The late Miocene onset of high productivity in the Benguela Current upwelling system as part of a global pattern

We have examined the history of the elevated primary productivity associated with the Benguela Current upwelling system off southwest Africa using sediments from 7.5 to 4.8 Ma at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1085 in the middle Cape Basin. Sedimentation rates are low until 6.9 Ma. Low accumulation rates of benthic foraminifers and organic carbon indicate that biological productivity was also low. Paleoproductivity dramatically increased at 6.7–6.5 Ma and was highly variable until 4.8 Ma with productivity maxima during cooler periods. The presence of radiolarian opal only between 5.8 and 5.2 Ma suggests an interlude of silica-rich intermediate water in the Cape Basin. The onset of heightened productivity under the Benguela Current is mirrored by similar increases reported between 6.9 and 6.7 Ma in the tropical eastern Pacific, the western and northern Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. The similarity between the patterns at Site 1085 and in the Pacific and Indian Oceans suggests that the dramatic productivity increase off southwest Africa is part of a global response to paleoceanographic changes.