Evidence from the Northeastern Atlantic basin for variability in the rate of the meridional overturning circulation through the last deglaciation

A first study from the subtropical western Atlantic, using ²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th ratios as a kinematic proxy for deep water circulation, provided compelling evidence for a strong link between climate and the rate of Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) over the last deglaciation. However, these results warrant confirmation from additional locations and water depths because the interpretation of the sedimentary ²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th ratio in terms of circulation vigor can be biased by variations in particle flux and composition. We have measured ²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th in a core from the Iberian margin, in the Northeastern Atlantic basin, and have compared these new results to the data from the western Atlantic basin. We find that the reduction in the circulation during H1 and YD and the subsequent increases first recognized in the sediment deposited on Bermuda Rise are also evident in the eastern basin, in a totally different sedimentary regime, confirming that sedimentary ²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th ratios record basin-wide changes in deep water circulation. However, some differences between the eastern and western records are also recognized, providing preliminary evidence to differentiate between renewal rates in the two North Atlantic basins and between shallower and deeper overturning. Our results suggest the possible existence of two sources of Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Deep Water (GNAIW), one in the south Labrador Sea and another west of Rockall Plateau. Both sources contributed to the meridional overturning but the two had different sensitivity to meltwater from the Laurentide and the Fennoscandian ice sheets during the deglaciation. These results indicate that additional information on the geometry and strength of the ventilation of the deep Atlantic can be obtained by contrasting the evolution of sediment ²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th in different sections of the Atlantic Ocean.     

Aragonite and calcite preservation in sediments from Lake Iznik related to bottom lake oxygenation and water column depth

This study examines the forcing mechanisms driving long‐term carbonate accumulation and preservation in lacustrine sediments in Lake Iznik (north‐western Turkey) since the last glacial. Currently, carbonates precipitate during summer from the alkaline water column, and the sediments preserve aragonite and calcite. Based on X‐ray diffraction data, carbonate accumulation has changed significantly and striking reversals in the abundance of the two carbonate polymorphs have occurred on a decadal time scale, during the last 31 ka cal bp . Different lines of evidence, such as grain size, organic matter and redox sensitive elements, indicate that reversals in carbonate polymorph abundance arise due to physical changes in the lacustrine setting, for example, water column depth and lake mixing. The aragonite concentrations are remarkably sensitive to climate, and exhibit millennial‐scale oscillations. Extending observations from modern lakes, the Iznik record shows that the aerobic decomposition of organic matter and sulphate reduction are also substantial factors in carbonate preservation over long time periods. Lower lake levels favour aragonite precipitation from supersaturated waters. Prolonged periods of stratification and, consequently, enhanced sulphate reduction favour aragonite preservation. In contrast, prolonged or repeated exposure of the sediment–water interface to oxygen results in in situ aerobic organic matter decomposition, eventually leading to carbonate dissolution. Notably, the Iznik sediment profile raises the hypothesis that different states of lacustrine mixing lead to selective preservation of different carbonate polymorphs. Thus, a change in the entire lake water chemistry is not strictly necessary to favour the preservation of one polymorph over another. Therefore, this investigation is a novel contribution to the carbon cycle in lacustrine systems.     

Extreme events as drivers of early human behaviour in Africa? The case for variability,not catastrophic drought

Extreme Late Quaternary climatic events, sometimes of considerable continental extent, are being proposed as major contributors to ancestral human behaviour, particularly migration, in Africa. Most recently, a catastrophic drought in the Afro‐Asian monsoon region has been proposed for 16 000–17 000 years ago, driven by global impacts of the Heinrich event 1 (H1), with potentially significant consequences for Palaeolithic cultures. We provide a new analysis of the assertion and find, on examination of a wide set of palaeoenvironmental records, that the scale and extent of the proposed drought is not supported. While some parts of the African tropics, close to the equator, do appear dry at this time, data for the tropics as a whole suggest markedly variable terrestrial conditions, with some environmental systems experiencing very positive hydrological excursions during H1. We contend that in the quest for evidence of climate drivers of ancestral human behaviour, the variability associated with spatially and temporally complex climatic conditions is a significant factor in itself. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

末次冰期东亚季风快速波动的模式与成因

通过对位于东亚季风区中东部与西部边缘的两个高分辨率黄土剖面记录的对比研究，发现它们不仅捕捉到了20个Dansgaard Oeschger事件与6个Heinrich事件，而且黄土记录与GRIP冰芯记录的这些快速气候波动基本上是同步的。暗示在整个末次冰期，东亚季风气候同样存在千年—百年尺度上的快速波动。所不同的是，西面的沙沟剖面对这些快速气候波动的反应比东面的王官剖面敏感。结合末次冰期中国黄土记录的先前研究结果，我们发现，自西向东Dansgaard Oeschger旋回的幅度逐渐变小，推测这主要是由西风与东亚夏季风共同作用所造成的。     

Surface and deep water response to rapid climate changes at the Western Iberian Margin

Rapid climate changes at the onset of the last deglaciation and during Heinrich Event H4 were studied in detail at IMAGES cores MD95-2039 and MD95-2040 from the Western Iberian margin. A major reorganisation of surface water hydrography, benthic foraminiferal community structure, and deepwater isotopic composition commenced already 540 years before the Last Isotopic Maximum (LIM) at 17.43 cal. ka and within 670 years affected all environments. Changes were initiated by meltwater spill in the Nordic Seas and northern North Atlantic that commenced 100 years before concomitant changes were felt off western Iberia. Benthic foraminiferal associations record the drawdown of deepwater oxygenation during meltwater and subsequent Heinrich Events H1 and H4 with a bloom of dysoxic species. At a water depth of 3380 m, benthic oxygen isotopes depict the influence of brines from sea ice formation during ice-rafting pulses and meltwater spill. The brines conceivably were a source of ventilation and provided oxygen to the deeper water masses. Some if not most of the lower deep water came from the South Atlantic. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages display a multi-centennial, approximately 300-year periodicity of oxygen supply at 2470-m water depth. This pattern suggests a probable influence of atmospheric oscillations on the thermohaline convection with frequencies similar to Holocene climate variations. For Heinrich Events H1 and H4, response times of surface water properties off western Iberia to meltwater injection to the Nordic Seas were extremely short, in the range of a few decades only. The ensuing reduction of deepwater ventilation commenced within 500–600 years after the first onset of meltwater spill. These fast temporal responses lend credence to numerical simulations that indicate ocean–climate responses on similar and even faster time scales.     

‘Bond cycles’ recorded in terrestrial Pleistocene sediments of southwestern British Columbia,Canada

Recent data from exposures of terrestrial Pleistocene sediments in the Fraser Lowland of southwestern British Columbia reveal at least two ‘Bond cycles’ within Oxygen Isotope Stage 2. The maximum of the Coquitlam Stade coincides with the timing of Heinrich event H2, the Port Moody Interstade with Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) interstade 2, the maximum of the Vashon Stade with H1, and the Fort Langley interval with D–O interstade 1. The Sumas Stade apparently preceded H0 (Younger Dryas) but could have been in response to the same climatic signal. The timing of Sumas advances may be explained by a combination of glacio-isostatic rebound, destabilisation of the ice margin, and rapid movement over a short distance on soft muddy beds of a rising sea floor, thereby leading the timing of North Atlantic events by hundreds of years. In contrast, Coquitlam and Vashon advances were mainly over permeable glaciofluvial sediments and because of this their maxima probably did not precede the timing of H2 and H1. The Port Moody Interstade coincided with the global Last Glacial Maximum, due in part to the moderating effect of moist summer storms in a southward-shifted jet stream that influenced the Fraser Lowland at that time. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

云南小中甸盆地湖相沉积记录的最近5 次Heinrich事件

通过对小中甸盆地厚15.3 m的湖相沉积进行系统的粒度、孢粉和地球化学元素分析,结合 ¹⁴C年代测定,发现小中甸盆地在最近40 ka 以来经历了5 次湖泊收缩事件,其形成年代可以同北大西洋的Heinrich 事件H₀-H₄逐一对比,指示西南季风不仅在其水汽源区,而且在其控制的内陆腹地对最近40ka 以来的Heinrich 事件都存在敏感的响应。与在水汽源区所表现不同的是,Heinrich 事件在内陆地区主要表现为干旱。通过与西南季风水汽源地之一的阿拉伯海深海沉积记录和格陵兰冰芯记录进一步对比发现,小中甸盆地仅对千年尺度的Heinrich 冷事件信号敏感而对D/O (Dansgaard-Oescher) 暖事件缺乏明显记录,这与阿拉伯海的响应模式有较大差异。分析周边环流形势认为,冰期青藏高原对西南季风“抽吸”作用的减弱是造成小中甸盆地D/O暖信号记录不明显的重要原因。     

Evidence from Ar/Ar Ages of Individual Hornblende Grains for Varying Laurentide Sources of Iceberg Discharges 22,000 to 10,500 yr B.P.

The abundance and lithic content of ice rafted detritus in glacial North Atlantic sediment cores vary abruptly on millennial time scales that have been correlated to Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles in the Greenland ice cores. There is growing evidence that various ice sheet outlets contributed increased iceberg fluxes at multiple discrete intervals, and the relative timing of iceberg discharges from different sources is important for understanding interactions between oceans and ice sheets. We present a provenance study based on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates of individual hornblende grains from 20 samples taken at 600 to 700 yr spacing between 10,500 and 22,000 yr B.P., from Orphan Knoll core EW9303-GGC31. Heinrich layers are characterized by a dominant Paleoproterozoic hornblende provenance consistent with published studies. A change in provenance between Heinrich events H2 and H1 indicates contributions of iceberg calving from the Newfoundland and southern Labrador margins. Between H1 and the Younger Dryas interval, Paleoproterozoic ice rafted grains remained dominant. The dominance of Baffin Island (or Greenland?) sources to the ice rafted detritus is ascribed to the retreat of the southern Laurentide ice sheet at about the time of H1—a retreat that isolated Newfoundland and southern Labrador ice from the shelf-slope boundary.     

东亚季风气候对Heinrich2事件的响应:来自石笋的高分辨率记录

据湖北省神农架天鹅洞一支石笋11个230Th年龄和254个δ18O数据,建立了28.5～22.0kaB.P.同位素分辨率平均约30a的东亚季风气候变化序列。该石笋δ18O曲线与南京葫芦洞石笋记录在重叠时段基本一致,说明本区石笋δ18O反映了区域性东亚季风经向环流特征。在24.3kaB.P.左右,石笋δ18O明显正偏,持续时间近1ka,指示一次显著的弱夏季风事件,与北大西洋倒数第二次冰漂碎屑事件(Heinrich2)同步发生,可视为东亚季风气候对H2事件的响应。高分辨率的δ18O序列揭示了H2事件的内部结构特征:(1)事件发生的突变性,石笋δ18O记录指示事件发生时在100a内δ18O从-8.59‰迅速正偏为-6.75‰,振幅达1.84‰;(2)事件结束的渐变性,δ18O正偏到-6.75‰后便以阶梯状缓慢负偏到-8.86‰至事件结束,持续时间近900a。这一过程与末次盛冰期东亚季风气候H1事件表现的季风强弱转换方式基本一致,说明末次盛冰期东亚季风气候H型事件具有共同的内部结构特征。研究表明,末次盛冰期东亚季风气候H事件的突变可能受北大西洋驱动并经青藏高原冰川变化放大。