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The presence of a low-to mid-latitude interhemispheric hydrologic seesaw is apparent over orbital and glacial-interglacial timescales, but its existence over the most recent past remains unclear. Here we investigate, based on climate proxy reconstructions from both hemispheres, the inter-hemispherical phasing of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the low-to mid-latitude teleconnections in the Northern Hemisphere over the past 2000 years. A clear feature is a persistent southward shift of the ITCZ during the Little Ice Age until the beginning of the 19th Century. Strong covariation between our new composite ITCZ-stack and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) records reveals a tight coupling between these two synoptic weather and climate phenomena over decadal-to-centennial timescales. This relationship becomes most apparent when comparing two precisely dated, high-resolution paleorainfall records from Belize and Scotland, indicating that the low-to mid-latitude teleconnection was also active over annual-decadal timescales. It is likely a combination of external forcing, i.e., solar and volcanic, and internal feedbacks, that drives the synchronous ITCZ and NAO shifts via energy flux perturbations in the tropics.
Glacial periods are recognized to be dustier than interglacials, but the conditions leading to greater dust mobilization are poorly defined. Here we present a new high-resolution dust record based on Th-230-normalized He-4 flux from Ocean Drilling Program site 882 in the Subarctic North Pacific covering the last 170,000years. By analogy with modern relationships, we infer the mechanisms controlling orbital-scale dust storm variability in East Asia. We propose that orbital-scale dust flux variability is the result of an expansion of the dust season into summer, in addition to more intense dust storms during spring and fall. The primary drivers influencing dust flux include summer insolation at subarctic latitudes and variable Siberian alpine glaciation, which together control the cold air reservoir in Siberia. Changes in the extent of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets may be a secondary control.
We present varve chronologies for sediments from two maar lakes in the Valle de Santiago region (Central Mexico): Hoya La Alberca (AD 1852-1973) and Hoya Rincn de Parangueo (AD 1839-1943). These are the first varve chronologies for Mexican lakes. The varved sections were anchored with tephras from Colima (1913) and Paricutin (1943/1944) and (210)Pb ages. We compare the sequences using the thickness of seasonal laminae and element counts (Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, and Sr) determined by micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The formation of the varve sublaminae is attributed to the strongly seasonal climate regime. Limited rainfall and high evaporation rates in winter and spring induce precipitation of carbonates (high Ca, Sr) enriched in (13)C and (18)O, whereas rainfall in summer increases organic and clastic input (plagioclase, quartz) with high counts of lithogenic elements (K, Al, Ti, and Si). Eolian input of Ti occurs also in the dry season. Moving correlations (5-yr windows) of the Ca and Ti counts show similar development in both sequences until the 1930s. Positive correlations indicate mixing of allochthonous Ti and autochthonous Ca, while negative correlations indicate their separation in sublaminae. Negative excursions in the correlations correspond with historic and reconstructed droughts, El Nio events, and positive SST anomalies. Based on our data, droughts (3-7 year duration) were severe and centred around the following years: the early 1850s, 1865, 1880, 1895, 1905, 1915 and the late 1920s with continuation into the 1930s. The latter dry period brought both lake systems into a critical state making them susceptible to further drying. Groundwater overexploitation due to the expansion of irrigation agriculture in the region after 1940 induced the transition from calcite to aragonite precipitation in Alberca and halite infiltration in Rincn. The proxy data indicate a faster response to increased evaporation for Rincn, the lake with the larger maar dimensions, solar radiation receipt and higher conductivity, whereas the smaller, steeper Alberca maar responded rapidly to increased precipitation.
We present a new record of eolian dust flux to the western Subarctic North Pacific (SNP) covering the past 27,000years based on a core from the Detroit Seamount. Comparing the SNP dust record to the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) ice core record shows significant differences in the amplitude of dust changes to the two regions during the last deglaciation, while the timing of abrupt changes is synchronous. If dust deposition in the SNP faithfully records its mobilization in East Asian source regions, then the difference in the relative amplitude must reflect climate-related changes in atmospheric dust transport to Greenland. Based on the synchronicity in the timing of dust changes in the SNP and Greenland, we tie abrupt deglacial transitions in the Th-230-normalized He-4 flux record to corresponding transitions in the well-dated NGRIP dust flux record to provide a new chronostratigraphic technique for marine sediments from the SNP. Results from this technique are complemented by radiocarbon dating, which allows us to independently constrain radiocarbon paleoreservoir ages. We find paleoreservoir ages of 745140years at 11,653year B.P., 680228years at 14,630year B.P., and 790498years at 23,290year B.P. Our reconstructed paleoreservoir ages are consistent with modern surface water reservoir ages in the western SNP. Good temporal synchronicity between eolian dust records from the Subantarctic Atlantic and equatorial Pacific and the ice core record from Antarctica supports the reliability of the proposed dust tuning method to be used more widely in other global ocean regions.
Reduced nitrate supply to the subarctic North Pacific (SNP) surface during the last ice age has been inferred from coupled changes in diatom-bound delta N-15 (DB-delta N-15), bulk sedimentary delta N-15, and biogenic fluxes. However, the reliability of bulk sedimentary and DB-delta N-15 has been questioned, and a previously reported delta N-15 minimum during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) has proven difficult to explain. In a core from the western SNP, we report the foraminifera-bound delta N-15 (FB-delta N-15) in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma and Globigerina bulloides, comparing them with DB-delta N-15 in the same core over the past 25 kyr. The delta N-15 of all recorders is higher during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) than in the Holocene, indicating more complete nitrate consumption. N. pachyderma FB-delta N-15 is similar to DB-delta N-15 in the Holocene but 2.2% higher during the LGM. This difference suggests a greater sensitivity of FB-delta(15)NZ to changes in summertime nitrate drawdown and delta N-15 rise, consistent with a lag of the foraminifera relative to diatoms in reaching their summertime production peak in this highly seasonal environment. Unlike DB-delta N-15, FB-delta N-15 does not decrease from the LGM into HS1, which supports a previous suggestion that the HS1 DB-delta N-15 minimum is due to contamination by sponge spicules. FB-delta N-15 drops in the latter half of the Bolling/Allerod warm period and rises briefly in the Younger Dryas cold period, followed by a decline into the mid-Holocene. The FB-delta N-15 records suggest that the coupling among cold climate, reduced nitrate supply, and more complete nitrate consumption that characterized the LGM also applied to the deglacial cold events.
Eolian dust is a significant source of iron and other nutrients that are essential for the health of marine ecosystems and potentially a controlling factor of the high nutrient-low chlorophyll status of the Subarctic North Pacific. We map the spatial distribution of dust input using three different geochemical tracers of eolian dust, He-4, Th-232 and rare earth elements, in combination with grain size distribution data, from a set of core-top sediments covering the entire Subarctic North Pacific. Using the suite of geochemical proxies to fingerprint different lithogenic components, we deconvolve eolian dust input from other lithogenic inputs such as volcanic ash, ice-rafted debris, riverine and hemipelagic input. While the open ocean sites far away from the volcanic arcs are dominantly composed of pure eolian dust, lithogenic components other than eolian dust play a more crucial role along the arcs. In sites dominated by dust, eolian dust input appears to be characterized by a nearly uniform grain size mode at similar to 4 mu m.
Applying the Th-230-normalization technique, our proxies yield a consistent pattern of uniform dust fluxes of 1-2 g/m(2)/yr across the Subarctic North Pacific. Elevated eolian dust fluxes of 2-4 g/m(2)/yr characterize the westernmost region off Japan and the southern Kurile Islands south of 45 degrees N and west of 165 degrees E along the main pathway of the westerly winds. The core-top based dust flux reconstruction is consistent with recent estimates based on dissolved thorium isotope concentrations in seawater from the Subarctic North Pacific. The dust flux pattern compares well with state-of-the-art dust model predictions in the western and central Subarctic North Pacific, but we find that dust fluxes are higher than modeled fluxes by 0.5-1 g/m(2)/yr in the northwest, northeast and eastern Subarctic North Pacific. Our results provide an important benchmark for biogeochemical models and a robust approach for downcore studies testing dust-induced iron fertilization of past changes in biological productivity in the Subarctic North Pacific.
The Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations and Heinrich events described in North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice are expressed in the climate of the tropics, for example, as documented in Arabian Sea sediments. Given the strength of this teleconnection, we seek to reconstruct its range of environmental impacts. We present geochemical and sedimentological data from core SO130-289KL from the Indus submarine slope spanning the last similar to 80 kyr. Elemental and grain size analyses consistently indicate that interstadials are characterized by an increased contribution of fluvial suspension from the Indus River. In contrast, stadials are characterized by an increased contribution of aeolian dust from the Arabian Peninsula. Decadal-scale shifts at climate transitions, such as onsets of interstadials, were coeval with changes in productivity-related proxies. Heinrich events stand out as especially dry and dusty events, indicating a dramatically weakened Indian summer monsoon, potentially increased winter monsoon circulation, and increased aridity on the Arabian Peninsula. This finding is consistent with other paleoclimate evidence for continental aridity in the northern tropics during these events. Our results strengthen the evidence that circum-North Atlantic temperature variations translate to hydrological shifts in the tropics, with major impacts on regional environmental conditions such as rainfall, river discharge, aeolian dust transport, and ocean margin anoxia.
Sedimentary proxies used to reconstruct marine productivity suffer from variable preservation and are sensitive to factors other than productivity. Therefore, proxy calibration is warranted. Here we map the spatial patterns of two paleoproductivity proxies, biogenic opal and barium fluxes, from a set of core-top sediments recovered in the Subarctic North Pacific. Comparisons of the proxy data with independent estimates of primary and export production, surface water macronutrient concentrations, and biological pCO(2) drawdown indicate that neither proxy shows a significant correlation with primary or export productivity for the entire region. Biogenic opal fluxes, when corrected for preservation using Th-230-normalized accumulation rates, show a good correlation with primary productivity along the volcanic arcs (tau = 0.71, p = 0.0024) and with export productivity throughout the western Subarctic North Pacific (tau = 0.71, p = 0.0107). Moderate and good correlations of biogenic barium flux with export production (tau = 0.57, p = 0.0022) and with surface water silicate concentrations (tau = 0.70, p = 0.0002) are observed for the central and eastern Subarctic North Pacific. For reasons unknown, however, no correlation is found in the western Subarctic North Pacific between biogenic barium flux and the reference data. Nonetheless, we show that barite saturation, uncertainty in the lithogenic barium corrections, and problems with the reference data sets are not responsible for the lack of a significant correlation between biogenic barium flux and the reference data. Further studies evaluating the factors controlling the variability of the biogenic constituents in the sediments are desirable in this region.
From November 2006 to January 2010, a sediment trap that was cleared monthly was deployed in Lake Challa, a deep stratified freshwater lake on the eastern slope of Mt. Kilimanjaro in southern Kenya. Geochemical data from sediment trap samples were compared with a broad range of limnological and meteorological parameters to characterize the effect of single parameters on productivity and sedimentation processes in the crater basin. During the southern hemisphere summer (November-March), when the water temperature is high and the lake is biologically productive (nondiatom algae), calcite predominated in the sediment trap samples. During the "long rain" season (March-May) a small amount of organic matter and lithogenic material caused by rainfall appeared. This was followed by the cool and windy months of the southern hemisphere winter (June-October) when diatoms were the main component, indicating a diatom bloom initiated by improvement of nutrient availability related to upwelling processes. The sediment trap data support the hypothesis that the light-dark lamination couplets, which are abundant in Lake Challa cores, reflect seasonal delivery to the sediments of diatom-rich particulates during the windy months and diatom-poor material during the wet season. However, interannual and spatial variability in upwelling and productivity patterns, as well as El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-related rainfall and drought cycles, exert a strong influence on the magnitude and geochemical composition of particle export to the hypolimnion of Lake Challa.
Severely negative Delta(14)C anomalies from the mid-depth Pacific and the Arabian Sea have been taken as support for the hypothesized deglacial release of a previously isolated, extremely (14)C-deplete deep ocean carbon reservoir. We report box model simulations that cast doubt on both the existence of the hypothesized deep reservoir and its ability to explain the mid-depth Delta(14)C anomalies. First, the degree of ice age isolation needed to substantially reduce the deep Delta(14)C of the deep reservoir causes anoxia and the trapping of alkalinity from CaCO(3) dissolution, the latter increasing atmospheric CO(2). Second, even with a completely (14)C-free deep reservoir, achieving the mid-depth Delta(14)C anomalies of observed duration requires ad hoc stifling of aspects of deep circulation to prevent rapid dissipation of the anomalous (14)C-free carbon to the rest of the ocean and the atmosphere. We suggest that the mid-depth anomalies do not record basin-scale Delta(14)C changes but are instead local phenomena.