orbital signals in carbon isotopes phase distortion as a signature of the carbon cycle isotopic mass balance models are employed here to study the response of carbon isotope composition 13c of the ocean atmosphere system to amplitude modulated perturbations on milankovitch time scales we identify a systematic phase distortion which is inherent to a leakage of power from the carrier precessional signal to the modulating eccentricity terms in the global carbon cycle the origin is partly analogous to the simple cumulative effect in sinusoidal signals reflecting the residence time of carbon in the ocean atmosphere reservoir the details of origin and practical implications are however different in amplitude modulated signals the deformation is manifested as a lag of the 405 kyr eccentricity cycle behind amplitude modulation am of the short 100 kyr eccentricity cycle importantly the phase of am remains stable during the carbon cycle transfer thus providing a reference framework against which to evaluate distortion of the 405 kyr term the phase relationships can help to 1 identify depositional and diagenetic signatures in 13c and 2 interpret the pathways of astronomical signal through the climate system the approach is illustrated by case studies of albian and oligocene records using a new computational tool epnose evaluation of phase in uncertain and noisy series analogous phase distortions occur in other components of the carbon cycle including atmospheric co2 levels hence to fully understand the causal relationships on astronomical time scales paleoclimate models may need to incorporate realistic amplitude modulated insolation instead of monochromatic sinusoidal approximations finally detection of the lagged 13c response can help to reduce uncertainties in astrochronological age models that are tuned to the 405 kyr cycle

response of planktonic foraminifera to glacial cycles mid pleistocene change in the southern south china sea a high resolution study 2 ka of planktonic foraminifers in 997 samples from odp site 1143 9821 72vn 113817 11ve water depth 2772 m in the southern south china sea scs reveals faunal response to glacial cycles in the last 2 1 ma most distinctive is the contrasting variations in the abundance of two tropical subtropical species that exhibit similar resistance to dissolution in modern oceans the relative and absolute abundances of globorotalia menardii are high in interglacials and low in glacials and covary with d 18 o fluctuations over the studied interval pulleniatina obliquiloculata however follow oxygen isotopes only before the mid pleistocene revolution mpr showing high abundances during glacials and low during interglacials after 850 ka three abundance maxima of p obliquiloculata are observed corresponding to three major glacial episodes marine isotope stages mis 2 12 and 16 respectively this change in abundance patterns of p obliquiloculata appears to be unique to the southern scs as in late pleistocene records from other western pacific regions including the okinawa trough and the northern scs all show co varying patterns with d 18 oa sg menardii does cross spectral analyses performed between percentages of globorotalia menardii and d 18 o records show high coherency at 41 ka obliquity and then at 100 ka eccentricity bands we suggest that the high abundances of g menardii during interglacials in the past 2 1 ma reflect warmer temperatures percentages of pulleniatina obliquiloculata vs oxygen isotope records show quite large phase difference at 41 ka obliquity band before the mpr as a contrast there are negligible phase differences in the vicinity of 100 and 41 ka after the mpr which means reverse trend between percentages of p obliquiloculata and d 18 o fluctuations the differences of p obliquiloculata from g menardii in abundance and orbital forcings are interpreted as resulting from a profound change in the regional upper ocean structure during the mpr time probably relating to a final glacial cut off of the southern scs from the indian water at 850 ka and to higher salinity during glacial times after 850 ka we speculate that this change is related to the decreased connection between the pacific and indian ocean d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

late glacial diatom accumulation at 9 s in the indian ocean a continuous 10 m long section consisting of roughly two thirds ethmodiscus rex a diatom and one third mixed planktonic foraminifera was identified in a core from 3800 m depth at 9 s on the indian ocean s 90 e ridge radiocarbon dates place the onset of deposition of this layer at 30 000 years b p and its termination at close to 11 000 years b p however precise dating of the foraminifera from the ethmodiscus layer itself proved to be impossible owing to the presence of secondary calcite presumably precipitated from the pore waters during the holocene high calcium carbonate content ooze free of diatoms was deposited at this locale as the site currently lies beneath the pathway taken by upper ocean waters entering the indian ocean from the pacific via the indonesian straits it appears that during glacial time thermocline waters moving along this same path provided the silica and other nutrients required by these diatoms

astronomically tuned plio pleistocene benthic δ 18 o record from south china sea and atlantic pacific comparison based on benthic foraminiferal n 18 o from odp site 1143 a 5 myr astronomical timescale for the west pacific plio pleistocene was established using an automatic orbital tuning method the tuned brunhes matuyama paleomagnetic polarity reversal age agrees well with the previously published age of 0 78 ma the tuned ages for several planktonic foraminifer bio events also agree well with published dates and new ages for some other bio events in the south china sea were also estimated the benthic n 18 o from site 1143 is highly coherent with the earth s orbit etp both at the obliquity and precession bands for the last 5 myr and at the eccentricity band for the last 2 myr in general the 41 kyr cycle was dominant through the plio pleistocene although the 23 kyr cycle was also very strong the 100 kyr cycle became dominant only during the last 1 myr a comparison of the benthic n 18 o between the atlantic odp 659 and the east and west pacific 846 and 1143 reveals that the atlantic pacific benthic oxygen isotope difference ratio vn 18 oatlpac displays an increasing trend in three time intervals 3 6 2 7 ma 2 7 2 1 ma and 1 5 0 25 ma each of the intervals begins with a rapid negative shift in vn 18 oatlpac followed by a long period with an increasing trend corresponding to the growth of the northern hemisphere ice sheet this means that all three intervals of ice sheet growth in the northern hemisphere were accompanied at the beginning by a rapid relative warming of deep water in the atlantic as compared to that of the pacific followed by its gradual relative cooling this general trend superimposed on the frequent fluctuations with glacial cycles should yield insights into the processes leading to the boreal glaciation cross spectral analyses of the vn 18 oatlpac with the earth s orbit suggests that after the initiation of northern hemisphere glaciation at about 2 5 ma obliquity rather than precession had become the dominant force controlling the vertical structure or thermohaline circulation in the paleo ocean a 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

coccolith chemistry reveals secular variations in the global ocean carbon cycle the mismatch between the 100 and 400 k y components of pleistocene climate and the relative power of those terms from the eccentricity of the earth s orbit remains a challenge to the milankovitch hypothesis coccolithophores have the potential to respond to parameters of orbital forcing other than insolation and as a critical component of the ocean carbon cycle can act to modify the climate response the first direct comparison of coccolith fraction sr ca alkenone abundance and automated coccolithophore counts shows that cf sr ca is largely driven by changing production of bloom species with unusually high sr ca ratios the periods of high cf sr ca and high bloom production mark periods of high global coccolithophore production which correlate inversely with the low amplitude 100 and higher amplitude 400 k y eccentricity orbital frequency 400 k y cycles of coccolithophore bloom production correspond to periods of enhanced carbonate accumulation in some parts of the ocean deep ocean dissolution in others positive shifts in global ocean 13c and acmes of gephyrocapsa caribbeanica and emiliania huxleyi the link between production of coccolithophore blooms and eccentricity may be due to orbital control of silica leakage from the southern ocean to the orbitally defined inverse correlation between insolation and growing season length and the asymptotic growth response to these parameters or to changes in nutrient input from weathering during the pleistocene the eccentricity induced coccolithophore acmes have no apparent influence on atmospheric carbon dioxide pco2 due to the shift towards small bloom coccolithophores or to coupling with increased diatom productivity or the ballast effect of the calcium carbonate rain such that pleistocene climate has no significant variance at the largest amplitude eccentricity forcing of 400 k y coccolithophores and their influence on the carbon cycle may act as a filter between the incident orbital forcing and resultant climate

ice age terrestrial carbon changes revisited n shackleton 1977 first proposed that changes in the marine 13 c record 13 c could be used to infer ice age changes in carbon storage on land the previously published best estimate from the marine record is equivalent to about 490 gt 0 32 13 c however adams et al 1990 utilized a pollen database to estimate a 1350 gt change in carbon storage which would cause a 13 c of about 0 90 the nearly trillion ton difference in estimates amounts to almost half of the total carbon stored on land to address the nature of this discrepancy i have reexamined the terrestrial carbon record based on a new pollen database compiled by r webb and the cooperative holocene mapping project cohmap group i estimate about 750 1050 gt glacial interglacial change in terrestrial carbon storage with the range reflecting uncertainties in carbon storage values for different biomes additional uncertainties apply to rainforest and wetland extent and presence of c4 plants which have a significantly different isotopic signature than c3 plants although some scenarios overlap a new estimate of carbon storage based on the oceanic 13 c record revised to 0 40 and 610 gt most estimates seem to fall outside the envelope of uncertainty in the marine record several possible explanations for this gap involve 1 a missing sink may be involved in land sea carbon exchange e g continental slopes 2 the geochemistry of the exchange process is not understood 3 carbon storage by biome may have changed under ice age boundary conditions or 4 the standard interpretation of whole ocean changes in the marine 13 c record requires reevaluation this latter conclusion receives some support from comparison of the 13 c records for 18 o stages 2 and 6 for the stage 6 glacial the 13 c changes are 50 60 larger than for the stage 2 glacial yet implications of increased aridity are not supported by longterm trends in atmospheric dust loading to summarize the above analysis implies that despite the uncertainties remaining in estimates of terrestrial carbon storage changes a case can be made that our understanding of the transfer process is incomplete and that the eventual explanation may require clarification of factors affecting the marine 13 c record

mid pleistocene environmental change in tropical africa began as early as 1 05 ma palynological records from the congo fan reveal environmental change in equatorial africa occurring 1 05 ma ago 100 k y before the mid pleistocene climatic shift at 0 9 ma prior to 1 05 ma a glacial interglacial rhythm is not obvious in the african vegetation variation afterwards podocarpus spread in the mountains of central africa mainly during glacials and congo river discharge decreased the sequence of vegetation variation associated with the mid pleistocene glacials and interglacials differed from that observed during the late pleistocene between 0 9 and 0 6 ma interglacials were characterized by warm dry conditions and glacials were characterized by cool humid conditions while during the past 0 2 ma glacials were cold and dry and interglacials warm and humid our data indicate that before the northern hemisphere ice caps dramatically increased in size 0 9 0 6 ma low latitude climate forcing and response in the tropics played an important role in the initiation of 100 k y ice age cycles during the mid to late pleistocene however the climate conditions in the tropics were increasingly influenced by the glacialinterglacial variations of continental ice sheets

evolution of atlantic pacific δ13c gradients over the last 2 5 m y the evolution of interocean carbon isotopic gradients over the last 2 5 m y is examined using high resolution 13c records from deep sea cores in the atlantic and pacific oceans over much of the northern hemisphere ice ages relative reductions in north atlantic deep water production occur during ice maxima from 2 5 to 1 5 ma glacial reductions in nadw are less than those observed in the late pleistocene glacial suppression of nadw intensified after 1 5 ma earlier than the transition to larger ice sheets around 0 7 ma at a number of times during the pleistocene 13c values at dsdp site 607 in the north atlantic were indistinguishable from eastern equatorial pacific 13c values from approximately the same depth odp site 677 indicating significant incursions of low 13c water into the deep north atlantic atlantic pacific 13c values converge during glaciations between 1 13 1 05 m y 0 83 0 70 m y and 0 46 0 43 m y this represents a pseudo periodicity of approximately 300 kyr which cannot easily be ascribed to global ice volume or orbital forcing this partial decoupling at low frequencies of the 18o and 13c signals at site 607 indicates that variations in north atlantic deep water circulation cannot be viewed simply as a linear response to ice sheet forcing

goethite concentration variations in the red clay sequence on the chinese loess plateau the goethite is a common magnetic mineral in soils and is important for understanding past climatic and environmental change although goethite concentration records are available for the quaternary loess paleosol sequences from the chinese loess plateau clp no goethite concentration record is available for the underlying red clay sequence here we generate a record of goethite concentration from the chaona section on the clp and investigate the relationship between goethite and ferrimagnetic mineral concentration and climate parameters on the red clay sequence deposited from 6 2 7 ma we found that increasing goethite concentration generally corresponds to decreasing magnetic susceptibility for the red clay sequence with the exception of an anomalous section from 4 3 3 7 ma where both records show increasing trends precipitation seasonality could explain this opposite variation pattern between magnetic susceptibility and goethite concentration in the red clay sequence from 3 6 2 7 ma goethite concentration has a decreasing trend while magnetic susceptibility increased which we interpret as more seasonally distributed precipitation associated with intensification of the east asian summer monsoon easm similar pattern was observed from 0 65 0 ma from the lingtai section taken together the goethite record reveals that the easm experienced two stages of rapid intensification with apparent seasonally distributed precipitation since 6 ma

coupled 100 kyr cycles between 3 and 1 ma in terrestrial and marine paleoclimatic records earth s climate over the last one million years experienced several 100 kyr glacial cycles but no simple forcing mechanism has been identified numerous studies have tried to explain strong 100 kyr glacial cycles without recognizable forcing which has come to be known as the 100 kyr problem few studies have examined 100 kyr band paleoclimatic signals before 1 ma a recent study has demonstrated that benthic oxygen and carbon isotope records are phase locked and amplitude coupled at the 100 kyr band but that neither is phase locked to and amplitude coupled with the 100 kyr eccentricity signal between 3 and 1 ma this phasing and amplitude mismatch of the 100 kyr band between 3 and 1 ma between marine records and the eccentricity forcing signal has been called the late pliocene early pleistocene 100 kyr problem however it remains unknown whether terrestrial paleoclimate records are consistent with marine records at the 100 kyr band here i show that loess monsoon records from china are amplitude coupled with benthic oxygen and carbon isotope records at the 100 kyr band but not with the 100 kyr eccentricity forcing between 3 and 1 ma this observation provides further evidence in support of a free 100 kyr oscillation as the cause of the 100 kyr band amplitude variability in paleoclimatic records between 3 and 1 ma in contrast benthic oxygen isotope records and loess monsoon records at the 100 kyr band are not amplitude coupled with 100 kyr benthic carbon isotope records over the last 0 4 million years indicating that the late pleistocene 100 kyr climatic cycles may not result exclusively from a free oscillation

climate an exceptionally long interglacial ahead today9s comparatively warm climate has been the exception more than the rule during the last 500 000 years or more if recent warm periods or interglacials are a guide then we may soon slip into another glacial period but berger and loutre argue in their perspective that with or without human perturbations the current warm climate may last another 50 000 years the reason is a minimum in the eccentricity of earth9s orbit around the sun

coarse fraction fluctuations in pelagic carbonate sediments from the tropical indian ocean a 1500 kyr record of carbonate dissolution appendix table al is available with entire article onmicrofiche order from the american geophysical union 2000florida avenue n w washington d c 20009 documentp94 001 2 50 payment must accompany order we examined coarse fraction contents of pelagic carbonates deposited between 2000 and 3700 m water depth in the tropical indian ocean using ocean drilling program odp sites 722 owen ridge arabian sea and 758 ninetyeast ridge eastern equatorial indian ocean and four giant piston cores collected by the french r v marion dufresne during the seymama expedition over the last 1500 kyr coarse fraction records display high amplitude oscillations with an irregular wavelength on the order of 500 kyr these oscillations can be correlated throughout the entire equatorial indian ocean from the seychelles area eastward to the ninetyeast ridge and into the arabian sea changes in grain size mainly result from changes in carbonate dissolution as evidenced by the positive relationship between coarse fraction content and a foraminiferal preservation index based on test fragmentation the well known mid bruhes dissolution cycle represents the last part of this irregular long term dissolution oscillation the origin of this long term oscillation is still poorly understood our observations suggest that it is not a true cycle it has an irregular wavelength and we propose that it may result from long term changes in ca flux to the ocean sites 722 and 758 18o records provide a high resolution stratigraphy that allows a detailed intersite comparison of the two coarse fraction records over the last 1500 kyr site 722 2030 m lies above the present and late pleistocene lysocline the lysocline shoaled to the position of site 758 2925 m only during the interglacial intervals that occurred between about 300 and 500 ka peterson and prell 1985a despite these supralysoclinal positions of the two sites short term changes in coarse fraction contents are correctable from one site to another and probably result from regional or global dissolution pulses by stacking the normalized coarse fraction records from sites 722 and 758 we constructed a composite coarse fraction index ccfi curve in which most of the local signals cancelled out the last 800 kyr of this curve appear to compare extremely well with the composite dissolution index curve from core v34 53 ninetyeast ridge which unambiguously records past variations of carbonate dissolution in the equatorial indian ocean peterson and prell 1985a in the late pleistocene the ccfi variations are mainly associated with glacial interglacial changes they show strong 100 and 41 kyr periodicities but no clear precession related periodicities as proposed earlier by peterson and prell 1985a the lack of precession frequencies may suggest that the regional carbonate dissolution signal is driven by changes in deepwater circulation we cannot totally reject the possibility however that low temporal resolution and or bioturbation degrade somehow the precessional signal at odp sites 722 and 758 in contrast spectral density of dissolution cycles in the giant 53 m long piston core md900963 maldives area displays clear maxima centered on the precession frequencies 23 and 19 kyr 1 as well as on the kyr 1 frequency but shows little power at the 100 kyr 1 frequency these high frequency changes most probably result from changes in surface productivity associated with monsoon variability dissolution at this site may be ultimately controlled by the oxidation of organic matter which appears to be incorporated into the sediments in greater quantity during periods of weak sw monsoon and or increased dry ne monsoon

precessional forcing of nutricline dynamics in the equatorial atlantic climate control of nutricline depth in the equatorial atlantic can be monitored by variations in the abundance of the phytoplankton species florisphaera profunda a conceptual model based on in situ evidence associates high abundances of f profunda with a deep nutricline and low abundances with a shallow nutricline a 200 000 year record of f profunda relative abundances obtained from a deep sea core sited beneath the region of maximum equatorial divergence at 10 w has 52 percent of its variance centered on the 23 000 year precessional band cross spectral analysis between the signals of f profunda and sea surface temperature independently derived from zooplankton species shows their 23 000 year cycles to be coherent and nearly in phase abundance minima of f profunda coincide with times of december perihelion whereas abundance maxima coincide with june perihelion these relations indicate that nutricline dynamics in the divergence region of the equatorial atlantic are controlled by variations in the tropical easterlies forced by the precessional component of orbital insolation on time scales greater than 10 000 years

sedimentary record of the mid pleistocene climate transition in the southeastern south atlantic odp site 1090 abstract one important goal of leg 177 of the ocean drilling program odp was to explore the nature of the mid pleistocene climate transition mpt on the southern hemisphere a suitable mpt record was encountered at site 1090 in the southeastern south atlantic where a 44 m thick sequence of quaternary diatom bearing foraminiferal muds and oozes was recovered on the agulhas ridge environmental responses to the mpt comprised changes in terrestrial climate biological productivity and regional ocean circulation as inferred from compositional sediment data and clay mineralogy a shift towards more arid conditions occurred between 900 and 800 ka in southern africa changes in palaeoceanography already started earlier since 1150 ka northward displacements of the polar front appeared during glacial periods and shifted the area of dominant diatom deposition towards site 1090 likewise glacial interglacial contrasts in regional conveyor circulation strengthened after 1200 ka and became most severe after 650 ka however while changes in regional conveyor circulation likely responded in tune with global ice volume changes and show the onset of 100 kyr cycles after 1200 ka an unusual 130 kyr pattern characterises the pattern of frontal movements between 1200 ka and 650 ka probably in response to imperfect adaptation of regional climate to the global 100 kyr climate cycles

underlying causes for long term global ocean δ13c fluctuations over the last 1 20 myr pleistocene stable carbon isotope 13c records from surface and deep dwelling foraminifera in all major ocean basins show two distinct long term carbon isotope fluctuations since 1 00 ma the first started around 1 00 ma and was characterised by a 0 35 decrease in 13c values until 0 90 ma followed by an increase of 0 60 lasting until 0 50 ma the subsequent fluctuation started with a 0 40 decrease between 0 50 and 0 25 ma followed by an increase of 0 30 between 0 25 and 0 10 ma here we evaluate existing evidence and various hypotheses for these global pleistocene 13c fluctuations and present an interpretation where the fluctuations most likely resulted from concomitant changes in the burial fluxes of organic and inorganic carbon due to ventilation changes and or changes in the production and export ratio our model indicates that to satisfy the long term stability of the pleistocene lysocline the ratio between the amounts of change in the organic and inorganic carbon burial fluxes would have to be close to a 1 1 ratio as deviations from this ratio would lead to sizable variations in the depth of the lysocline it is then apparent that the mid pleistocene climate transition which apart from the glacial cycles represents the most fundamental change in the pleistocene climate was likely not associated with a fundamental change in atmospheric pco2 while recognising that high frequency glacial interglacial cycles are associated with relatively large 100 ppmv changes in pco2 our model scenario with burial changes close to a 1 1 ratio produces a maximum long term variability of only 20 ppmv over the fluctuation between 1 00 and 0 50 ma

anomalous south atlantic lithologies confirm global scale of unusual mid pleistocene climate excursion abstract carbonate rich nannofossil oozes are the typical sediments deposited under the low productivity regime of the subtropical gyre in the south atlantic surface productivity has remained virtually constant during the late pleistocene schmiedl and mackensen palaeogeogr palaeoclimatol palaeoecol 130 1997 43 80 increasing slightly only during the most extreme glacial periods recently the puzzling occurrence of thick monospecific diatom layers ethmodiscus rex has been reported within the carbonaceous sequences of two sediment cores in the south atlantic gyre schmieder et al earth planet sci lett 179 2000 539 549 the layers dated 544 534 ka are isochronous and record a period of increased organic carbon flux above them at 530 524 ka unusually high carbonate contents are recorded this double feature of anomalous lithologies is unique in the sediment record of the last 1500 kyr and can be related to the terminal event of the mid pleistocene climate transition mpt the mpt is characterized by reduced thermohaline circulation and stronger carbonate dissolution schmieder et al earth planet sci lett 179 2000 539 549 reduced circulation and a more stratified water column may have trapped nutrients in deep nitrate pools and may have fostered favorable conditions for the development of deep dwelling populations of e rex the onset of more turbid conditions led to the rapid settling of diatom populations subsequently introduced nutrients to the surface layer and improved calcite preservation thus creating a biogenic silica carbonate double peak the carbonate peak is synchronous with an unusual mid pleistocene sapropel observed in the mediterranean which is attributed to a massive odd monsoon over central africa rossignol strick et al nature 392 1998 269 272 since summer insolation was relatively low during this time the formation of this thick sapropel cannot be explained in terms of current understanding of astronomical forcing rossignol strick et al nature 392 1998 269 272 a non linear response to a 400 kyr low frequency climatic cycle as discussed for the mediterranean sapropel is not confirmed by data from our south atlantic core records

astronomic timescale for the pliocene atlantic δ18o and dust flux records of ocean drilling program site 659 high resolution benthic oxygen isotope and dust flux records from ocean drilling program site 659 have been analyzed to extend the astronomically calibrated isotope timescale for the atlantic from 2 85 ma back to 5 ma spectral analysis of the 18o record indicates that the 41 kyr period of earth s orbital obliquity dominates the pliocene record this is shown to be true regardless of fundamental changes in the earth s climate during the pliocene however the cycles of sahelian aridity fluctuations indicate a shift in spectral character near 3 ma from the early pliocene to 3 ma the periodicities were dominantly precessional 19 and 23 kyr and remained strong until 1 5 ma subsequent to 3 ma the variance at the obliquity period 41 kyr increased the timescale tuned to precession suggests that the pliocene was longer than previously estimated by more than 0 5 m y

oxygen isotope record of sea level and climate variations in the sulu sea over the past 150 000 years the sulu sea is located in the warm pool of the western pacific ocean where mean annual temperatures are the highest of anywhere on earth because this large heat source supplies the atmosphere with a significant portion of its water vapour and latent heat understanding the climate history of the region is important for reconstructing global palaeoclimate and for predicting future climate change changes in the oxygen isotope composition of planktonic foraminifera from sulu sea sediments have previously been shown to reflect changes in the planetary ice volume at glacial interglacial and millenial timeseales and such records have been obtained for the late pleistocene epoch and the last deglaciation1 3 here i present results that extend the millenial time resolution record back to 150 000 years before present on timescales of around 10 000 years the sulu sea oxygen isotope record matches changes in sea level deduced from coral terraces on the huon peninsula4 this is particularly the case during isotope stage 3 an interglacial period 23 000 to 58 000 years ago where the sulu sea oxygen isotope record deviates from the specmap deep ocean oxygen isotope record5 thus these results support the idea4 6 that there were higher sea levels and less continental ice during stage 3 than the specmap record implies and that sea level during this interglacial was just 40 50 metres below present levels the subsequent rate of increase in continental ice volume during the return to full glacial conditions was correspondingly faster than previously thought

quaternary time scale for the ontong java plateau milankovitch template for ocean drilling program site 806 a 2 m y oxygen isotope record of globigerinoides sacculifer from the ontong java plateau based on cores from ocean drilling program leg 130 is dated by matching variations to an orbital template the procedure allows us to present the most complete quaternary record available for the western equatorial pacific the template generating algorithm describes a balance between growth and melting of ice following basic milankovitch theory ice growth is taken as constant while melting is taken to depend on summer insolation current ice mass and average past ice mass template settings must be changed once between 1 and 1 2 ma to reflect a major shift in climate template fits are strikingly good over much of the record and can be used to detect and fill gaps from core breaks and other disturbances one result of template dating is an exact age for the brunhes matuyama magnetic reversal boundary at 790 5 ka as well as several other precise dates 900 ka for the middle pleistocene climate shift 1070 1240 and 1450 ka for isotope stages 31 37 and 47 respectively sedi mentation rates fluctuate between 18 and 28 m m y a ca 400 ka cycle being the most prominent major anomalies arise within the transitional regime 1 2 to 1 ma the origin of the cycles is unknown we propose productivity variations in the western equatorial pacific

paleoceanography of the mid pleistocene the fossil record of the pleistocene calcareous nannoplankton indicates that during the mid pleistocene 0 93 1 25 my occurred an episode of overwhelming dominance of smallgephyrocapsa during this episode normally abundant large size specimens of this genus mainlygephyrocapsa oceanica were virtually excluded from the phytoplankton of tropical and subtropical oceans the best modern analog of this dominantly smallgephyrocapsa assemblage is the subpolaremiliania huxleyi assemblage which implies that nutrient content was significantly greater and water temperature was lower in the photic water column of the tropical oceans than they are today increased equatorial upwelling in the oceans on a scale much greater than today may explain the above pattern to achieve such broad equatorial upwelling there must be a source and a drive for cold dense water the arctic ocean which was probably seasonally free of ice during this interval of the mid pleistocene is capable of providing the requisite source as well as a drive for the inferred equatorial upwelling the energy balance of a predominantly ice free arctic ocean requires an approximately three to seven fold increase of hydrospheric heat transport from the north atlantic to the arctic ocean which dictates a corresponding or even greater increase in the volume of warm water entering the arctic ocean at the surface and cold dense water exiting at depth to the north atlantic such enhanced dense water formation in the arctic ocean could drive the intensified equatorial upwelling implied by the smallgephyrocapsa dominance interval if the above scenario is correct then the climate of the earth s northern hemisphere during the mid pleistocene may have been very different from the younger pleistocene climate one manifestation of this difference may be the mid pleistocene shift in climatic cycle periodicity from 40 ky to 100 ky another important aspect is that the enhanced greenhouse effect expected during the next century because of an increase of atmospheric co2 is thought to lead directly to melting of the arctic ocean ice cover and of the greenland ice sheet thus the greenhouse arctic ocean and its attendant ocean circulation would resemble the inferred mid pleistocene conditions

long eccentricity cycle in pliocene oceanic carbon reservoir a comparison between the mediterranean and the south china sea abstract as quantitative paleoclimate time series extend deeper into the geological past growing evidence indicates the extensive occurrence of the 400 kyr long eccentricity cycle in geological records the long cycles are best manifested in the marine carbon isotope as a series of 13 cmax which correspond to the long eccentricity s minima however it remains unclear how eccentricity affects the oceanic carbon reservoir to determine what processes are involved in generating the 400 kyr cycles one long eccentricity cycle in the late pliocene from 3 2 myr to 2 8 myr was examined in two sections respectively from the mediterranean and the south china sea the results indicate that the mediterranean section displays distinct precession cycles in all of the studied proxy time series and their amplitudes are modulated by eccentricity whereas the precession cycles and the eccentricity modulation are much weaker in the proxy sequences from the south china sea the difference is attributed to the fact that african monsoon was overwhelmingly dominated by precessional forcing and the mediterranean basin was isolated from glacial induced reorganizations of the global ocean whereas totally different conditions existed in the south china sea it may be inferred from the comparison that the 13 cmax originated largely from the global ocean and was unlikely caused by local basin factors at the long eccentricity maximum summer insolation reached a maximum at low latitudes and the intensified global monsoon changed the ocean carbon reservoir and the 13 c value because of the long residence time of carbon in the ocean 13 c changes in the global oceanic reservoir primarily occur on a 10 5 yr time scale with a smoothing effect in the lower frequencies the 400 kyr long eccentricity was pervasive at least in the cenozoic ocean but its expression was subject to spatio temporal variations particularly under the influence of the ice sheet development

early onset and tropical forcing of 100 000 year pleistocene glacial cycles between 1 5 and 0 6 myr ago the period of the earth s glacial cycles changed from 41 kyr the period of the earth s obliquity cycles to 100 kyr the period of the earth s orbital eccentricity1 2 which has a much smaller effect on global insolation the timing of this transition and its causes pose one of the most perplexing problems in palaeoclimate research3 here we use complex demodulation to examine the phase evolution of precession and semiprecession cycles the latter of which are phase coupled to both precession and eccentricity in the tropical and extra tropical atlantic ocean we find that about 1 5 myr ago tropical semiprecession cycles with periods of about 11 5 kyr started to propagate to higher latitudes coincident with a growing amplitude envelope of the 100 kyr cycles evidence from numerical models suggests that cycles of about 10 kyr in length may be required to explain the high amplitude of the 100 kyr cycles4 combining our results with consideration of a modern analogue we conclude that increased heat flow across the equator or from the tropics to higher latitudes around 1 5 myr ago strengthened the semiprecession cycle in the northern hemisphere and triggered the transition to sustained 100 kyr glacial cycles

the mid pleistocene climate transition as documented in the deep south atlantic ocean initiation interim state and terminal event abstract the mid pleistocene transition mpt of the global climate system initiated by a shift towards much larger northern hemisphere ice shields at around 920 ka and ending with predominance of 100 kyr ice age cyclicity since about 640 ka is one of the fundamental enigmas in quaternary climate evolution climate proxy records not exclusively linked to global ice volume are necessary to advance understanding of the mpt here we present a high resolution pleistocene magnetic susceptibility time series of 12 sediment cores from the subtropical south atlantic essentially reflecting dissolution driven variations in carbonate accumulation controlled by changes in deep water circulation in addition to characteristics known from 18o records the data sets reveal three remarkable features intimately related to the mpt 1 an all pleistocene minimum of carbonate accumulation in the south atlantic at 920 ka 2 a mpt interim state of reduced carbonate deposition indicating that the mpt period may have been a discrete state of the pleistocene deep water circulation and climate system and 3 a terminal mpt event at around 540 530 ka documented in several peculiarities such as thick laminated layers of the giant diatom ethmodiscus rex

obscuring of long eccentricity cyclicity in pleistocene oceanic carbon isotope records abstract long eccentricity 400 kyr cycles in carbon isotope records from the pacific and atlantic oceans and the mediterranean sea of the past 5 0 ma are compared all records show maximum 13c values 13cmax at eccentricity minima during the pliocene but this relationship obscured in the pleistocene after 1 6 ma in particular for the open ocean deep water 13c records since a clear anti phase relationship was set up between oceanic 18o and 13c in the 100 kyr band from this time we attribute the obscured 400 kyr signal to a major change in the oceanic carbon reservoir probably associated with restructure of the southern ocean a similar change occurred in the miocene at 13 9 ma when the 400 kyr cyclicity in 13c records flattened out together with a drastic cooling and antarctic ice sheet expansion a remarkable exception is the mediterranean surface water 13c record which remained paced by the long term eccentricity cycle throughout the pliocene and pleistocene suggesting a low latitude climatic origin of the 400 kyr signal that is independent of glacial interglacial forcing since the earth is currently passing through an eccentricity minimum it is crucial to understand the nature of the 13cmax events

globally increased pelagic carbonate production during the mid brunhes dissolution interval and the co2 paradox of mis 11 the mid brunhes dissolution interval mbdi represents a period of global carbonate dissolution lasting several hundred thousand years centred around marine isotope stage mis 11 here we report the effects of dissolution in odp core 982 taken from 1134 m in the north atlantic paradoxically records of atmospheric co2 from antarctic ice cores reveal no long term trend over the last 400 kyr and suggest that co2 during mis 11 was no higher than during the present interglacial we suggest that a global increase in pelagic carbonate production during this period possibly related to the proliferation of the gephyrocapsa coccolithophore could have altered marine carbonate chemistry in such a way as to drive increased dissolution under the constraints of steady state an increase in the production of carbonate in surface waters would cause a drawdown of global carbonate saturation and increase dissolution at the seafloor in order to reconcile the record of atmospheric co2 variability we suggest that an increase in the flux of organic matter from the surface to deep ocean associated with either a net increase in primary production or the enhanced ballasting effect provided by an increased flux of caco3 could have countered the effect of increased calcification on co2

an automatic orbital tuning method for paleoclimate records the recognized linkage of climatic events to the earth s orbital variations has provided the basis for establishing time scales of pleistocene climatic records most of the classic orbital tuning methods developed so far however need visual judgements to add new time control points into the climatic records thus being time consuming and hindering the construction of high resolution climatic time series in this study we propose to use the dynamic optimization method to overcome the shortcomings with this technique the additional time control points can be automatically added into the climatic records and a best age for each of the climatic data can be calculated results of a case study conducted on the baoji loess section show that the automatic orbital tuning method can lead to a much better agreement of climatic time series with theoretical changes in the orbital elements relative to the classic ones

pleistocene paleoceanography of the south china sea progress over the past 20 years article i nfo the south china sea scs has become one of the foci in paleoceanographic research and hydrocarbon explora tions over the last 20 years over the period at least 16 international cruises including odp ocean drilling pro gram leg 184 have investigated the scs and more than 2000 exploratory wells have been drilled the present paper attempts to synthesize progress in pleistocene paleoceanography because of the high depositional rates and favorable carbonate preservation the scs keeps valuable paleoceanographic archives for the low latitude pacific region which have helped to uncover potential ties between the low latitude oceanic biogeochemical evolution and step wise development of the boreal ice sheet it has been found that the 1 6 ma event marked a reorganization of the oceanic carbon reservoir associated with the restructuring of the southern and the tropical pacific ocean the mpt mid pleistocene transition and mbe mid brunhes event centered at 0 9 ma and 0 4 ma respectively were preluded by carbon isotope maxima 13 cmax iii and 13 cmax ii suggesting that major steps in the ice sheet development were preceded by significant changes in oceanic biogeochemistry the late pleistocene records have demonstrated the amplifying role of the scs in responding to glacial cycles as the amplitudes of sst and 18 ov ariations have been significantly amplified in the scs as compared with the open ocean at the same latitudes the amplification is ascribed to its semi enclosed morphology and the prevail ing monsoon climate the closure of the southern margin during glacial times led to stratification of the upper waters and specific faunal changes in the southern scs the seasonally reversing monsoon winds not only drive the surface circulation but also the biological production the n s gradient in oceanography and the sed iment transportdynamics such asthe asymmetric growth of the mekong river delta becauseof its distinguished position in the low latitudes between the largest continent and the largest ocean the scs provides important insight into the mechanism of environmental evolution with regards to ocean continent or high low latitude interactions

the early matuyama diatom maximum off sw africa a conceptual model abstract an important discovery during ocean drilling program leg 175 when investigating the record of upwelling off namibia was the finding of a distinct late pliocene diatom maximum spanning the lower half of the matuyama reversed polarity chron mdm matuyama diatom maximum and centered around 2 6 2 0 ma this maximum was observed at all sites off southwestern africa between 20 s and 30 s and is most strongly represented in sediments of site 1084 off luderitz namibia the mdm is characterized by high biogenic opal content high numbers of diatom valves and a diatom flora rich in southern ocean representatives with thalassiothrix antarctica forming diatom mats as well as coastal upwelling components before mdm time diatoms are rare until ca 3 6 ma after the mdm in the pleistocene the composition of the diatom flora points to increased importance of coastal upwelling toward the present but is accompanied by a general decrease in opal and diatom deposition here we present a simple conceptual model as a first step in formalizing a possible forcing mechanism responsible for the record of opal deposition in the upwelling system off namibia the model takes into account southern ocean oceanography and a link with deepwater circulation and deepwater nutrient chemistry which in turn are coupled to the evolution of north atlantic deep water nadw the model proposes that between the mdm and the mid pleistocene climate revolution opal deposition off namibia is not directly tied to glacial interglacial fluctuations as seen in the global 18o record but that instead a strong deepwater link exists with increased nadw production as seen in the deepwater 13c record accounting for higher supply of silicate to the thermocline waters that feed the upwelling process the opal record of site 1084 shows affinity to eccentricity on the 400 kyr scale but not for the 100 kyr scale this points toward long term geologic processes for delivery of silica to the ocean

mid miocene isotope stratigraphy in the deep sea high resolution correlations paleoclimatic cycles and sediment preservation mid miocene pelagic sedimentary sections can be correlated using intermediate and high resolution oxygen and carbon isotopic records of benthic foraminifera precision of a few tens of thousands of years is readily achievable at sites with high sedimentation rates for example deep sea drilling project sites 289 and 574 the mid miocene carbon isotope records are characterized by an interval of high 13c values between 17 and 13 5 ma the monterey excursion of vincent and berger 1985 upon which are superimposed a series of periodic or quasi periodic fluctuations in 13c values these fluctuations have a period of approximately 440 kyr suggestive of the 413 kyr cycle predicted by milankovitch theory vincent and berger proposed that the monterey excursion was the result of increased organic carbon burial in continental margins sediments the increased 13c values called 13c maxima superimposed on the generally high mid miocene signal coincide with increases in 18o values suggesting that periods of cooling and or ice buildup were associated with exceptionally rapid burial of organic carbon and lowered atmospheric co2 levels it is likely that during the monterey excursion the ocean atmosphere system became progressively more sensitive to small changes in insolation ultimately leading to major cooling of deep water and expansion of continental ice we have assigned an absolute chronology based on biostratigraphic and magneto biostratigraphic datum levels to the isotope stratigraphy and have used that chronology to correlate unconformities seismic reflectors carbonate minima and dissolution intervals intervals of sediment containing 13c maxima are usually better preserved than the overlying and underlying sediments indicating that the 13c values of tco2 in deep water and the corrosiveness of seawater are inversely correlated this again suggests that the 13c maxima were associated with rapid burial of organic carbon and reduced levels of atmospheric co2 the absolute chronology we have assigned to the isotopic record indicates that the major mid miocene deepwater cooling ice volume expansion took 2 m y and was not abrupt as had been reported previously the cooling appears abrupt at many sites because the interval is characterized by a number of dissolution intervals the cooling was not monotonic and the 2 m y interval included an episode of especially rapid cooling as well as a brief return to warmer conditions before the final phase of the cooling period the increase in 18o values of benthic foraminifera between 14 9 and 12 9 ma was greatest at deeper water sites and at sites closest to antarctica the data suggest that the 18o value of seawater increased by no more than about 1 1 per mil during this interval and that the remainder of the change in benthic 18o values resulted from cooling in antarctic regions of deepwater formation equatorial planktonic foraminifera from sites 237 and 289 exhibit a series of 0 4 per mil steplike increases in 13c values only one of these increases in planktonic 13c is correlated with any of the features in the mid miocene benthic carbon isotope record

on the occurrence of the giant diatom ethmodiscus rex in an 80 ka record from a deep sea core southeast of sumatra indonesia implications for tropical palaeoceanography environmental changes recognised in a 80 ka record obtained from a deep sea core taken at a water depth of 2542 m offshore southeast sumatra conclusively indicate for the first time that blooms of the giant diatom ethmodiscus rex occurred in the indian ocean during the last glacial period with the largest numbers coinciding with the last glacial maximum previous occurrences of e rex in both the indian and the western pacific oceans could not be dated due to the paucity of foraminifers and contamination by diagenetic carbonate found in association with the diatoms we use a reliable n 18 o record to date the core the interpretation of terrigenous clays and trace metals in the core sediments together with carbon isotopes measured on planktic foraminifers suggests that conditions that favoured the diatomaceous blooms were a combination of changes in hydrological regime in the region caused by a substantial increase in salinity near the surface and coinciding with a rise in nitrate levels near the surface no major upwelling was recorded during glacial times during the glacial period the indonesian archipelago as other tropical regions was much drier thus preventing a low salinity cap to occur at the surface of the oceans in contrast with the holocene in addition monsoonal winds were absent thus permitting the ocean to be permanently stratified with high levels of silica and nutrients near the surface the glacial mode of productivity represented by the blooms of e rex added considerable amounts of biogenic silica to the sediment but is not reflected by classic productivity proxies like biogenic barium therefore we have to distinguish between a classic productivity mode as observed in the photic zone today and a glacial deep productivity dominated by e rex which may have utilised nutrients from a wider depth range 9 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

diffuse spectral reflectance as a proxy for percent carbonate content in north atlantic sediments diffuse reflectance records from fern drift in the north atlantic faithfully record sediment percent carbonate a high resolu tion reflectance based age model for these sediments derived from an orbitally tuned age model for western equatorial atlantic ceara rise sediments was generated by spectral frequency mapping power spectra of the fern drift record indicate statistically significant sub milankovitch cyclicity at 7 6 8 4 and 4 8 6 1 kyr we infer that these 8 and 5 kyr cycles document a linkage between north and equa torial atlantic climate given our ability to correlate these records these climate cycles influence atlantic basin carbonate prior to the intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation and thus must arise from some portion of the climate system other than the dynamics of large ice sheets the presence of these peaks which could be related to equatorial clipped precession implies a possible non linear response to milankovitch forcing abstract diffuse reflectance records from feni drift in the north atlantic faithfully record sediment percent carbonate a high resolu tion reflectance based age model for these sediments derived from an orbitally tuned age model for western equatorial atlantic ceara rise sediments was generated by spectral frequency mapping power spectra of the feni drift record indicate statistically significant sub milankovitch cyclicity at 7 6 8 4 and 4 8 6 1 kyr we infer that these 8 and 5 kyr cycles document a linkage between north and equa torial atlantic climate given our ability to correlate these records these climate cycles influence atlantic basin carbonate prior to the intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation and thus must arise from some portion of the climate system other than the dynamics of large ice sheets the presence of these peaks which could be related to equatorial clipped precession implies a possible non linear response to milankovitch forcing

a 1 0 myr record of glacial north atlantic intermediate water variability from odp site 982 in the northeast atlantic changes in the intermediate water structure of the north atlantic were reconstructed using benthic foraminiferal 13c at ocean drilling program odp site 982 for the past 1 0 myr during most terminations of the late pleistocene melting of icebergs and low salinity surface waters caused production of glacial north atlantic intermediate water to cease resulting in decreased ventilation of the middepth north atlantic poor ventilation of intermediate water masses lasted well into some interglacial stages until upper north atlantic deep water nadw production resumed under full interglacial conditions the magnitude of benthic 13c minima and ice rafted debris maxima at terminations at site 982 generally match the degree of glacial suppression of nadw inferred from site 607 these processes may be related and controlled by the spatial and seasonal extent of sea ice cover during glaciations in the nordic seas

x ray fluorescence core scanning records of chemical weathering and monsoon evolution over the past 5 myr in the southern south china sea with benthic foraminiferal d 18 o reveal that phases of the east asian summer monsoon abruptly changed by more than 90 at 4 0 ma 2 75 ma 1 0 ma and 0 6 ma relative to global ice volume at the obliquity and the precession bands over the past 5 myr strong 400 kyr and 100 kyr cycles in the k al and ti al records consistently exist over the past 5 myr particularly these cycles are highly coherent with the long and short eccentricity cycles in the truncated insolation at 65 n indicating an eccentricity forcing of the east asian summer monsoon the chemical weathering recorded in the elemental records of odp site 1143 also shows highly coherent relationship with the ocean carbon reservoir at the eccentricity the obliquity and the precession bands over the late pliocene and pleistocene

last glacial pollen record from lanzhou northwestern china and possible forcing mechanisms for the mis 3 climate change in middle to east asia abstract the vegetation on the northeastern margin of the tibetan plateau is highly sensitive to climatic changes and thus represents a potentially interesting environmental archive pollen samples from the fanjiaping loess section in lanzhou on the western chinese loess plateau clp were analyzed in conjunction with osl dating the results indicate that pollen zone b 60 6 46 0 ka correlative to the early mis 3 had the greatest abundances of cupressaceae tsuga gramineae and cyperaceae of the entire section suggesting a warm phase during the last glacial period these pollen taxa decreased significantly in abundance in the zones c 46 0 39 0 ka and d 39 0 27 0 ka reflecting a substantial climate cooling from the middle mis 3 to mis 2 these results correlate with climate records from the south china sea the clp baikal lake north america north atlantic ocean and other regions and probably correspond with the decline of northern high latitude insolation and the increase of global ice volume from 50 to 20 ka in particular arboreal pollen fern spore and algae abundances declined sharply since 40 ka while shrub and herb pollen reached the highest abundances conifer pollen picea and abies abundance also rose markedly and increased up the section this implies significant climate deterioration and likely corresponded with substantial growth of the polar ice sheets since 40 ka the decreasing temperature caused by an insolation decline during the last glacial period probably reinforced the cooling effect in a snow ice albedo feedback which would result in less climate sensitivity to radiative forcing meanwhile vegetation decline in the northern hemisphere during the last glacial period and tundra development at high latitudes possibly caused additional cooling enhancing the growth of polar ice sheets since 40 ka the development of polar ice sheets increased the polar to equator temperature and pressure gradients strengthening the westerlies and supplying plenty of moisture to northwest china during 40 30 ka lake sediments developed widely on the tibetan plateau during 40 30 ka probably related to an increase in the seasonality of middle to low latitude insolation which caused an enhancement of glacier melting on the plateau

new evidence for changes in plio pleistocene deep water circulation from southern ocean odp leg 177 site 1090 abstract changes in atlantic deep water circulation were reconstructed by comparing the benthic foraminiferal 13c record at odp site 1090 in the south atlantic with similar records from the north atlantic sites 982 607 925 929 and deep pacific site 849 oceans important deep water circulation changes occurred in the early pleistocene at 1 55 myr and during the mid pleistocene transition at 0 9 myr at 1 55 myr glacial 13c values in the southern ocean became significantly lower than those in the deep pacific establishing a pattern that persisted throughout the late pleistocene we propose that the lowering of 13c values of southern component water scw at this time resulted from expansion of sea ice and reduced ventilation of deep water during glacial periods after marine isotope stage 52 accompanying this change in southern ocean deep water circulation was enhanced interhemispheric coupling between the north and south atlantic after 1 55 myr at 0 9 myr the magnitude of glacial to interglacial variability in 13c increased and shifted to a longer frequency 100 kyr along with oceanic 18o ice volume calculation of percent northern component water ncw using site 1090 as the scw end member yielded 20 30 less reduction of ncw during glacial periods of the late pleistocene also a trend toward reduced glacial suppression of ncw during the past 400 kyr is not evident the apparent decoupling of ice volume and deep water circulation reported previously may be an artifact of using a pacific rather than a southern ocean carbon isotopic record to calculate past mixing ratios of ncw and scw

flow lobes in granite the determination of magma flow direction in the trawenagh bay granite northwestern ireland using anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams has been determined from 152 sites over the 64 km2 trawenagh bay granite part of the 400 ma caledonian donegal batholith microscopic observations thermomagnetic analyses high field torque magnetometry and heating experiments demonstrate that the ams fabric is carried by biotite with varying amounts of mimetic magnetite in the biotite cleavage planes the ams fabric is interpreted as a flow fabric because microstructures indicate magmatic state deformation it defines large scale macroscopic flow features flow lobes in this weakly deformed granite at pluton scale the data set shows a gentle westward plunging lineation at a smaller scale many lobate magnetic foliation patterns can be discerned in which the magnetic lineation is usually symmetrically disposed about the long axes of the lobes in three dimensions the lobes are tongue like 1500 m wide subunit scale and elongated east west parallel with the general lineation they close consistently westward and younger lobes in the east appear to deflect older lobes in the west the trawenagh bay granite is west of a major synplutonic shear zone that hosts the main donegal granite pluton these structures are interpreted as frozen flow lobes and indicate that the magma flowed in a westward direction from within the active shear zone of the main donegal granite into the weakly deformed wall rock trawenagh bay granite intra unit pulses or surges have long been suspected in granite plutons however this study reports the most detailed description of such structures to date

nonstationary phase of the plio pleistocene asian monsoon paleoclimate records indicate that the strength of the asian summer monsoon is sensitive to orbital forcing at the obliquity and precession periods 41 000 and 23 000 years respectively and the extent of northern hemisphere glaciation over the past 2 6 million years the timing phase of strong monsoons has changed by 83 degrees in the precession and 124 degrees in the obliquity bands relative to the phase of maximum global ice volume inferred from the marine oxygen isotope record these results suggest that one or both of these systems is nonstationary relative to orbital forcing

east asian monsoon evolution since the late miocene from the south china sea abstract the south china sea scs has become a global focus for paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies due to its location which makes it highly sensitive to the east asian monsoon and to pacific ocean changes we present here a refined magnetostratigraphy for the last 6 5 ma for hole u1431d which was recovered during iodp expedition 349 in the central scs magnetic analyses demonstrate that magnetite is the dominant magnetic carrier except for within a greigite bearing layer at 130 5 132 0 meters below sea floor the greigite layer coincides with the timing of intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation and records an oceanographic response to this event environmental magnetic results indicate that the east asian summer and winter monsoon were stable from 6 5 to 5 ma the summer monsoon intensified at 5 ma and then weakened gradually since 3 8 ma in contrast the winter monsoon weakened at 5 ma and has then been enhanced since 3 8 ma and more stable from 0 6 ma spectral analysis indicates that the east asian summer monsoon was driven directly by low latitude insolation changes before 3 2 ma and that it has been affected by both low latitude insolation and high latitude ice volume changes since 3 2 ma

the mid pleistocene climate transition a deep sea carbon isotopic perspective five 13c records from the deep ocean extending back to 1 3 ma were examined in order to constrain changes in mean ocean carbon isotope composition and thermohaline circulation over the 41 to 100 ka climate transition these data show that significant perturbations in mean ocean carbon chemistry were associated with the mid pleistocene climate transition notable features of the last 1 3 myr are 1 a pronounced 0 3 decrease in mean ocean 13c between 0 9 and 1 0 myr followed by a return to pre 1 0 ma values by 400 ka b p which we propose was due to the onetime addition of isotopically depleted terrestrial carbon to the ocean possibly associated with an increase in global aridity and decrease in the size of the biosphere across the 41 to 100 ka transition 2 no change in the atlantic pacific a p 13c gradient over the last 1 3 myr suggesting no change in mean ocean nutrient content accompanied the addition of light carbon and 3 stronger vertical nutrient fractionation in the north atlantic in the middle pleistocene between sites 607 and 552 suggesting weaker north atlantic deep water formation at this time relative to the early and late pleistocene we also find evidence for a more pronounced deep recirculation gyre in the western north atlantic basin in the early brunhes as evidenced by aging of deep northern basin water site 607 relative to deep water in the equatorial atlantic site 664

magnetostratigraphic age of the xiantai paleolithic site in the nihewan basin and implications for early human colonization of northeast asia timing of the early habitation and stone technologies in the nihewan basin north china has provided insights into our understanding of early human adaptability to high northern latitudes in east asia here we contribute to this topic with detailed magnetostratigraphic investigation coupled with mineral magnetic measurements and palynological analyses on a lacustrine sequence in this basin which contains the xiantai paleolithic site magnetite and hematite were identified as the main carriers for the characteristic remanent magnetizations magnetostratigraphic results show that the xiantai lacustrine sequence recorded the brunhes chron the jaramillo and the olduvai subchrons and successive reverse polarity portions of the intervening matuyama chron stratigraphic correlation in terms of lithology magnetic susceptibility and magnetic polarity sequences between the xiantai and xiaochangliang sections indicates that the xiantai artefact layer is readily contemporary with the xiaochangliang artefact layer which has been previously estimated to be about 1 36 ma r x zhu k a hoffman r potts c l deng y x pan b guo c d shi z t guo b y yuan y m hou w w huang earliest presence of humans in northeast asia nature 413 2001 413 417 early humans of the xiantai paleolithic site lived in a steppe paleoenvironment indicated from fossil pollens furthermore the combined evidence of our magnetostratigraphy and previously published magnetochronology and paleoclimate data documents that early humans of north china were able to adjust to an increasing variability of paleoclimates and paleoenvironments over the early pleistocene

the mystery of the sapropels sapropels are layers of sediment on the sea floor that are rich in organic carbon the way in which they were formed has been a matter of intense debate with researchers usually invoking one of two alternative explanations work in the mediterranean now allows those explanations to be reconciled

causes and consequences of a middle pleistocene origin of the modern planktonic foraminifer neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral switches in coiling direction of shells of the planktonic foraminifer neogloboquadrina pachyderma have been extensively used as a paleotemperature proxy from the late miocene through the quaternary exploiting the specific modern polar affinity of the sinistrally coiled form here we have reexamined the origin of the modern sinistral form in pliocene and pleistocene sediments from ocean drilling program site 1014 in the eastern north pacific by using morphometric and stable isotope data we show that pliocene and pleistocene sinistral forms of n pachyderma are morphologically and ecologically different and that modern type sinistral form first appeared ca 1 ma these findings suggest that n pachyderma sinistral should not be used for calibrated paleoceanographic reconstructions prior to the middle pleistocene and reinforce the need to assess the origin of specific ecological affinities of other modern planktonic foraminifer species the first appearance of the modern form and the subsequent evolution of its mean shell size appear to have been synchronous in the north pacific and the north atlantic such hemispheric evolutionary synchronicity implies existence of trans arctic gene flow the modern type shell morphology and the specific cold water affinity of n pachyderma sinistral may have evolved in response to the onset of the 100 k y climate regime in the middle pleistocene

potential origins of 400 500 kyr periodicities in the ocean carbon cycle a box model approach 1 cenozoic proxy records of both the isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon in the oceans 13cdic and deep ocean carbonate preservation show significant periodicities in the range 400 500 kyr sensitivity analysis of the ocean carbon cycle to potential variability on this timescale in patterns of global oceanic primary productivity and or continental weathering fluxes is performed using a 7 box ocean atmosphere model the data constraints imposed by plio pleistocene proxy records of 13cdic carbonate preservation and atmospheric pco2 variability allow different scenarios to be evaluated forcing with the global oceanic primary production ratio of inorganic and organic carbon leads to the relative phases of response most consistent with the proxy data however only when changes also occur in total marine primary production can the observed relative amplitudes of 13cdic and pco2 variability also be reproduced this scenario is consistent with oscillations between a highly productive coccolithophore rich global ocean and a less productive diatom rich one such oscillations have been proposed to originate from the orbital eccentricity cycle leading to changes in seasonality and thus silica utilization in the southern ocean however the period of response in model 13cdic is always close to that of the forcing function used and thus a significant discrepancy remains between the orbital eccentricity cycle period of 413 kyr and the observed 500 kyr 13cdic periodicity seen in the pleistocene

cyclic variations in the chemical composition of eastern mediterranean pliocene sediments a key for understanding sapropel formation abstract two pliocene mediterranean sediment cores from ocean drilling program odp leg 160 sites 964 pisano plateau ionian basin and 967 lower northern slope of eratosthenes seamount south of cyprus have been analyzed for major and minor elements si ti al fe mg ca k ba cr ni v zn zr by x ray fluorescence analysis at a depth resolution of 3 to 4 cm a total of 430 samples core 964c 9h comprises five sapropels with up to 9 7 total organic carbon toc one 2 5 m thick turbidite and a 50 cm segment of a second turbidite whereas core 967b 9h contains eight sapropels with toc contents of up to 6 7 cyclic variations in carbonate content and detrital matter composition are evident at both sites at site 964 pisano plateau terrigenous detrital matter chemistry reflects periods of stronger saharan dust input higher si al and zr al ratios alternating with fluvial input from the northern borderlands higher mg al ratios cyclicity is not well expressed at this location because turbidites and winnowing occur site 967 eratosthenes seamount sediments are strongly influenced by discharge from the nile river during humid periods low k al and mg al ratios at site 967 sapropels occur only during periods of enhanced nile discharge with correspondingly lower si al ti al mg al k al and zr al ratios accumulation rates of carbonate and terrigenous detrital matter were 30 lower during such episodes because of the reduction in eolian input and carbonate production and or carbonate dissolution periodical ba enrichments which are not only seen in the sapropels but in every k al minimum document the association of enhanced bioproductivity and sapropel formation as calculated from excess ba concentrations productivity increased by up to a factor of five during intervals of intensified nile runoff fluviatile discharge seems to be responsible for an enhanced input of nutrients and suspended matter containing low mg al and k al ratios based on organic carbon concentrations episodes of sapropel formation lasted at least from 1000 to 4000 years at site 964 and from 2000 to 6000 years at site 967 periods of enhanced bio productivity as defined by ba enrichments lasted from 8000 to 12 000 years at site 967 episodes of high river discharge and corresponding nutrient input as well as conditions of sapropel formation seem to have lasted longer in the eastern part of the basin site 967 than at the pisano plateau site 964

the use of hypsometry to indicate long term stability and response of valley glaciers to changes in mass transfer a simple equation is derived relating the net mass balance and hypsometric curves of a steady state valley glacier it is used to examine how valley shape is linked to disparate extents and responses of glaciers subjected to similar climatic conditions examples are given which show that area based indices e g aar for estimating the equilibrium line altitude ela may be subject to a substantial built in variance because they implicitly rely upon similarity of glacier shape and regimen over a region if accurate topographic maps are available the equation may be used to infer the regimen of modern glaciers in the form of a dimensionless ratio of net mass balance gradients alternatively if similar information is available concerning regional glacier regimen disparate extents and responses may be collectively utilized to estimate values of ela or to infer climatic influence taking glacier hypsometry into account

major pleistocene stages in a carbon perspective the south china sea record and its global comparison 1 carbon isotope sequences at ocean drilling program site 1143 south china sea reveal a long term cyclicity of 500 kyr that is superimposed on the glacial cycles and is present in long 13c sequences from all oceans the quaternary 13c record is punctuated by four 13c maximum events 13cmax i which began in marine isotope stage mis 3 around 50 60 kyr ago 13cmax ii mis 13 0 47 0 53 ma 13cmax iii mis 27 29 0 97 1 04 ma and 13cmax vi mis 53 57 1 55 1 65 ma as the same cyclicity is also found in carbonate curves the 13cmax events must denote major reorganization in the carbon reservoir of the global ocean they also are associated with major changes in glacial cyclicity such as the mid brunhes event following 13cmax ii and the mid pleistocene revolution following 13cmax iii which in turn were associated with expansion of the ice sheets from a carbon perspective therefore the quaternary period has passed through three major stages and each appears to represent a further step in ice cap development

climatically linked oscillations in arabian sea denitrification over the past 1 m y implications for the marine n cycle water column and core top 15n data show that arabian sea denitrification produces large nitrogen isotopic enrichments that are regionally recorded with fidelity in the sediments these results facilitate interpretation of a 1 m y 15n record for ocean drilling program site 722b on the owen ridge in terms of climatically linked oscillations in denitrification at the major orbital periods as at present denitrification was greatest during interglacial periods and apparently was not active during most glacial intervals cross spectral analysis of 15n with foraminiferal 18o global climate sea level index and lithogenic grain size monsoon strength index suggests forcings by changes in hydrography and productivity acting through the extent and intensity of the oxygen minimum zone the data suggest that denitrification may be an internal forcing mechanism for climate change during major glacial interglacial transitions through influence on marine n inventory and atmospheric co2 however compensation or amplification may occur from other sinks sediment denitrification or sources nitrogen fixation

on the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles 2 the 100 000 year cycle climate over the past million years has been dominated by glaciation cycles with periods near 23 000 41 000 and 100 000 years in a linear version of the milankovitch theory the two shorter cycles can be explained as responses to insolation cycles driven by precession and obliquity but the 100 000 year radiation cycle arising from eccentricity variation is much too small in amplitude and too late in phase to produce the corresponding climate cycle by direct forcing we present phase observations showing that the geographic progression of local responses over the 100 000 year cycle is similar to the progression in the other two cycles implying that a similar set of internal climatic mechanisms operates in all three but the phase sequence in the 100 000 year cycle requires a source of climatic inertia having a time constant similar to 15 000 years much larger than the other cycles similar to 5 000 years our conceptual model identifies massive northern hemisphere ice sheets as this larger inertial source when these ice sheets forced by precession and obliquity exceed a critical size they cease responding as linear milankovitch slaves and drive atmospheric and oceanic responses that mimic the externally forced responses in our model the coupled system acts as a nonlinear amplifier that is particularly sensitive to eccentricity driven modulations in the 23 000 year sea level cycle during an interval when sea level is forced upward from a major low stand by a milankovitch response acting either alone or in combination with an internally driven higher frequency process ice sheets grounded on continental shelves become unstable mass wasting accelerates and the resulting deglaciation sets the phase of one wave in the train of 100 000 year oscillations whether a glacier or ice sheet influences the climate depends very much on the scale the interesting aspect is that an effect on the local climate can still make an ice mass grow larger and larger thereby gradually increasing its radius of influence

astronomically modulated neogene sediment records from the south china sea 1 general global cooling over the neogene has been modulated by changes in earth s orbital parameters investigations of deep sea sediment sequences show that various orbital cycles can dominate climate records for different latitudes or for different time intervals however a comprehensive understanding of astronomical imprints over the entire neogene has been elusive because of the general absence of long continuous records extending beyond the pliocene we present benthic foraminiferal 18o and 13c records over the past 23 ma at ocean drilling program site 1148 in the northern south china sea and construct an astronomically tuned timescale tj08 for these records based on natural gamma radiation and color reflectance data at this site our results show that a 41 ka cycle has dominated sediment records at this location over the neogene displaying a linear response to orbital forcing a 100 ka cycle has also been significant however it is correlated nonlinearly with earth s orbital variations at the 100 ka band the sediment records also display a prominent 405 ka cycle although this cycle was coherent with orbital forcing during the oligocene and the early miocene it was not coherent with earth s orbital variations at the 405 ka band over the whole neogene amplification of northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere glaciation since the middle miocene may be responsible for this change in sedimentary response our benthic foraminifera 18o and 13c records further exhibit amplitude variations with longer periods of 600 1000 1200 and 2400 ka apparently these cycles are nonlinear responses to insolation forcing

carbon reservoir changes preceded major ice sheet expansion at the mid brunhes event the beginning of the mid brunhes event ca 430 ka coincided with the largest amplitude change in d 18 o in the global ocean over the past 6 m y this large d 18 o change recorded a major ice sheet expansion that cannot be explained by small changes in orbital forcing our recent studies at ocean drilling program site 1143 from the south china sea show that this large d 18 o change was preceded by a significant negative d 13 c shift a global survey of long deep sea records has revealed periodic d 13 cmax episodes i e maximum positive values of d 13 c and both major ice sheet expansion events in the pleistocene the mid brunhes event and the middle pleistocene revolution were preceded by d 13 cmax ep isodes followed by negative d 13 c shifts this new finding suggests that disturbance in carbon reservoirs leads to major growth of ice sheet size and challenges the prevalent concept of arctic control of glacial cycles because earth is now passing again through a d 13 cmax episode it is crucial to understand the causal relationship between the successive d 13 c changes and ice sheet growth events

orbitally induced climate and geochemical variability across the oligocene miocene boundary to assess the influence of orbital scale variations on late oligocene to early miocene climate and ocean chemistry high resolution 5 kyr benthic foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotope and percent coarse fraction time series were constructed for ocean drilling program site 929 on ceara rise in the western equatorial atlantic these time series exhibit pervasive low to high frequency variability across a 5 myr interval 20 5 25 4 ma the records also reveal several large scale secular variations including two positive 1 6 oxygen isotope excursions at 22 95 and 21 1 ma suggestive of large but brief glacial maxima mi 1 and mi 1a events of miller et al 1991 and a long term cyclical increase in the carbon isotopic composition of seawater shift of 1 52 that reaches a maximum coincident with peak 18o values at 22 95 ma lower resolution 25 kyr records constructed from benthic and planktonic foraminifera as well as bulk carbonate at a shallower site on ceara rise site 926 for the period 21 7 24 9 ma covary with site 929 18o values reflecting changes in antarctic ice volume likewise covariance among carbon isotopic records of bulk sediment benthic and planktonic foraminifera suggest that the low frequency cycles 400 kyr and long term increase in 13c values represent changes in the mean carbon composition of seawater co2 the time series presented here constitute the longest most continuous and highest resolution records of pre pliocene climate and oceanography to date the site 929 carbon and oxygen isotope power spectra show significant concentrations of variance at 400 100 and 41 kyr demonstrating that orbitally induced oscillations have been a normal characteristic of the global climate system since at least the oligocene including periods of equable climate and times with no apparent northern component water production