Late Quaternary record of Indian summer monsoon-induced stratification and productivity collapse in the Andaman Sea

During each summer monsoon, the northeastern Indian Ocean receives a huge amount of rain and river discharge, resulting in strong stratification and prevalence of oligotrophic conditions. These water column changes impact upper ocean productivity which is reflected in the planktonic foraminifera distribution, providing an opportunity to study the effect of monsoon forcing and stratification history. Analogous to modern-day stratification, very intense water column stratification and productivity collapse were observed associated with Indian summer monsoon (ISM) evolution. This paper reports significant stratification events during MIS 3 (37.0 to 33 and 27 to 24 cal ka), Bølling/Allerød (B/A), early Holocene (10.0 to 8.0 cal ka) and mid-Holocene (7.0 to 5.0 cal ka) which slowly muted upwelling and productivity. The deglacial intensification of the ISM started in the early stages of the Bølling/Allerød (B/A) followed by slight weakening during the Younger Dryas and regained strength during the early Holocene, coinciding with the highest summer insolation at 30°N. A progressive decline in the abundances of productivity and salinity proxies from 4.2 to 2.0 cal ka suggests a gradual weakening of the ISM. The late Quaternary productivity variations in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea are primarily controlled by salinity-related stratification.     

Chronology of late Holocene climatic events in the northern North Atlantic based on AMS 14C dates and tephra markers from the volcano Hekla,Iceland

A combination of AMS¹⁴C dating and tephrochronology has been used to date late Holocene oceanographic events in a 335 cm marine record, covering about 4600 cal. yr with sedimentation rates exceeding 80 cm 1000 yr⁻¹. The core site is located 50 km offshore on the northern Icelandic shelf. Tephra markers from Iceland serve to correlate the marine and terrestrial records. Especially notable is the presence of three geochemically correlated tephra markers from the Icelandic volcano Hekla (Hekla 4, Hekla 3 and Hekla 1104). Benthic and planktonic foraminiferal abundance and distribution as well as the petrography of the sand fraction of the muddy shelf sediments are used as palaeoceanographic proxies. The foraminiferal assemblages reflect a general cooling trend during the last 4600 yr. A marked drop in sea‐surface temperatures is registered at about 3000 cal. yr BP, corresponding to the level of the Hekla 3 tephra. There is faunal indication of temperature amelioration during the Medieval Warm Period and a cooling again during the Little Ice Age. Periods of ice rafting events are indicated by ice rafted debris (IRD) concentrations, e.g. at around 3000 cal. yr BP and during the Little Ice Age. The former event occurred just prior to the deposition of the Hekla 3 tephra marker, the largest Holocene Hekla eruption. A correlation with terrestrial climatic events in Iceland is presented. A standard marine reservoir correction of 400 ¹⁴C yr appears to be reasonable, at least during periods with high influence of water masses from the Irminger Current on the northern Icelandic shelf. An increase to ca. 530 ¹⁴C yr may have occurred, however, when water masses derived from the East Greenland Current were dominant in the area. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.