSIVE INTENSIFICATION; BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA; EQUATORIAL PACIFIC; WESTERN PACIFIC; PLIOCENE; HISTORY; PALEOCEANOGRAPHY; CIRCULATION; Pacific; Neogloboquadrina pachyderma; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/158646; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00458-9

Planktonic foraminifer as well as oxygen and carbon isotopic records from Ocean Drilling Project Core 1146, located at the northern continental slope of the South China Sea, were used to study the response of the upper water column structure to the formation and progressive intensification of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation during the Late Pliocene (3.2-2.0 Ma). Variations in the relative abundance of the Globigerinoides ruber, Globigerinoides sacculifer, Globorotalia menardii, and Globorotalia inflata groups, Globorotalia crassaformis and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma showed that sea surface temperatures gradually decreased, coinciding with heavier oxygen isotope values at 2.8, 2.72 2.6 2.5 2.16, and 2.08 Ma. After 2.7 Ma, the relative abundance of mixed-layer species decreased, while that of thermocline dwellers, dominated by high productivity species, increased. Deltadelta(13)C variations among G. sacculifer, Pulleniatina obliquiloculata and Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi suggest that the mixed-layer depth and vertical exchange was enhanced with the strenghtening of the East Asian winter monsoon, which in turn is associated with the progressive intensification of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Geography, Physical Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Paleontology SCI(E) 0 ARTICLE 3-4 305-318 196