The clay mineralogy of particulate material from some surface seawaters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean

The concentrations of the clay minerals montmorillonite and illite have been determined in 28 samples of particulate material from surface (0–～5 m) waters along the eastern margins of the Atlantic Ocean, and the concentrations of chlorite and kaolinite have been determined in nineteen of the samples.The average concentration of the four clays in the particulate material decreases in the following order: illite (～42%) > kaolinite (～25%) > chlorite (～19%) > montmorillonite (～14%). There are specific trends in the latitudinal distributions of illite and kaolinite in the particulate material; illite decreases and kaolinite increases towards low latitudes. These trends are also found in eolian dusts and deep-sea sediments from the same region, and these clays are considered to have a detrital origin.The concentrations of montmorillonite in the particulate material and deep-sea sediments are similar in the North Atlantic. However, in the South Atlantic the sediments contain about twice as much montmorillonite as does the particulate material. It is suggested that whereas the montmorillonite in North Atlantic deep-sea sediments is largely detrital, that in South Atlantic sediments is both detrital and authigenic.     

A Zonal Pathway for NADW in the South Atlantic

Several large deployments of neutrally buoyant floats took place within the Antarctic Intermediate (AAIW), North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), and the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) of the South Atlantic in the 1990s and a number of hydrographic sections were occupied as well. Here we use the spatially and temporally averaged velocities measured by these floats, combined with the hydrographic section data and various estimates of regional current transports from moored current meter arrays, to determine the circulation of the three major subthermocline water masses in a zonal strip across the South Atlantic between the latitudes of 19°S and 30°S. We concentrate on this region because the historical literature suggests that it is where the Deep Western Boundary Current containing NADW bifurcates. In support of this notion, we find that a net of about 5 Sv. of the 15–20 Sv that crosses 19°S does continue zonally eastward at least as far as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Once across the ridge it takes a circuit to the north along the ridge flanks before returning to the south in the eastern half of the Angola Basin. The data suggest that the NADW then continues on into the Indian Ocean. This scheme is discussed in the context of distributions of dissolved oxygen, silicate and salinity. In spite of the many float-years of data that were collected in the region a surprising result is that their impact on the computed solutions is quite modest. Although the focus is on the NADW we also discuss the circulation for the AAIW and AABW layers.     

Submarine groundwater discharge: A large, previously unrecognized source of dissolved iron to the South Atlantic Ocean

This paper reports the initial results of a study of groundwater and coastal waters of southern Brazil adjacent to a 240 km barrier spit separating the Patos Lagoon, the largest coastal lagoon in South America, from the South Atlantic Ocean. The objective of this research is to assess the chemical alteration of freshwater and freshwater–seawater mixtures advecting through coastal permeable sands, and the influence of the submarine discharge of these fluids (SGD) on the chemistry of coastal waters. Here we focus on dissolved iron in this system and use radium isotopic tracers to quantify SGD and cross-shelf fluxes. Iron concentrations in groundwaters vary between 0.6 and 180 μM. The influence of the submarine discharge of these fluids into the surf zone produces dissolved Fe concentrations as high as several micromolar in coastal surface waters. The offshore gradient of dissolved Fe, coupled with results for Ra isotopes, is used to quantify the SGD flux of dissolved Fe from this coastline. We estimate the SGD flux to be 2 × 10⁶ mol day^− 1 and the cross-shelf flux to be 3.2 × 10⁵ mol day^− 1. This latter flux is equal to about 10% of the soluble atmospheric Fe flux to the entire South Atlantic Ocean. We speculate on the importance of this previously unrecognized iron input to regional ocean production and on the potential significance of this source to understanding variations in glacial–interglacial ocean production.     

南海西北部表层沉积物黏土矿物分布特征及其来源

黏土矿物研究在示踪物源、源区风化历史乃至洋流变迁能力等方面具有重要的作用,尽管目前对南海表层沉积物黏土矿物宏观分布特征已获得了较系统的认识,但在受珠江和海南岛物源共同影响的南海西北部其高分辨率的黏土矿物学工作还未开展。本文对南海西北部表层沉积物中的黏土矿物组成、结晶学特征进行了分析,讨论了研究区黏土矿物的物质来源。结果表明,南海西北部表层沉积物的黏土矿物组成以伊利石为主（平均45%）,蒙脱石（平均27%）与高岭石（平均21%）次之,绿泥石含量最少（平均6%）。在区域空间分布上,蒙脱石含量呈现西南高东北低的特征,伊利石含量则与之相反;高岭石含量表现为近岸高离岸低,而绿泥石含量呈现离岸高近岸低的特征。总体上,研究区表层沉积物黏土矿物组成与现代珠江沉积物组成差异较大,而与珠江口2.5 ka前的沉积物黏土矿物组成比较接近,并且结合研究区岩心揭露的全新世以来极低的沉积速率（4 cm/ka）以及上部很薄（小于0.6 m）的泥质沉积,推测该区表层沉积物可能并非是现代沉积的结果,更可能主要来自全新世末期古珠江输送的沉积物。除古珠江作为研究区表层沉积物中蒙脱石的一个主要来源外,海南岛北部河流也贡献了少量蒙脱石到其邻近的东南海域。运用高岭石/伊利石比值和伊利石化学指数等进一步对比分析表明,珠江是研究区沉积物中伊利石、高岭石和绿泥石的主要物源,其次台湾和海南岛也可能分别提供了少量富含伊利石/绿泥石和高岭石的沉积物。本工作对于南海西北部沉积物源-汇过程和相应的古环境研究有重要的参考意义。     

Sea-floor scour at the mouth of Hudson Strait by deep-keeled icebergs from the Laurentide Ice Sheet

Physical evidence on the dimensions of icebergs released from the mouth of Hudson Strait into the northwest Atlantic during the last Heinrich event (H-0) is presented. Side-scan sonar imagery shows scour marks up to 700 m wide and longer than 28 km. These scour marks were carved by gigantic icebergs (megabergs) with keel drafts possibly as great as 660 m capable of scouring trenches 20 to 25 m deep into the seabed. These icebergs were likely calved from the grounding margin of a thick (possibly as thick as 640 m) rapidly-flowing glacial margin during the H-0 Heinrich event (11 ka BP). Along with the relatively few megabergs released were large numbers of smaller icebergs that calved from the ice margin at the same time and were also produced from break-up of the megabergs. Scouring of the seabed by the large and smaller icebergs happened at the same time, with megabergs scouring only in the deep waters of Hatton Basin, and the smaller bergs scouring only on the eastern, shallow margin of the Basin at the continental shelf break.     

南海粘土矿物组合特征及其环境意义

利用X射线衍射法(XRD)对南海12个海底表层沉积物和20个悬浮物样品中粘土矿物组成和分布特征进行了综合分析。结果表明:(1)研究区的表层沉积物粘土矿物以伊利石为主,其次为绿泥石、高岭石、伊/蒙间层矿物以及蒙皂石;悬浮物粘土矿物是以绿泥石为主,其次为高岭石、蒙皂石、伊利石以及伊/蒙间层矿物。(2)粘土矿物的组成和分布特征主要受气候条件、物质来源、水动力条件及相互间稀释作用的制约。伊利石的含量随离岸距离和水深的增加呈增大趋势;高岭石则在近岸区特别是河口区富集;绿泥石在西部沿岸海区的含量较低,在东部岛弧和北部台湾岛附近海区的含量较高;蒙皂石与火山作用密切相关,在东部火山岛弧附近海区含量较高。(3)粘土沉积物的来源以河流输入为主,海洋自生和风尘搬运对该区的沉积影响不大。(4)深海悬浮物粘土矿物的组成变化能够很好地指示短尺度气候环境的变迁,伊利石的结晶程度对气候和环境变化反映灵敏,其随所处环境的压力增大而变差。     

Paleocurrents in the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone during the Late Quaternary

Planktonic foraminiferal and ice-rafted debris count data, as well as the mean size of mineral particles of the 10–63 μm fraction (sortable silt, \(\overline {SS} \)) were used as a proxy for surface and near-bottom paleocurrent intensity variations. The data obtained support our hypothesis about turbiditic origin of the lower (80–370 cm) section of the studied AMK-4515 core. Stratigraphic subdivision of the upper section (0–80 cm) makes it possible to allocate two marine isotope stages (MIS) covering the last 27 ka. The main intervals of the North Atlantic Polar Front (PF) migrations were recorded: south of the modern PF position during early MIS 2 (24–27 ka) with PF presence in the study area during MIS 2 (20–24 ka); south of the study area during the last glacial maximum (18–20 ka). Influence of the near-bottom currents within the investigated interval led to beginning of the channel-related drift formation on the northern slope of the southern channel of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. There is a weak relationship between intensity of near-bottom contour currents and long-term climatic cyclicity. However, intervals corresponding to Heinrich events coincide with decrease in bottom currents activity.     

The effect of a northward shift in the southern hemisphere westerlies on the global ocean

We examine the effect of a northward shift in the position of the southern hemisphere subpolar westerly winds (SWWs) on the vertical and horizontal distribution of temperature and salinity in the world ocean. A northward shift of the SWWs causes a latitudinal contraction of the subpolar gyres in the southern hemisphere (SH). In the Indian and Pacific, this leads to subsurface warming in the subtropical thermocline. As the southern margins of the gyres move into latitudes characterised by warmer surface air temperature (SAT), the layers at mid-depth below 400 m depth become ventilated by warmer water. We characterize the approximation of the ventilated thermocline in our coarse resolution model using a set of passive tracer experiments, and illustrate how the northward shift in the SWWs causes an equatorward shift in the latitude of origin of water ventilating layers deeper than 400 m in the Indian and Pacific, leaving the total surface ventilation of the upper 1200 m unchanged. In contrast, the latitudinal constraint on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current posed by the Drake Passage causes a cooling and freshening throughout the Atlantic thermocline; here, subsurface thermocline water originates from higher latitudes under the wind shift. On longer timescales Atlantic cooling and freshening is reinforced by a reduction in North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation and surface salinification of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In effect, the latitude of zero wind stress curl in the SWWs regulates the relative importance of the “cold water route” via the Drake Passage and the “warm water route” associated with thermocline water exchange via the Indian Ocean. Thus, a more northward location of the SWWs corresponds with a reduced salinity contrast between the Indian/ Pacific Oceans and the Atlantic. This results in reduced NADW formation. Also, a more northward location of the SWWs facilitates the injection of cool fresh Antarctic Intermediate Water into the South Atlantic subtropical gyre. Beyond these changes, on a millennial timescale, the deep ocean warms throughout the water column in response to the wind shift. Global salinity stratification also becomes less stable, as more saline water remains at the surface and accumulates in the Indian and Pacific thermocline. The freshening of the deep ocean reflects a reduced stirring of the global ocean due to reduced net circulation arising from a misalignment between the westerlies and the topographically constrained ACC. Our results lend support to the idea that a more equatorward location of the SWW maximum during glacial climates contributed to cooler and fresher conditions in the Atlantic, inhibiting NADW.     

Clay mineral assemblages,siliciclastic input and paleoproductivity at ODP Site 1085 off Southwest Africa: A late Miocene–early Pliocene history of Orange river discharges and Benguela current activity,and their relation to global sea level change

A late Miocene to early Pliocene sequence drilled on the continental slope of southwest Africa off the Orange river mouth (ODP Site 1085) has been investigated. Clay mineral assemblages, coarse siliciclastics and benthic foraminifer accumulation rates (BFAR) unravel a step by step evolution of marine and continental environments closely related to sea level variations, ocean circulation and global climate: (1) smectite is a typical tracer of the Orange river load, whereas illite is mostly transported by the Benguela current (like chlorite) and winds, and kaolinite is derived from low latitudes by the poleward undercurrent and the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW); (2) increased erosion and influence of the Orange river after 9.6 Ma is linked to a sea level drop at a time of Antarctic ice-growth. This has been followed by an increased seasonality of precipitation and high productivity, but low oxygen content and associated dissolution of carbonates; (3) increased productivity and dissolution of carbonates, and coeval increase of continental aridity after 8.9 Ma express a further development of the Benguela current and upwelling; (4) better preservation of carbonates and increased contribution of terrigenous material from northern sources at 6.9 Ma are related to increased circulation of NADW after an early stage of northern hemisphere glaciation; (5) increased erosion and contribution from the Orange river and westward shift of the area of higher productivity from 5.9–5.8 Ma to 5.3–5.2 Ma are related to a significant fall of sea level, and encompass the time of the entire Mediterranean salinity crisis; (6) short-term variations of the smectite/illite ratio (S/I) and BFAR suggest a major control of productivity by wind and current activities (and related upwelling), but may express brief variations of sea level in specific intervals before 8.9 Ma and during the late Messinian especially.     

南海深水区末次冰期和冰后期沉积物堆积速率的特征

通过统计南海100 m以下深水区的136个沉积柱状样的分析数据,对南海末次冰期以来的堆积速率进行了统计.计算出MIS(marine isotope stage)1期的年均沉积量为152.3 Mt/a,2期的为215.2 Mt/a,主要为陆源物质的贡献.无论在末次冰期还是在冰后期,堆积速率均在南海西南部最高,其次是在东北部,在其他地区较低.由于侧向搬运和顺坡搬运频繁,虽然整体上末次冰期的堆积速率高于冰后期的,但在沉积物高速堆积地区附近有相反的变化趋势.     

Tracing water masses with particle trajectories in an isopycnic-coordinate model of the global ocean

Offline particle trajectories are obtained for a quasi-global isopycnic-coordinate OGCM using an analytical method, adapted for use with online time-integrated isopycnal and diapycnal mass fluxes. The method is highly efficient, allowing the calculation of large ensembles of such trajectories. These ensembles can be used to establish pathways and transformations associated with the global circulation of water masses on timescales which are well in excess of any feasible model integration length. The method is here used to investigate the important, yet poorly observed, transformation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) through slow spreading, upwelling and diapycnal mixing (defined when and where density decreases below a threshold value). A fundamental problem arises through unsteadiness in the thickness of NADW layers (due to various model flaws and/or intrinsic variability). Particles converge on gridboxes where layers inflate during the online time-integration period. Depending on the degree of layer inflation, only a fraction of NADW particles can be diagnosed as transformed at some point along their respective trajectories. However, the unsteadiness of layer thickness decreases during a 50-year spin-up, implying fewer converged trajectories and an increased fraction of transformed NADW. Using trajectories to trace NADW southward across the equatorial Atlantic, with mass fluxes from years 10, 30 and 50 of model spin-up, the transformed percentage (of NADW exported from the North Atlantic) increases from 17–18% (with fluxes from years 10 and 30) to 41% (using year 50 fluxes). In the latter case, about 30% of the NADW upwells south of 30°S after 500–1000 years. Most of the remaining 70% upwells in the South and North Pacific after 1000–2500 years.     

Clay mineral distribution in surface sediments of the South Atlantic: sources, transport, and relation to oceanography

Surface samples, mostly from abyssal sediments of the South Atlantic, from parts of the equatorial Atlantic, and of the Antarctic Ocean, were investigated for clay content and clay mineral composition. Maps of relative clay mineral content were compiled, which improve previous maps by showing more details, especially at high latitudes. Large-scale relations regarding the origin and transport paths of detrital clay are revealed. High smectite concentrations are observed in abyssal regions, primarily derived from southernmost South America and from minor sources in Southwest Africa. Near submarine volcanoes of the Antarctic Ocean (South Sandwich, Bouvet Island) smectite contents exhibit distinct maxima, which is ascribed to the weathering of altered basalts and volcanic glasses. The illite distribution can be subdivided into five major zones including two maxima revealing both South African and Antarctic sources. A particularly high amount of Mg- and Fe-rich illites are observed close to East Antarctica. They are derived from biotite-bearing crystalline rocks and transported to the west by the East Antarctic Coastal Current. Chiorite and well-crystallized dioctaedral illite are typical minerals enriched within the Subantarctic and Polarfrontal-Zone but of minor importance off East Antarctica. Kaolinite dominates the clay mineral assemblage at low latitudes, where the continental source rocks (West Africa, Brazil) are mainly affected by intensive chemical weathering. Surprisingly, a slight increase of kaolinite is observed in the Enderby Basin and near the Filchner-Ronne Ice shelf.

The investigated area can be subdivided into ten, large-scale clay facies zones with characteristic possible source regions and transport paths. Clay mineral assemblages of the largest part of the South Atlantic, especially of the western basins are dominated by chlorite and illite derived from the Antarctic Peninsula and southernmost South America and supported by advection within the Circumantarctic Deep Water flow. In contrast, the East Antarctic provinces are relatively small. Assemblages of the eastern basins north of 30°S are strongly influenced by African sources, controlled by weathering regimes on land and by a complex interaction of wind, river and deep ocean transport. The strong gradient in clay mineral composition at the Brazilian slope indicate a relatively low contribution of tropically derived assemblages to the western basins.     

Clay mineral distribution in sediments of the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea

The 25 sediment samples collected from the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea were analyzed for clay mineral investigation. Results showed the presence of 35% montmorillonite, 13% chlorite, 30% illite, and 22% kaolinite in sediments of the Gulf and also 16% montmorillonite, 21% chlorite, 41% illite, and 22% kaolinite in sediments of the South China Sea. The relatively high concentration of montmorillonite in sediments of the Gulf as compared with that in sediments of the South China Sea may suggest that montmorillonite in these area has been largely derived from soil formation of the bordering land areas of the Gulf, particularly from the northern part of Malay Peninsula. On the contrary, the content of illite in sediments of the South China Sea is higher than that in the Gulf. This mineral appears to have been supplied from Borneo as well as the Mekong Delta. However, chlorite which shows a similar distribution to that of illite in sediments of the Gulf and the South China Sea has not indicated Borneo Isl. as a principal source area for chlorite. Greater resemblance in amount of kaolinite in both sediments of the Gulf and the South China Sea is due to the prevailing distribution of kaolinite as low latitude clay mineral on the bordering land areas. The distribution of clay minerals in sediments of the study area appears to be closely related to the soil formation and geology of the adjacent land areas.This work was carried out at Geological and Mineralogical Institute, Tokyo University of Education.     

Dianeutral mixing,transformation and transport of Antarctic Intermediate Water in the South Atlantic Ocean

Recently obtained World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) sections combined with a specially prepared pre-WOCE South Atlantic data set are used to study the dianeutral (across neutral surface) mixing and transport achieving Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) being transformed to be part of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) return cell. Five neutral surfaces are mapped, encompassing the AAIW from 700 to 1100 db at the subtropical latitudes.Coherent and significant dianeutral upwelling is found in the western boundary near the Brazil coast north of the separation point (about 25°S) between the anticyclonic subtropical and cyclonic south equatorial gyres. The magnitude of dianeutral upwelling transport is 10^-3 Sv (1 Sv=10⁶ m³ s^-1) for 1°×1° square area. It is found that the AAIW sources from the southwestern South Atlantic and southwestern Indian Ocean do not rise significantly into the Benguela Current. Instead, they contribute to the NADW return formation by dianeutral upwelling into the South Equatorial Current. In other words, the AAIW sources cannot obtain enough heat/buoyancy to rise until they return to the western boundary region but north of the separation point. The basin-wide integration of dianeutral transport shows net upward transports, ranging from 0.25 to 0.6 Sv, across the lower and upper boundary of AAIW north of 40°S. This suggests that the equatorward AAIW is a slow rising water on a basin average. Given one order of uncertainty in evaluating the along-neutral-surface and dianeutral diffusivities from the assumed values, K=10³ m² s^-1 and D=10^-5 m² s^-1, the integrated dianeutral transport has an error band of about 10–20%. The relatively weak integrated dianeutral upwelling transport compared with AAIW in other oceans implies much stronger lateral advection of AAIW in the South Atlantic.Mapped Turner Angle in diagnosing the double-diffusion processes shows that the salty Central Water can flux salt down to the upper half of AAIW layer through salt-fingering. Therefore, the northward transition of AAIW can gain salt either through along-neutral-surface advection and diffusion or through salt fingering from the Central Water and heat through either along-neutral-surface advection and diffusion or dianeutral upwelling. Cabbeling and thermobaricity are found significant in the Antarctic frontal zone and contribute to dianeutral downwelling with velocity as high as −1.5×10^-7 m s^-1. A schematic AAIW circulation in the South Atlantic suggests that dianeutral mixing plays an essential role in transforming AAIW into NADW return formation.     

南海北部陆坡50 ka 以来黏土矿物来源与输运机制分析

在 AMS14C 定年的基础上,对南海北部 KNG5站和 KNG7站柱状沉积物中的粒度和黏土矿物进行了研究.KNG5孔黏土矿物组合的基本特点是以伊利石、绿泥石和高岭石为主,蒙脱石含量次之.而 KNG7孔黏土矿物组合的基本特点是以伊利石、绿泥石和蒙脱石为主,高岭石含量次之.物源分析进一步表明, KNG5和 KNG7孔高岭石主要来自于珠江,蒙脱石主要由吕宋岛提供,伊利石和绿泥石分别由珠江和台湾提供.相对于 KNG5孔而言, KNG7孔沉积物受珠江影响较小,而受台西南影响较大.由物源分析推测,珠江对南海北部的物源供应存在一个明显的界线,而这一界线可能位于 KNG5孔和KNG7孔之间,越过这一界线随着离岸距离的增加,南海北部陆坡陆源沉积物受珠江影响明显减弱,而主要由台湾贡献.     

南黄海DLC70-3孔晚更新世以来Rb/Zr值特征及环境意义

利用岩心扫描X荧光光谱仪(XRF Core Scanner)对南黄海DLC70-3孔沉积物进行1cm间隔的元素扫描测试。钻孔沉积物中陆源元素Rb和Zr相对含量垂向变化具有极好的分层性,Rb和Zr相对含量在不同粒级中变化较大,Rb在细粒中的含量较高,而Zr则在粗粒级中富集;Rb/Zr值可以反映沉积物中黏土矿物和石英、长石的相对含量变化。研究认为DLC70-3孔沉积物的Rb/Zr值受到海平面变化和源区气候变化共同控制,其中源区的气候变化为主要控制因素,而海平面变化主要影响26.50~38.00m(MIS 4)层位粗粒级沉积物的Rb/Zr值。Rb/Zr值显示在MIS 5和MIS 3期源区化学风化作用较强,与内陆黄土高原地区夏季风和化学风化指标的变化趋势一致,尤其是在MIS 3早期(40~60ka)记录的化学风化作用非常强,反映了黄河流域地区出现强夏季风降雨过程。     

Seismostratigraphic analysis of the Transkei Basin: A history of deep sea current controlled sedimentation

The Earth's climate is controlled by various factors, with large scale ocean currents playing a significant role. In particular, the global thermohaline circulation of water masses like the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), or the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), is a global motor for maintaining the exchange of water masses. The AABW and NADW have met and interacted off South Africa since Oligocene times. Here, the narrow deep Agulhas Passage gateway, located between South Africa and the submarine Agulhas Plateau, constrains bottom water exchange between the southeast Atlantic and the southwest Indian Ocean. A seismostratigraphic analysis of sedimentary structures in the Transkei Basin, which opens up at the eastern end of the Agulhas Passage, was carried out, to reconstruct the palaeocurrents off South Africa. The analysis of newly collected high resolution seismic reflection data showed the effect of large scale current deposition. There are at least 5 major sedimentary phases to observe, some of which seem to be influenced by NADW and AABW. The first stage represents ongoing deep sea sedimentation from middle Cretaceous to middle Tertiary times. Later stages are separated by discordances, which represent the onset of AABW and NADW, among others, triggered by the opening of the Drake Passage gateway ( 35 Ma) and the closure of the Isthmus of Panama ( 3 Ma). We found two large drift bodies located one above the other. Corresponding to their shape and position, the older drift is inferred to have been deposited by currents flowing in a north–southerly direction, whereas the younger drift lies perpendicular to it and seems to be built up by west–east flowing currents.     

南海西北部89PC柱样沉积物中浮游有孔虫特征及其古环境意义

对南海北部89PC柱状样进行了浮游有孔虫定量统计分析、氧碳同位素测试、碳酸钙含量分析和AMS14C测年,并采用古生态转换函数计算了表层海水古温度和温跃层深度,揭示了该海区约127 ka以来的古海洋学特征。温跃层转换函数计算的温跃层深度结果表明,在MIS5-MIS4期,温跃层深度没有大的变化,在MIS3-MIS1期,温跃层的深度逐渐变深。古温度转换函数计算的古温度结果表明,夏季温度的变化范围为27.9~29.3℃,变化幅度为1.4℃,冬季温度变化范围为20.6~26.3℃,变化幅度为5.7℃。与南海南部的冬夏古水温资料进行对比,南海南部的温度比南海北部的温度要高,这种差异在冬季时表现更为突出,且在冰期时南海南部和北部的温度差异梯度进一步增大,指示了冰期时冬季风更加强盛。     

Millennium scale environment changes of the Okhotsk Sea during last 80 kyr and their phase relationship with global climate changes

The paper presents the records of several paleoproductivity proxies (PP) (biogenic opal and Ba (Si_bio, Ba_bio), organic carbon (C_org) and carbonate Ca_carb, chlorin and benthic foraminifera abundance (BFA)) in sediments of the Okhotsk Sea for the last 80 kyr with a resolution of ∼100–300 years. The sediment age model was based on the AMS ¹⁴C data, records of benthic foraminifera δ¹⁸O, paleointensity of the Earth’s geomagnetic field and magnetic susceptibility. PP values demonstrate series of severe prolonged productivity drops in the Okhotsk Sea followed by a sharp increase during the last glaciation. On the basis of quantitative estimations of the paleoproductivity in the Okhotsk Sea during the cold MIS 2 and warm Holocene (Gorbarenko and Goldberg, 2005), it is suggested that the millennium scale relationship in productivity-climate changes of this basin was similar: an increase in the sea’s productivity was related with regional climate warming and vice-versa. The PP records of productivity/climate oscillations in the Okhotsk Sea during MIS 2–4 occurred contemporaneously with the North Atlantic cold Heinrich events (HE) and Greenland Dansgaard-Oyeshger interstadial (DOI). Observed successions of prolonged climate cooling events followed by rapid, abrupt warming are similar to climate and environmental oscillations in the N. Atlantic and Greenland, that confirms the millennium-scale climate changes synchronicities in the Northern Hemisphere including the far NW Pacific, the hydrology and climate conditions of which are close to those of the Okhotsk Sea. Synchronism of the N. Hemisphere severe cooling (including the Okhotsk Sea) with the Antarctic warming suggests that mechanisms of the “seesaw” effect (Blunier and Brook, 2001) in the low latitude heat redistribution between high latitudes of both hemispheres were more complicated than direct NADW formation forcing and encompasses the global atmospheric reorganization. Within the PP used a closer connection in the Okhotsk Sea millennium oscillations was observed for the C_org, BFA and chlorin; Ba_bio increases more closely to DOI. Si_bio variability does not show any evident correlation with productivity changes.     

Freshwater transport estimates and the global overturning circulation: Shallow, deep and throughflow components

Meridional ocean freshwater transports and convergences are calculated from absolute geostrophic velocities and Ekman transports. The freshwater transports are analyzed in terms of mass-balanced contributions from the shallow, ventilated circulation of the subtropical gyres, intermediate and deep water overturns, and Indonesian Throughflow and Bering Strait components. The following are the major conclusions:

1.

Excess freshwater in high latitudes must be transported to the evaporative lower latitudes, as is well known. The calculations here show that the northern hemisphere transports most of its high latitude freshwater equatorward through North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation (as in [Rahmstorf, S., 1996. On the freshwater forcing and transport of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Climate Dynamics 12, 799-811]), in which saline subtropical surface waters absorb the freshened Arctic and subpolar North Atlantic surface waters (0.45 ± 0.15 Sv for a 15 Sv overturn), plus a small contribution from the high latitude North Pacific through Bering Strait (0.06 ± 0.02 Sv). In the North Pacific, formation of 2.4 Sv of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) transports 0.07 ± 0.02 Sv of freshwater equatorward.In complete contrast, almost all of the 0.61 ± 0.13 Sv of freshwater gained in the Southern Ocean is transported equatorward in the upper ocean, in roughly equal magnitudes of about 0.2 Sv each in the three subtropical gyres, with a smaller contribution of <0.1 Sv from the Indonesian Throughflow loop through the Southern Ocean. The large Southern Ocean deep water formation (27 Sv) exports almost no freshwater (0.01 ± 0.03 Sv) or actually imports freshwater if deep overturns in each ocean are considered separately (−0.06 ± 0.04 Sv).This northern-southern hemisphere asymmetry is likely a consequence of the “Drake Passage” effect, which limits the southward transport of warm, saline surface waters into the Antarctic [Toggweiler, J.R., Samuels, B., 1995a. Effect of Drake Passage on the global thermohaline circulation. Deep-Sea Research I 42(4), 477-500]. The salinity contrast between the deep Atlantic, Pacific and Indian source waters and the denser new Antarctic waters is limited by their small temperature contrast, resulting in small freshwater transports. No such constraint applies to NADW formation, which draws on warm, saline subtropical surface waters .

2.

The Atlantic/Arctic and Indian Oceans are net evaporative basins, hence import freshwater via ocean circulation. For the Atlantic/Arctic north of 32°S, freshwater import (0.28 ± 0.04 Sv) comes from the Pacific through Bering Strait (0.06 ± 0.02 Sv), from the Southern Ocean via the shallow gyre circulation (0.20 ± 0.02 Sv), and from three nearly canceling conversions to the NADW layer (0.02 ± 0.02 Sv): from saline Benguela Current surface water (−0.05 ± 0.01 Sv), fresh AAIW (0.06 ± 0.01 Sv) and fresh AABW/LCDW (0.01 ± 0.01 Sv). Thus, the NADW freshwater balance is nearly closed within the Atlantic/Arctic Ocean and the freshwater transport associated with export of NADW to the Southern Ocean is only a small component of the Atlantic freshwater budget.For the Indian Ocean north of 32°S, import of the required 0.37 ± 0.10 Sv of freshwater comes from the Pacific through the Indonesian Throughflow (0.23 ± 0.05 Sv) and the Southern Ocean via the shallow gyre circulation (0.18 ± 0.02 Sv), with a small export southward due to freshening of bottom waters as they upwell into deep and intermediate waters (−0.04 ± 0.03 Sv).The Pacific north of 28°S is essentially neutral with respect to freshwater, −0.04 ± 0.09 Sv. This is the nearly balancing sum of export to the Atlantic through Bering Strait (−0.07 ± 0.02 Sv), export to the Indian through the Indonesian Throughflow (−0.17 ± 0.05 Sv), a negligible export due to freshening of upwelled bottom waters (−0.03 ± 0.03 Sv), and import of 0.23 ± 0.04 Sv from the Southern Ocean via the shallow gyre circulation.

3.

Bering Strait’ssmall freshwater transport of <0.1 Sv helps maintains the Atlantic-Pacific salinity difference. However, proportionally large variations in the small Bering Strait transport would only marginally impact NADW salinity, whose freshening relative to saline surface water is mainly due to air-sea/runoff fluxes in the subpolar North Atlantic and Arctic. In contrast, in the Pacific, because the total overturning rate is much smaller than in the Atlantic, Bering Strait freshwater export has proportionally much greater impact on North Pacific salinity balances, including NPIW salinity.