Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition
The calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content of deep-sea sediments in the Pacific Ocean increases during glacials of the late Pleistocene in comparison to interglacials, whereas records of sedimentary CaCO3 in the Atlantic Ocean show an anticorrelated pattern across glacial-interglacial cycles. Here we sho...
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ftunivcardiff:oai:https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk:17929 2023-05-15T17:25:27+02:00 Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition Sexton, Philip F. Barker, Stephen 2012 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/17929/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 unknown Elsevier Sexton, Philip F. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A148223X.html and Barker, Stephen https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A015364W.html orcid:0000-0001-7870-6431 orcid:0000-0001-7870-6431 2012. Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 321-22 , pp. 81-94. 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 GC Oceanography QE Geology Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftunivcardiff https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 2022-10-20T22:36:24Z The calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content of deep-sea sediments in the Pacific Ocean increases during glacials of the late Pleistocene in comparison to interglacials, whereas records of sedimentary CaCO3 in the Atlantic Ocean show an anticorrelated pattern across glacial-interglacial cycles. Here we show that this anticorrelation in inter-ocean CaCO3 cycles arose comparatively recently, at ~ 1.10 million years ago (Ma), during the mid-Pleistocene transition. Before this time, we show that the CaCO3 content of Pacific and Atlantic Ocean sediments experienced in-phase cyclicity, both having ‘Atlantic-style’ phasing with respect to glacial–interglacial cycles. The onset of anticorrelated cyclicity at 1.10 Ma involved a twofold switch in the Pacific's CaCO3 cycles: glacial CaCO3 preservation became consistently better while interglacial preservation became consistently worse. We demonstrate that the cause of this glacial–interglacial ‘mirror imaging’ of Pacific CaCO3 dissolution cyclicity at 1.10 Ma was a switching over of the relative ventilation state of abyssal South Pacific waters between glacials and interglacials. Specifically, we suggest that a consistent strengthening of deep water ventilation within the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean during glacials drove glacial Pacific CaCO3 dissolution to diminish, while a contemporaneous weakening of very well-ventilated ‘upstream’ North Atlantic Deep Water during interglacials drove interglacial Pacific CaCO3 dissolution ‘downstream’ to intensify. We propose that the increased mean alkalinity of the global deep ocean (driven by the geographically and bathymetrically vast Pacific Ocean) during glacials after 1.10 Ma may explain part of the drawdown in glacial atmospheric CO2 levels hypothesised to have been linked to the increased severity of these late Pleistocene glacials. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Southern Ocean Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) Pacific Southern Ocean Earth and Planetary Science Letters 321-322 81 94 |
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Open Polar |
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Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcardiff |
language |
unknown |
topic |
GC Oceanography QE Geology |
spellingShingle |
GC Oceanography QE Geology Sexton, Philip F. Barker, Stephen Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition |
topic_facet |
GC Oceanography QE Geology |
description |
The calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content of deep-sea sediments in the Pacific Ocean increases during glacials of the late Pleistocene in comparison to interglacials, whereas records of sedimentary CaCO3 in the Atlantic Ocean show an anticorrelated pattern across glacial-interglacial cycles. Here we show that this anticorrelation in inter-ocean CaCO3 cycles arose comparatively recently, at ~ 1.10 million years ago (Ma), during the mid-Pleistocene transition. Before this time, we show that the CaCO3 content of Pacific and Atlantic Ocean sediments experienced in-phase cyclicity, both having ‘Atlantic-style’ phasing with respect to glacial–interglacial cycles. The onset of anticorrelated cyclicity at 1.10 Ma involved a twofold switch in the Pacific's CaCO3 cycles: glacial CaCO3 preservation became consistently better while interglacial preservation became consistently worse. We demonstrate that the cause of this glacial–interglacial ‘mirror imaging’ of Pacific CaCO3 dissolution cyclicity at 1.10 Ma was a switching over of the relative ventilation state of abyssal South Pacific waters between glacials and interglacials. Specifically, we suggest that a consistent strengthening of deep water ventilation within the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean during glacials drove glacial Pacific CaCO3 dissolution to diminish, while a contemporaneous weakening of very well-ventilated ‘upstream’ North Atlantic Deep Water during interglacials drove interglacial Pacific CaCO3 dissolution ‘downstream’ to intensify. We propose that the increased mean alkalinity of the global deep ocean (driven by the geographically and bathymetrically vast Pacific Ocean) during glacials after 1.10 Ma may explain part of the drawdown in glacial atmospheric CO2 levels hypothesised to have been linked to the increased severity of these late Pleistocene glacials. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sexton, Philip F. Barker, Stephen |
author_facet |
Sexton, Philip F. Barker, Stephen |
author_sort |
Sexton, Philip F. |
title |
Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition |
title_short |
Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition |
title_full |
Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition |
title_fullStr |
Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition |
title_full_unstemmed |
Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition |
title_sort |
onset of 'pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-pleistocene transition |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/17929/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 |
geographic |
Pacific Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Pacific Southern Ocean |
genre |
North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Sexton, Philip F. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A148223X.html and Barker, Stephen https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A015364W.html orcid:0000-0001-7870-6431 orcid:0000-0001-7870-6431 2012. Onset of 'Pacific-style' deep-sea sedimentary carbonate cycles at the mid-Pleistocene transition. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 321-22 , pp. 81-94. 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.12.043 |
container_title |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
container_volume |
321-322 |
container_start_page |
81 |
op_container_end_page |
94 |
_version_ |
1766116881473732608 |