Foraminiferal responses to major Pleistocene paleoceanographic changes in the southern South China Sea

• Published in: Paleoceanography
• Main Authors: Jian, Zhimin, Wang, Pinxian, Chen, Min-Pen, Li, Baohua, Zhao, Quanhong, Bühring, Christian, Laj, Carlo, Lin, Hui-Ling, Pflaumann, Uwe, Bian, Yunhua, Wang, Rujian, Cheng, Xinrong
• Other Authors: Tongji University, Institute of Oceanography Taipei, National Taiwan University Taiwan (NTU), Institut für Geowissenschaften Kiel, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU), Climat et Magnétisme (CLIMAG), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), National Sun Yat-Sen University (NSYSU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2000
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03118508; https://hal.science/hal-03118508/document; https://hal.science/hal-03118508/file/1999PA000431.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/1999PA000431

International audience A detailed age model for core 17957‐2 of the southern South China Sea was developed based on δ18O, coarse fraction, magnetostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy for the last 1500 kyr. The δ18O record has clear ∼100‐kyr cycles after the Mid‐Pleistocene Revolution (MPR) at the entrance of marine isotopic stage (MIS) 22. Planktonic foraminifera responded to the MPR immediately, showing the increased sea surface temperature (SST) and dissolution after the MPR. Benthic foraminifera did not respond to it until the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary. Since the MPR, the depth of thermocline gradually became shallower until MISs 6–5. This major change within MISs 6–5 was also reflected in the decreased SSTs and increased productivity and Deep Water Mass. Thus two major Pleistocene paleoceanographic changes were found: One was around the MPR; the other occurred within MISs 6–5, which speculatively might be ascribed to the reorganization of surface and deep circulation, possibly induced by tectonic forces.