pollen record of the past 60 ka bp in the middle okinawa trough terrestrial provenance and reconstruction of the paleoenvironment abstract core dgks9602 931 cm in length was retrieved from the middle okinawa trough the age model was correlated with the adjacent core dgks9603 li et al 2001 for the upper part and to the standard specmap chronology down to 60 ka bp using marine oxygen isotope control points pollen analysis was carried out and seven pollen zones were identified the results showed that the pollen spectra in mis 3 were very different to mis 2 but comparable with the holocene the saccate pollen principally pinus predominated in most parts of the core except for the interval of the last glacial maximum lgm and the late mis 3 when artemisia and other herbs increased prominently the ratios of p a pinus artemisia and of pb nap pollen with bladders versus non arboreal pollen were used as a proxy for sea level change and for estimating distances from the coastline to the study site the provenance study using a modern analog technique based on the east asian modern pollen database and fossil pollen assemblages revealed that the pollen were derived from diverse source areas during different stages since 60 ka bp the pollen zones equivalent to mis 1 and 3 were characterized by uncertain and disparate areas of provenance and the surrounding continents including eastern mainland china korea and southern japan possibly made equivalent contributions which may be the result of enhanced pollen transport by the northwesterly wind however the lgm represented in core dgks9602 was distinguished by restricted sources from the exposed east china shelf where the vegetation was quite similar with the herb coverage in the present day north china plain the pollen assemblages sensitively reflected the coastline changes marked by transport patterns between fluvial runoff and northwesterly winds plus ocean currents some pollen changes and limits of pollen zones coincided with the timing of heinrich events implying that the rapid climate fluctuations during mis 3 and mis 2 may have partially resulted in the forest changes in eastern asia the pattern of relative abundance of subtropical and total arboreal taxa is consistent with that of 18 o from hulu cave implying monsoonal climatic control over vegetation change the estimated temperature mat by the means of pollen ratios for the lgm was 5 8 c lower than that in the changjiang river mouth today

oxygen isotopic composition of multiple species of planktonic foraminifera recorders of the modern photic zone temperature gradient abundances of 12 species of planktonic foraminifera collected in two plankton tows from the east tropical atlantic are compared to the chlorophyll content and the temperature of the sea water from which they were collected as expected from previous work in the tropics all dominant tropical species occur in greatest abundance within the photic zone many species occur in greatest abundances in the seasonal thermocline in association with the maximum chlorophyll concentration while a few algal symbiont bearing species occur in greatest abundance in the mixed layer the 18o measurements of planktonic foraminifera shells from core top sediment samples confirm the vertical stratification within the photic zone that is suggested by the relationship between hydrography and abundances found in the plankton tows and found in the statistical study by ravelo et al 1990 comparison between the measured 18o values of planktonic foraminifera with the predicted 18o profiles of the overlying water column at three core locations indicate that species abundances in the sediment record the seasonally integrated conditions of the photic zone and suggests that the abundance of a species in the sediment depends on whether the preferred ecological conditions of that species may be found within the photic zone of the overlying water column sometime during the year species which calcify below the photic zone have only trace relative abundances finally it appears that the total range of 18o values of the dominant species approximates the predicted annual 18o of calcite range in the upper 80 m of the water column

synchronous high frequency oscillations in tropical sea surface temperatures and north atlantic deep water production during the last glacial cycle stable isotopic measurements of g sacculifer and c wuellerstorfi in a core from the western equatorial atlantic imply that there are parallel suborbital oscillations in surface water hydrography and deep water circulation occurring during oxygen isotope stages 2 and 3 low values of g sacculifer 18o accompany high values of c wuellerstorfi 13c linking warmer sea surface temperatures ssts in the tropics with increased production of lower north atlantic deep water nadw the amplitude of the 18o oscillations is 0 6 or 2 3 c which is superimposed on a glacial interglacial amplitude of about 2 1 using the g sacculifer 18o data we calculate that surface waters were colder during stage 2 than calculated by climap 1976 1981 the longer period 2 kyr oscillations in air temperature recorded in the greenland and antarctic ice cores appear to correlate with oscillations in sea surface temperature in the equatorial atlantic the magnitude of these oscillations in tropical sst is too large to have resulted from changes in meridional heat transport caused by the global conveyor alone the apparent synchroneity of equatorial sst and polar air temperature changes as well as the amplitude of the sst changes at the equator are consistent with the climate effects expected from changes in the atmosphere s greenhouse gas content h2ovapor co2 and ch4

glacial holocene biogenic sedimentation patterns in the south china sea productivity variations and surface water pco2 a bathymetric transect of cores in the south china sea extending from 4200 m to less than 1000 m water depth has been examined for glacial interglacial changes in carbonate and organic carbon sedimentation typical pacific carbonate cycles high carbonate content during glacials and low carbonate content during interglacials characterize cores from water depths deeper than 3500 m in contrast atlantic carbonate cycles low carbonate during glacials and high carbonate during interglacials are observed in cores from depths shallower than 3000 m as a result of increased dilution of carbonate by terrigenous material during glacial low stands of sea level glacial interglacial changes in the carbonate chemistry of south china sea intermediate and deep waters resulted in significant changes in the positions of the carbonate compensation depth ccd and the aragonite compensation depth acd during the last glacial the ccd and acd were at least 400 and 1200 m deeper respectively than at present organic carbon accumulation rates in the south china sea were approximately 2 times higher during the last glacial than the holocene carbon isotopic analyses and c n ratios of the organic matter indicate that only a small fraction of the increase in glacial organic carbon accumulation can be attributed to input of terrestrial carbon on the basis of this we conclude that surface water productivity in the south china sea was approximately 2 times higher during the last glacial maximum this is consistent with previous studies which have demonstrated that glacial productivity was higher in low to mid latitude regions of the atlantic and eastern pacific the deglacial decrease in organic carbon accumulation is accompanied by a decrease in 13corg using the relationship between 13corg and co2 aq developed by popp et al 1989 we estimate that surface water pco2 values in the south china sea during the last 25 000 years were very similar to atmospheric co2 concentrations

carbonate dissolution fluctuations in the western equatorial pacific during the late quaternary planktonic foraminiferal test fragmentation in three cores along a depth transect from the western equatorial pacific erdc 93p 1619 m rc17 177 2600 m v28 238 3120 m thompson 1976 were examined for the last 500 kyr at sample intervals from 2 5 to 5 kyr to study the fluctuations of dissolution in the western equatorial pacific the age models were constructed by correlating the 18o records with the specmap stack imbrie et al 1984 results showed that intermediate and deep waters experienced the same patterns of dissolution through climatic cycles fragmentation varied with a greater amplitude and the carbonate ion concentration changed less in the deep than in the intermediate water dissolution has significant variance distributions and coherencies with 18o over the 100 41 and 23 kyr periods of orbital variations dissolution maxima lag ice volume minima by 6 to 20 kyr the dissolution variability was consistent with recent geochemical models which seek to explain the reduction of atmospheric co2 concentration at the last glacial maximum broecker 1982 boyle 1988

climatic change and caco3 preservation an 800 000 year bathymetric reconstruction from the central equatorial pacific ocean sixteen deep sea cores from the central equatorial pacific are used to reconstruct a continuous 800 000 year 800 kyr record of bathymetric variations in carbonate preservation as measured by calcium carbonate caco3 content the depth of the sedimentary lysocline has fluctuated markedly in conjunction with late pleistocene climate cycles while the carbonate critical depth ccrd which is the water depth where the sediments contain 10 caco3 has remained relatively constant as a result the depth of the lysocline controls the bathymetric position and thickness of the caco3 transition zone defined as the depth from the lysocline to the ccrd modern and interglacial aged sediments show poor caco3 preservation and thick caco3 transition zones glacial aged sediments show good preservation and deep thin zones due to the deepening of the lysocline detailed comparison of the caco3 preservation and oxygen isotope records from the central equatorial pacific confirms the observation that preservation maxima and minima tend to occur during the latter half of glacial and interglacial stages and on climate transitions rather than during the middle of climatic stages during the nine major glacial stages of the last 800 kyr the lysocline deepened by at least 400 to 800 m this deepening indicates an increase in the abyssal carbonate ion concentration co3 and a depression of the calcite saturation horizon best explained by the deeper presence of a more carbonate saturated water mass the bottom of the transition zone has remained at a relatively constant depth during the brunhes chron indicating a balance between caco3 sedimentation and dissolution in the deepest waters of the central equatorial pacific

planktonic foraminifera of the northern indian ocean distribution and preservation in surface sediments in the northern indian ocean planktonic foraminiferal tests accumulate in a wide variety of surface water environments and depositional settings this variability enables us to isolate the effects that surface water ecology and differential dissolution have on the distribution of planktonic foraminifera from 251 geographically widespread surface sediment samples foraminiferal abundance varies from 0 to 104 whole foraminifera in the greater than 150 m fraction per gram dry sediment values 10 characterize the three deep basins of the equatorial indian ocean and the western bay of bengal foraminiferal tests are most abundant on carbonate covered ninety east and carlsberg ridges absolute abundance patterns are mainly controlled by non ecological processes variations in dissolution resistant species rsp with water depth reveal that the foraminiferal lysocline fl varies regionally the fl is deepest 3 800 m in the equatorial region rises abruptly to 3 300 m in the arabian sea and varies from 2 600 m to near 2 000 m moving northward in the bay of bengal deep samples with anomalously low rsp 30 suggest redeposition systematic geographic and depth related variation is observed for the 17 most abundant foraminiferal species dissolution resistant species g menardii g tumida g dutertrei p obliquiloculata generally exhibit a rapid and continuous increase in relative abundance at and below the fl susceptible species g ruber g bulloides g glutinata for example exhibit a rapid and continuous decrease in relative abundance at and below the fl moderately susceptible species g conglobatus g aequilateralis g conglomerata for example rapidly increase in abundance at the fl and systematically decrease with depth below the fl principal components analysis pca of faunal data from minimally dissolved 30 rsp samples reveals important ecologically related species intercorrelations the major biogeographic gradient is the negative covarying relationship between ag bulloides g glutinata species pair and a grouping ofg sacculifer g conglobatus g aequilateralis andg ruber pca of all samples demonstrates how differential dissolution alters this and other species relationships species groupings that incorporateg ruber g menardii andg dutertrei are particularly affected by dissolution comparison of average faunal data from minimally dissolved samples in the northern indian ocean with similar samples from other tropical regions suggests varying environmental factors produce distinct faunas within the tropical ocean for example g bulloides g falconensis andg hexagona are significantly more abundant in northern indian ocean surface sediments while such species asg ruber g sacculifer g dutertrei andp obliquiloculata dominate in other tropical regions

productivity and paleoceanographic implications on the tore seamount iberian margin during the last 225 kyr foraminiferal evidence foraminifera counts and climatic assemblages from the tore seamount are used to approach the glacial and interglacial changes in temperature and productivity on the iberian margin over the last 225 kyr chronostratigraphy is based on globigerinoides ruber and globigerina bulloides oxygen isotopes and supported by foraminifera and carbonate stadial fluctuations foraminifera indicate cooling from late interglacial stage 5 to the beginning of termination i ti neogloboquadnna pachyderma s reflects cold conditions during glacial stages 4 2 in contrast glacial stage 6 is dominated by warmer n pachyderma d and dutertrei and a restricted arctic assemblage past sea surface temperatures confirm the general cooling reaching 4 3 c simmax 28 during stage 2 multiple productivity proxies such as organic carbon productivity related foraminifera and 13c constrain the changes observed a productivity increase occurs after interglacial stage 5 enhanced from late glacial stage 3 to ti present day satellite detected phytoplankton plumes off portugal would have accounted in the past glacial stages for the general productivity increase over the tore on top of this welldefined peaks of organic carbon and productivity related foraminifera correspond with heinrich events 1 4

the late pleistocene history of surface water δ13c in the sulu sea possible relationship to pacific deepwater δ13c changes a reconstruction of late pleistocene surface water carbon isotopic 13c variability is presented from ocean drilling program odp site 769 in the sulu sea in the western tropical pacific the sulu sea is a shallowly silled back arc basin with a maximum sill depth of 420 m site 769 was drilled on a bathymetric high in 3643 m of water and has average late pleistocene sedimentation rates of 8 5 cm kyr the oxygen isotope record 18o of globigerinoides ruber at site 769 shows a strong correlation with the specmap stacked 18o record attesting to the continuity of sediment archive at the site surface 13c displays consistent glacial interglacial variability which averages 0 9 and has varied from 0 75 to 1 1 over the last 800 kyr comparison to surface water 13c records in the south china sea and western tropical pacific suggests that the glacial interglacial surface 13c variability is regional in scale planktonic 13c data from odp site 677 in the eastern pacific is also coherent with the site 769 additionally we have found that the site 769 surface 13c record is coherent at periods of 100 and 41 kyr with deepwater 13c records from the pacific the highest correlation occurs with the deep eastern pacific where benthic 13c data from cores rc13 110 and odp site 677 closely match the sulu sea surface water record we evaluate several possible controls of surface water 13c in the sulu sea that may explain the coherent timing with pacific deepwater 13c records these include variations in terrestrial organic matter flux to the basin the upwelling of subsurface water and productivity changes and the influx of western pacific intermediate water to the sulu sea our preferred explanation involves a region of upper intermediate water upwelling in the far western pacific which has been shown to outgas co2 from subsurface waters into surface waters upwelling also occurs in the area of panama basin site 677 these equatorial upwelling zones could potentially provide a route by which pacific intermediate water can modulate the 13c composition of certain pacific surface water locations future reconstructions of late pleistocene surface water 13c variability in the western pacific and indonesian seas will be required to further evaluate the source of the glacial interglacial surface water 13c change

late pleistocene carbonate stratigraphy on ontong java plateau in the western equatorial pacific abstract late pleistocene carbonate cycles on ontong java plateau are characterized by maxima during deglaciations deglacial preservation spikes and by minima during transitions from interglacial to glacial conditions ice growth dissolution spikes superimposed on these short period fluctuations there is a long term oscillation of carbonate contents with a period of nearly 400 ky the brunhes dissolution cycle dissolution related sand fraction profiles 63 m indicate that the lysocline was at a water depth of about 3 6 km during deglacial transitions and that it rose up to 2 6 km during the stages of ice growth a fluctuation of the lysocline by 1 km can account for more than half of the total amplitude of the observed carbonate cycles assuming a linear increase in carbonate dissolution rates with increasing water depth below the lysocline and a constant ccd a shoaling of the lysocline during ice buildup may result from downward transfer of metabolic co 2 from intermediate waters to greater depths in the water column enhanced carbonate dissolution below 2 6 km increases alkalinity in deep waters predisposing the system toward reducing atmospheric co 2 partial pressure during a subsequent period

oxygen minimum expansion in the sulu sea western equatorial pacific during the last glacial low stand of sea level the sulu sea in the western equatorial pacific is presently a shallowly silled dysaerobic deep marine basin deep waters in the sulu sea are ventilated through a single sill at 420 m depth which connects it to the china sea benthic and planktonic foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotope records benthic and planktonic foraminiferal census data and total organic carbon measurements have been used to evaluate changes in water mass conditions in the sulu sea between the last glacial maximum 18 000 yrs b p and the present day an increase in the abundance of the planktonic foraminiferaneogloboquadrina dutertrei and relatively light planktonic foraminiferal 18o values suggest that during the last glacial maximum surface water salinities were reduced in the sulu sea enhanced isolation of the basin due to glacio eustatic lowering of sea level and reduced surface salinities resulted in stagnation of deep water and an expansion of the mid water oxygen minimum layer increased organic carbon preservation at mid water depths occurs at this time benthic carbon isotope data and an increase in the abundance of benthic foraminiferal species considered to prefer low oxygen environments support the conclusion of an oxygen minimum expansion at mid water depths during the last glacial maximum at water depths greater than 4000 m bottom waters appear to have maintained some degree of oxygenation during the last glacial maximum stronger pacific ocean trade winds at this time may have caused the influx of denser celebes sea surface water into the southern part of the sulu sea the slow sinking of this water would have then ventilated bottom waters in this part of the basin at the transition from glacial to interglacial conditions rising sea level caused denser water to flow over the deepest sill into the sulu sea vertical circulation increased resulting in a greater downward flux of oxygen and a dissipation of the oxygen minimum continued post glacial sea level rise caused periodic ventilation of deep water until the present dysaerobic conditions were established

the evolution of pleistocene climate a time series approach abstract in the later part of the pleistocene variations in global ice volume have been dominated by an approximate 100 000 year cycle analysis of 2 myr long oxygen isotope record from an equatorial pacific core indicates that this is true only for the last 900 000 years prior to this time the amplitude of the 100 000 year cycle is much reduced as is the variance of all oscillations with periods greater than 60 000 years based on results of time series analysis of this 2 myr long record the pleistocene glacial cycles can be divided into three sections 1 the late pleistocene 0 900 kyr b p where the variations in the isotope record are dominated by the 100 000 year cycle 2 the middle pleistocene 900 1450 kyr b p in which low frequency components are not as important as in the later period of the pleistocene and 3 the early pleistocene late pliocene 1450 2000 kyr b p where general reductions of importance at all frequencies is seen as compared to the later intervals recent modeling efforts which describe variations in global ice volume show that the dominant low frequency component observed in the late pleistocene can result from different time constants for the rate of glacial growth and decay in response to variations in the earth s orbital parameters it is hypothesized that during the early pleistocene the rate of growth and decay of glaciers were more similar and that continental erosion by successive glacial advances lowered the land surface in areas of ice cap formation to below sea level when the ice caps became marine based more rapid decay of the ice became possible

planktonic foraminifera in the western north pacific during the past 150 000 years comparison of modern and fossil assemblages abstract planktonic foraminiferal abundance variations in 186 deep sea piston core tops from the western north pacific were used to create a calibration set to characterize the present day kuroshio gyre system q mode factor analysis helped identify six faunal assemblages 93 variance related to modern water masses two tropical assemblages differing in relative dissolution three assemblages representing subtropical subpolar and transitional conditions and a gyre margin assemblage lying between the kuroshio current and the mainland of asia multivariate regression produced transfer functions relating observed summer august and winter february sea surface temperatures sst to the assemblages with standard errors of estimate of 1 5 c and 2 5 c respectively data from 24 piston cores was used to interpret variations of the kuroshio gyre system during the past 150 000 yr stratigraphic control is based on oxygen isotopic measurements the extinction of pink pigmented globigerinoides ruber at 120 000 b p coiling direction changes in neogloboquadrina pachyderma north of 30 n and dissolution variations between resistant and fragile taxa major dynamic changes in the circulation of the kuroshio gyre occurred during the last two glacial maxima at 15 20 000 b p isotopic stage 2 and at 140 150 000 b p isotopic stage 6 these intervals are characterized by 1 lowered sea levels which reduced flow into the sea of japan and sea of okh okhotsk 2 advance of the polar front from its modern position at about 42 n to 35 38 n 3 southward penetration of the oyashio current along the pacific coast of japan to tokyo 4 2 3 c lowered sst in tropical areas little or no change in subtropical areas and a 4 6 c decrease in transitional areas and 5 an overall decrease in carbonate dissolution relative to interglacial stages the maximum interglacial at 120 000 b p isotopic substage 5e shows a retreat of the polar front north of its modern position and an overall relative increase in interglacial carbonate dissolution that does not become severe until substage 5d

simmax a modern analog technique to deduce atlantic sea surface temperatures from planktonic foraminifera in deep sea sediments we present a data set of 738 planktonic foraminiferal species counts from sediment surface samples of the eastern north atlantic and the south atlantic between 87 n and 40 s 35 e and 60 w including published climate long range investigation mapping and prediction climap data these species counts are linked to levitus s 1982 modern water temperature data for the four caloric seasons four depth ranges 0 30 50 and 75 m and the combined means of those depth ranges the relation between planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and sea surface temperature sst data is estimated using the newly developed simmax technique which is an acronym for a modern analog technique mat with a similarity index based on 1 the scalar product of the normalized faunal percentages and 2 a weighting procedure of the modern analog s ssts according to the inverse geographical distances of the most similar samples compared to the classical climap transfer technique and conventional mat techniques simmax provides a more confident reconstruction of paleo ssts correlation coefficient is 0 994 for the caloric winter and 0 993 for caloric summer the standard deviation of the residuals is 0 90 c for caloric winter and 0 96 c for caloric summer at 0 m water depth the sst estimates reach optimum stability standard deviation of the residuals is 0 88 c at the average 0 to 75 m water depth our extensive database provides sst estimates over a range of 1 4 to 27 2 c for caloric winter and 0 4 to 28 6 c for caloric summer allowing sst estimates which are especially valuable for the high latitude atlantic during glacial times an electronic supplement of this material may be obtained on adiskette or anonymous ftp from kosmos agu org login toagu s ftp account using anonymous as the username and guestas the password go to the right directory by typing cd append typels to see what files are available type get and the name of the file toget it finally type exit to leave the system paper 95pa01743 simmax a modern analog technique to deduce atlantic sea surfacetemperatures from planktonic foraminifera in deep sea sediments uwepflaumann josette duprat claude pujol and laurent d labeyrie diskette may be ordered from american geophysical union 2000florida avenue n w washington dc 20009 payment mustaccompany order

recent planktonic foraminifers and their relationships to surface ocean hydrography of the south china sea the relative abundances of recent planktonic foraminifers from surface sediments on the sea floor reveal relationships to hydrographic variables of the ocean surface to investigate whether the evect of the vertical structure of oceanic upper layer environments is important to the changes in the abundance of planktonic foraminifers a set of 173 coretop faunal data from modern south china sea scs surface sediments was compiled for comparison with direct observations of sea surface temperature sst and the depth of thermocline dot the coretops used in this study are distributed within the area of 25 n and 105 125 e with water depths ranging from 68 to 3990 m the relationships between the abundances of planktonic foraminifer species and hydrographic variables were examined using simple correlation analyses in the analyses four groups of planktonic foraminifers with diverent ecological preferences were identified group i faunas primarily reliant on dot with positive correlations n dutertrei group ii faunas reliant on both sst and dot showing negative correlations with sst and positive correlations with dot g glutinata p obliquiloculata and g bulloides group iii faunas reliant on both sst and dot showing positive correlations with sst and negative correlations with dot including g sacculifer g menardii and g aequilateralis and group iv faunas reliant on both sst and dot with positive correlations g ruber though each of these species displays selectivity of ecological controls these results indicate that in the scs correlations between faunal abundances of planktonic foraminifers and sst or dot are about equally significant this study also indicates a need for re evaluating the relationships between planktonic foraminifer abundances and many other important hydrographic variables in the upper layer of oceans on a more regional scale 1998 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

cross shelf passage of coastal water transport at the south atlantic bight observed with modis ocean color sst 1 images of cross shelf fronts of ocean color parameters and sea surface temperature sst of the south atlantic bight sab area are presented and analyzed the ocean color parameters k 490 and suspended solid concentration and sst clearly indicate a penetrating front originating from the coastal water within the inner shelf the front is triangular shaped with its broad base on the coast and its sharp end penetrating into the outer shelf and merging into the gulf stream depicting a passage of coastal water transport across the shelf this passage changes in position and orientation from southwest northeast to west east the horizontal ekman number was estimated to be outside the limit of baroclinic instability suggesting that the process is deterministic thus the water transport passage may play a significant role in a non diffusive transport process of heat and land derived biogeochemical materials

global variations of surface ocean productivity in low and mid latitudes influence on co2 reservoirs of the deep ocean and atmosphere during the last 21 000 years based on detailed reconstructions of global distribution patterns both paleoproductivity and the benthic 13c record of co2 which is dissolved in the deep ocean strongly differed between the last glacial maximum and the holocene with the onset of termination i about 15 000 years ago the new export production of low and mid latitude upwelling cells started to decline by more than 2 4 gt carbon year this reduction is regarded as a main factor leading to both the simultaneous rise in atmospheric co2 as recorded in ice cores and with a slight delay of more than 1000 years to a large scale gradual co2 depletion of the deep ocean by about 650 gt c this estimate is based on an average increase in benthic 13c by 0 4 0 5 the decrease in new production also matches a clear 13c depletion of organic matter possibly recording an end of extreme nutrient utilization in upwelling cells as shown by sarnthein et al 1987 the productivity reversal appears to be triggered by a rapid reduction in the strength of meridional trades which in turn was linked via a shrinking extent of sea ice to a massive increase in high latitude insolation i e to orbital forcing as primary cause

an observation of the three dimensional structure of a cross shelf penetrating front off the changjiang mouth satellite images and in situ hydrography and nutrient observations are used to study the three dimensional structure of a penetrating front off the changjiang mouth in the east china sea the satellite images of modis terra on october 16 2006 show anomalously high concentrations of chlorophyll and total suspended sediments extending offshore from the mean coastal front off the chiangjiang mouth however the sea surface temperature image of the same satellite shows no signature of this extension at all the in situ hydrography measured during the same time as the satellite images discloses that the surface layer of the front is occupied by low salinity waters from the nearshore area which suggests a cross shelf jet covering a distance of about 50 km a counter intrusion underneath the surface offshore jet is indicated by an increase of the subsurface temperature and salinity during the offshore excursion of the front which leads to a significant temperature inversion at the head of the front the vertical temperature and salinity distribution shows propensity of double diffusive processes which may contribute to the ensuing evolution of the front the nutrient distribution of the front is consistent with the cross shelf jet derived from the hydrographic data with surface and bottom intensified concentrations and minimum mid depth concentrations suggesting that the primary transport of the surface nutrients is in the horizontal cross shelf direction the potential dynamics of the frontal intrusion is discussed in light of wind forcing and frontal instability the intrusion is found to be very important to cross shelf and cross front exchanges in the east china sea c 2010 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

carbon isotope composition of tropical surface water during the past 22 000 years carbon isotope values of many species of planktonic foraminifera are size dependant values of 13c of individual size fractions are therefore an integration of low 13c values of calcite precipitated in the juvenile growth stage and high values precipitated in later stages in general the selection of a particular size fraction for downcore studies has been subjective analysis of different size fractions of planktonic foraminifera however yields different time series in downcore studies by measuring the 13c of many size fractions the 13c precipitated throughout the growth of the foraminifera can be calculated time series of the 13c of calcite precipitated in the late growth stages of planktonic foraminifera from two nearby cores from the caribbean sea result in a better correlation than time series of constant size fractions these 13c records indicate similar 13c values during the last glaciation and the late holocene and a broad deglacial minimum approximately synchronous with a minimum in the 13c records of benthic foraminifera from intermediate depth atlantic cores the deglacial minimum may be a reflection of the isotopic composition of the underlying intermediate water which may be affected by circulation changes or changes in preformed 13c values and or of the flux of water upwelled into the surface layer the small 0 2 to 0 0 glacial interglacial 13c difference in tropical surface water is also believed to be affected by the chemistry of the underlying source water

new evidence from the south china sea for an abrupt termination of the last glacial period abrupt changes in climatic conditions have been seen at high latitudes in the north atlantic1 and the antarctic2 3 at 13 kyr bp it is important to determine whether this abrupt change was confined to high latitude regions or whether it was global here we present results demonstrating an abrupt change in the rate and character of sedimentation in the south china sea at the close of the last glacial period radiocarbon dating and its position in the oxygen isotope shift suggest that this change may be coincident with the changes found at high latitudes

oxygen and carbon isotopic composition and biogeographic distribution of planktonic foraminifera in the indian ocean five planktonic foraminiferal assemblages were encountered along a north south transect in the indian ocean with the following dominant species globorotalia truncatulinoides in the southern subtropical assemblage globigerinoides ruber globigerinella aequilateralis and globorotalia menardii in the northern subtropical assemblage globigerinoides sacculifer and pulleniatina obliquiloculata in the tropical assemblage neogloboquadrina dutertrei and globigerina bulloides in the tropical upwelling assemblage and globigernoides conglobatus in the tropical arabian sea assemblage oxygen and carbon isotopic analyses were performed on three surface dwelling species of planktonic foraminifera in tropical and subtropical waters 22 30 c the 18o of globigerinoides ruber and g sacculifer varies with surface water temperature and the slope of the isotope temperature regression line is similar to that of epstein et al 1953 for marine molluscs however foraminiferal 18o values are significantly lighter than those of molluscs indicating isotopic disequilibrium comparison between plankton tows taken within and below the mixed layer at the same stations shows that g ruber has similar low 18o values in both sets suggesting that it secretes its shell within the mixed layer by contrast g sacculifer has slightly higher 18o values below than within the mixed layer because it continues to secrete calcite below the thermocline no significant 18o variations with shell size were found on the other hand 13c values were strongly size dependent i e the smaller the size the lighter the 13c comparison of living g ruber and g sacculifer with recent specimens from the surface sediment shows that the living foraminifera are generally lighter in 18o than the fossils supporting independent observations that the latter have secreted additional calcite during gametogenesis when the organisms settle freely from the euphotic zone for about 12 h and pass through waters lower in temperature than the epipelagic waters where the foraminifera form the bulk of their shells

vertical distribution and isotopic fractionation of living planktonic foraminifera from the panama basin a model1 2 which explains the vertical and seasonal distribution of planktonic foraminifera was developed using data from the western north atlantic and is comprised of three tenets 1 the conditions in the photic zone upper 80 100 m exclusively dictate planktonic foraminifera species composition and abundance throughout the water column 2 species are vertically stratified within the photic zone according to their temperature preference depth distribution according to temperature preference has been proposed by several authors3 based on isotope analyses of sediments due to seasonal temperature variations seasonal variations in the 18o composition of seawater and species specific isotope fractionation rigorous proof of this hypothesis cannot be provided from sediment analyses alone 3 the chlorophyll maximum is a major food source zone which is preferentially exploited by foraminifera our data from the panama basin which are presented here are confirmation of this model the panama basin in the eastern equatorial pacific which has a shallow and steep thermocline was sampled for living planktonic foraminifera a multiple opening closing net and environmental sensing system mocness 4 was used to collect 13 sets of eight vertically stratified oblique samples we report here the quantitative distribution and stable isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera from four mocness tows taken over 5 days during august 1979 rv knorr cruise 73 at 5 20 n 8 50 w each tow consisted of eight samples which integrated 12 5 m intervals from 0 to 100 m for moc 126 25 m intervals from 0 to 200 m for moc 127 100 150 m intervals from 0 to 1 000 m on moc 128 and 250 m intervals from 0 to 2 000 m on moc 131

the δ13c of equatorial atlantic surface waters implications for ice age pco2 levels carbon isotopic records of nutrient depleted surface water place constraints on the past fertility of the oceans and on past atmospheric pco2 levels the best records of nutrient depleted 13c are obtained from planktonic foraminifera living in the thick mixed layers of the western equatorial and tropical atlantic ocean we have produced a composite stacked globigerinoides sacculifer 13c record from the equatorial atlantic which exhibits significant spectral power at the 100 000 and 41 000 year milankovitch periods but no power at the 23 000 year period similar to the record presented by shackleton and pisias 1985 surface deep ocean 13c produced with the g sacculifer record leads the 18o ice volume record however the glacial interglacial amplitudes of 13c differ between our record and shackleton and pisias 1985 record although large changes in 13c occur in the equatorial atlantic during early stages of the last three glacial cycles surface deep 13c at glacial maxima 18o stage 2 late stage 6 and late stage 8 was only about 0 2 greater than during the subsequent interglacial our results imply that nutrient driven pco2 changes account for about one third of the pco2 decrease observed in ice cores and consequently 13c should not be used as a proxy pco2 index enough variance in the ice core pco2 records remains to be explained that conclusions about pco2 and ice volume phase relationships should also be reexamined as much as 40 ppm pco2 change still has not been accounted for by models of past physics and chemistry of the ocean

sedimentary signals of the upwelling along the zhejiang coast china abstract the muddy deposits of the zhe min coastal area have attracted much recent research interest however the sedimentary processes that dominate along the zhejiang coast remain controversial determining sedimentation rates is important for understanding sedimentary processes and depositional patterns in the present study 23 vibrocores were collected from the muddy area along the zhejiang coast to analyse their sediment accumulation rates over the past 100 years using 210pb geochronology three types of typical excess 210pb profiles were identified in the sediment vibrocores the spatial distribution of the sedimentation rates derived from the 23 vibrocores as well as previously published data demonstrated that the middle part of the study area around 29 n experienced relatively high sedimentation rates and that the rate of deposition gradually decreased landwards and seawards the location of high sedimentation rates is approximately consistent with that of the holocene maximum thickness deposition finest surface sediments and high concentration of chlorophyll resulting from the existence of upwelling along the zhejiang coast besides the fluvial inputs

sedimentary responses to the cross shelf transport of terrigenous material on the east china sea continental shelf sedimentary responses to the cross shelf transport on the east china sea continental shelf are ascertained based on analyses of the sediment grain size and detrital mineral components of surficial sediments sedimentological data show that fine grained sediments can be transported across the continental shelf and have formed a tongue shaped zone with an axis located near 29 degrees n that extends from the coast to 124 degrees 40 e or beyond the sediments in this tongue shaped zone are rich in very fine silt and day as are the dominant sediment fractions discharged by the modern yangtze river indicating a modem terrigenous source sediment with grain sizes 7 9 phi is the main fraction that is transported across the continental shelf in contrast to the regions in the same longitude in the tongue shaped zone the relatively low heavy mineral content high schistose mineral content and high dolomite content and the mixture of fresh and weathered minerals show that modern yangtze river sediment has been widely transported to this region meanwhile the simultaneous existence of the fine grained tongue and a coarse grained area immediately south of the base of the tongue coincident with the nearshore kuroshio branch current intrusion area indicate that the kuroshio intrusion plays an important role in triggering the cross shelf flows c 2019 elsevier b v all rights reserved

glacial holocene calcareous nannofossils and paleoceanography in the northern south china sea abstract last glacial to holocene paleoceanography of the northern south china sea was inferred from nannofossil variations and several hydrographic proxies from a piston core scs90 36 17 59 70 n 111 29 64 e water depth 2050 m the upper part of the sedimentary sequence dated 15 5 to 1 2 ka provided a high resolution record whereas part of the sediments older than 15 5 ka was lost due to erosion a correspondence analysis of the nannofossil succession suggests that the paleoceanography developed in four stages the first stage 26 13 3 ka has a fairly well preserved diverse nannoflora dominated by gephyrocapsa and florisphaera profunda the floral composition together with high concentration of ketones c37 and organic carbon indicates high surface water fertility the second stage the deglacial period 13 3 10 7 ka had an increased surface water turbidity and a stronger influence of pacific open ocean waters as evidenced by the decrease of florisphaera profunda and increase of emiliania huxleyi respectively a preservation peak of calcareous microfossils centered at 12 ka correlates to the global preservation event of termination i the third stage early holocene 10 7 4 4 ka is marked by a gradual increase of f profunda and small placolith taxa at the expense of e huxleyi the floral composition indicates that conditions were more oligotrophic compared to the pre holocene the preservation of nannofossils became progressively worse indicating a rise of the nannofossil lysocline in sediments deposited at 5 5 and 4 ka nannofossil preservation improves probably reflecting a local cooling event during the last stage from 4 4 to 1 2 ka e huxleyi umbilicosphaera and large reticulofenestra increased their relative abundance to replace small placoliths further stratification of the surface water column may have been responsible for this floral succession

hemipelagic sediment accumulation rates in the south china sea related to late quaternary sea level changes sediments of 13 piston cores from opposite continental slopes of the south china sea off southern china and sabah northern borneo were analyzed by sedimentological methods and dated by oxygen isotope stratigraphy sediments mostly consist of hemipelagic clay with 20 carbonate off sabah and 40 off china we calculated terrigenous and carbonate accumulation rates for up to 11 time slices from the holocene to oxygen isotope stage 6 terrigenous accumulation rates generally increase with water depth and reach a maximum at the middle slope off sabah and at the lower continental slope off china during glacial and interglacial times this distribution pattern did not markedly change despite an increase of accumulation rates for glacial periods by a factor of 2 to 5 compared to interglacial periods rates are negatively correlated with positions of sea level which controls the partition of fluviatile terrigenous material for deposition on shelf slope and abyssal plain carbonate accumulation rates are higher off china by a factor of 2 compared to sabah probably indicating higher calcareous plankton productivity

origin of the middle pleistocene transition by ice sheet erosion of regolith the transition in the middle pleistocene 0 9 ma seen in 18o deep sea core records from relatively low amplitude high frequency 41 kyr to high amplitude low frequency 100 kyr ice volume variations under essentially the same orbital forcing can be attributed to a change from an all soft bedded to a mixed hard soft bedded laurentide ice sheet through glacial erosion of a thick regolith and resulting exposure of unweathered crystalline bedrock a one dimensional ice sheet and bedrock model which includes transport of sediment and ice by subglacial sediment deformation demonstrates that a widespread deforming sediment layer maintains thin ice sheets before the transition which respond linearly to the dominant 23 and 41 kyr orbital forcing progressive removal of the sediment layer eventually causes a transition to thicker ice sheets whose dominant timescale of change 100 kyr reflects nonlinear deglaciation processes in model simulations over the last 3 ma initialized with no ice and a uniform 50 m sediment layer the time series of ice volume and extent agree in several important aspects with the observed records

changes in the oceanic 13c 12c ratio during the last 140 000 years high latitude surface water records detailed records of the carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios of neogloboquadrina pachyderma are compared between nine high latitude sediment cores from the northern and southern hemispheres covering the last 140 000 yrs the strong analogies between the 13c records permit to define a 13c stratigraphic scale with three clear cut transitions simultaneous with the oxygen isotopic transitions 65 125 kyrs 54 65 kyrs and 21 13 kyrs the 13c records of n pachyderma in the high latitude cores which follow the changes in 13c of the surface water tco2 near areas of deep water formation present trends similar to the benthic foraminifera 13c records in cores v19 30 and m12 392 although amplitudes of the isotopic shifts are different this implies that a large part of the observed variations represents global changes in the carbon distribution between biosphere and ocean the 13c12c ratios of n pachyderma in the north atlantic cores display larger regional variations at 18 kyrs b p than at present to explain these differences we have plotted the 18 kyrs b p 13c values of n pachyderma from 17 cores distributed n of 40 n comparison with published surface water temperature distribution at 18 kyrs b p indicates that a strong divergent cyclonic cell centered approximatively 55 n and 15 w was active during most of the last ice age maximum this hydrology analogous to the present weddell sea explains the published evidences of bottom water formation if located on the northern flank of the gyre and the strong polar front on the southern flank probable location of intermediate water formation

late quaternary paleoceanography of the south china sea glacial interglacial contrasts in an enclosed basin the sea surface paleotemperature of the south china sea scs is estimated quantitatively based on the quantitative analysis of planktonic foraminiferal faunas recovered from piston cores v36 06 3 v36 06 5 and so49 kl8 on the northern continental slope the results lead to a reconstruction of the history of paleocirculation patterns during the last 200 000 years the postglacial and interglacial transbasinal circulation pattern was replaced by a semienclosed basin flow pattern during glacial episodes lowered sea level transformed the scs into a semienclosed basin with the only passageway to the open ocean in its northeastern corner the east asian monsoon which governs circulation patterns in the scs both today and during the late quaternary created both clockwise summer and counterclockwise winter surface gyres during glacials the inflow of tropical surface water masses from both the pacific and indian oceans decreased or was completely cut off from this marginal sea causing a greater decrease in glacial sea surface temperature than in the open ocean of the same latitude inferred increased influence of pacific temperate waters and decreased influence of tropical subtropical waters are confirmed by changes in the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages glacial interglacial fluctuation in sea surface temperature sst 6 8 9 3 c for winter and 2 3 c for summer as well as the seasonality 4 6 c for postglacial and interglacials and 9 10 c for glacials are much greater than the adjacent open western pacific reflecting the amplification of the climatic signal in the marginal sea

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

analytical solution to the seismic response of visco elastic soil layers the response of a multi layered soil deposit subjected to a horizontal earthquake ground motion is obtained in a form which is exact in the sense that both the starting transients and the steady state parts are included in the solution and can be evaluated to any degree of accuracy the solution is compared with that obtained as a steady state one for harmonic excitations it is shown that the transient part of the response which is required for the solution to satisfy initial conditions and which does not appear in the steady state may be important particularly for long period layers subjected to short period acceleration trains for small values of the radiation coefficients radiation damping may be introduced in the solution in the form of equivalent viscous damping la reponse d un sol multicouches soumis a des mouvements sismiques horizontaux est presentee sous une forme exacte puisque l etat transitoire du depart et l etat permanent sont tous deux pris en compte dans la solution et peuvent etre

a pleistocene paleoceanographic record from the north slope of the spratly islands southern south china sea abstract a 1 4 my paleoceanographic history for offshore north central spratly islands southern south china sea is reconstructed using stable isotope carbonate content coarse fraction and planktonic foraminifera census data from gravity core so95 17957 2 the chronological framework for so95 17957 2 is based on stable oxygen isotope correlation with open ocean records and constrained with ams 14c dates floral and faunal bioevents and a pleistocene microtektite event stable oxygen isotope composition of surface water reflects mainly changes in high latitude ice volume but also riverine water influx from surrounding land stable carbon isotope record suggests that surface water 13c in the southern south china sea has been modulated primarily by global changes in atmospheric co2 since the early pleistocene dissimilarities between 18o patterns in so95 17957 2 and those in various cores from the rest of the south china sea indicate that between 60 and 120 ka surface water chemistry at offshore north central spratly islands may be affected by different mechanisms those differences likely reflect unknown hydrological conditions during stages 4 and 5 carbonate content is lower during the interglacial periods than during the glacial deglacial periods which are opposite to the general trend in the shallow south china sea areas during the same period faunal composition rsp and various dissolution indices suggest that productivity is the most important factor controlling carbonate preservation dissolution above the lysocline may modify the productivity signal but cannot reverse the entire pattern faunal composition and carbonate flux suggests productivity is higher during glacial deglacial than during interglacial stronger glacial winter monsoon induces stronger upwelling and deep mixing and enhances nutrient cycling in the surface ocean which in turn increases productivity estimated summer sea surface temperature sst based on transfer function fp 12e agrees with 18o and is consistently between 28 and 29 c during most of the last 1 4 my winter sst reflects geographic location and changes in surface hydrology and fluctuates between 25 and 28 c during the last glacial period disconnection of the south china sea from the indian ocean and the influx of temperate water through the bashi channel allowed winter ssts to vary by as much as 3 5 c comparison of modern and estimated sst and sst estimates based on different methods suggest that g bulloides and g menardii are probably overweighed in transfer function fp 12e which cause discrepancies in sst estimation

does the taiwan warm current exist in winter 1 it has been argued for many years whether the taiwan warm current twc exists in winter though there is no question about its existence in summer a regional ctd survey and anchored adcp measurements were conducted off the mouth of the changjiang on the western shelf of the east china sea from 24 february to 10 march 2001 both hydrographic and current data showed an evidence of the twc which flowed northeastward along the 50 m isobath and intruded into the submerged river valley off the changjiang this current is sub surface intensified with a maximum velocity of 30 cm s occurring at a depth of 30 m below the surface this finding was consistent with the satellite derived sst image received on 26 30 january 1986 and modis sst image received on 18 february 2001 it suggests that the twc is at least an episodic feature in the east china sea and its occurrence and duration might vary due to meandering of the kuroshio around the taiwan strait

predicting variability in the stability of slope sediments due to earthquake ground motion in the afen area of the western uk continental shelf abstract the stability of the continental slope northwest of shetland uk where a mid holocene slide has been identified has been assessed on the basis of existing geological data using a conservative infinite slope model a methodology is presented for mapping the theoretical factor of safety under earthquake loading it is based on modelling sediments on the continental shelf and slope through use of existing geological lithological models and compatible earthquake time series musson r m w long d pappin j w lubkowski z a and booth e 1997 uk continental shelf seismic hazard norwich health and safety executive offshore technology report oth 93 416 101 p jackson p d gunn d a stoker m holmes r hobbs p r n long d walker a and musson r 1999 impact of earthquake ground motion on the stability of slope sediments using existing ground models british geological survey technical report wn 99 21c defining lithologies we derive the soil and rock properties needed in simulating the propagation of earthquake ground motion from bedrock to the seabed through the sediment column supplemental shallow data is included via gravity vibrocores and boreholes seismic sections interval velocities and well logs underpin our mapping of changes in the thickness of plio pleistocene and miocene sediments based on two way travel time differences our results show factors of safety are controlled primarily by sediment shear strength and ground acceleration the highest values of ground acceleration being seen in the depth range 1 5 mbsf for these shallow slopes 0 2 5 no correlation was found between factor of safety and slope angle factors of safety are largest in the area having greatest depth of mud discretization of lithological units was studied 15 layers per decade on a uniform logarithmic depth scale being shown to be suitable examples show the factor of safety to be most sensitive to changes in properties in the depth interval 2 to 5 m i e most sensitive at the depths minimum factors of safety were calculated corresponding smaller sensitivities were found adjacent to the depth where lithification begins taken to be of the base of the neogene jackson p d gunn d a stoker m holmes r hobbs p r n long d walker a and musson r 1999 impact of earthquake ground motion on the stability of slope sediments using existing ground models british geological survey technical report wn 99 21c while our results are based on earthquake time series compatible with a distant large earthquake 10 000 year return period a far smaller more local earthquake occurring beneath the slope could also be significant

late quaternary paleoceanography of the south china sea surface circulation and carbonate cycles paleoceanographic information from 34 sediment cores is summarized to investigate the glacial interglacial variations in sea surface circulation and late quaternary carbonate cycles in the south china sea judging from the distribution pattern of deposition rates the enormous terrigenous supply by rivers is responsible for the high rate of hemipelagic sedimentation which was even higher during glacial periods paleotemperature maps based on transfer function temperature estimates have revealed a e w gradient of sst for glacial summer and a s n gradient for glacial winter and this agrees well with the clockwise surface circulation in summer and counterclockwise in winter during glacials as shown by a preliminary computer modelling the high resolution paleotemperature curves of core v36 3 from the northern slope show an abrupt cooling event which may belong to the younger dryas carbonate percentage in sediments and preservation of foraminifers and pteropods are used to study the carbonate cycles in the marginal sea it turns out that two mechanisms are functioning there being a basin with large drainage areas vast amount of river borne terrigenous input dilutes carbonate and its intensification during glacial decreases the glacial cac03 being a basin connected with the pacific the fluctuations of lysocline ccd and acd in the scs are related to those in the pacific ocean and dissolution is strengthened at interglacial thus above the present ccd the dilution factor predominates and the atlantic cycles are produced below the present ccd the dissolution factor prevails resulting in the pacific pattern of carbonate cycles

cross shelf penetrating fronts off the southeast coast of china observed by modis 1 images of chlorophyll a concentration of the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer modis onboard of terra satellite show significant cross shelf penetrating fronts off the southeast coast of china in october 2000 and july 2002 analyses indicate that the significant offshore excursion of the october 2000 front is produced by a cross shelf jet that coincides with passages of atmospheric cold fronts which generate downwelling favorable winds the frontal activities during july 2002 are associated with strong southwesterly winds in favor of upwelling and are likely produced by instabilities of the coastal currents multiple fronts within the tongue of the changjiang yangtze river diluted water are observed in the summer of 2002 the significant cross shelf jet the instability waves and the multiple tongues of the changjiang diluted water are reported for the first time

variability of cross shelf penetrating fronts in the east china sea images of 8 day mean chlorophyll a concentrations of the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer modis onboard of aqua satellite from 2002 to 2007 and of the sea viewing wide field of view sensor seawifs satellite from 1998 to 2007 are used to study the variability of the cross shelf penetrating fronts cpfs in the east china sea the analysis suggests that the generation of the cpfs has strong seasonal to interannual variations with more cpfs in summer and winter than in spring and fall each cpf lasts for a few days to a month the majority of the fronts are triangle shaped with their broad bases nearby the coast and their sharp heads penetrating into the middle shelf there are over 40 cpfs with penetrating distances exceeding 100 km over the east china sea during the past 10 years of the satellite era with the maximum ones reaching the kuroshio at the edge of the continental shelf of all the low cloud scenes of the satellite images more than 25 contain at least one cpf the high frequency occurrence of the cpfs suggests that the cpfs play an important role in cross shelf transport of heat effluent and land derived materials in the east china sea

glacial deep water properties in the west equatorial pacific bathyal thermocline near a depth of 2000 m abstract the stable isotope stratigraphy of planulina wullerstorfi in three box cores from ontong java plateau in the western equatorial pacific shows that there existed a bathyal thermocline near the depth of 2000 m during glacial time waters below the boundary were colder by about 1 c those above were about the same as now the deep waters were slightly enriched and the upper waters depleted in nutrients compared with present values the differences in 13 c to the present after correcting for the global change are of the order of 0 1 more positive above 2000 m and 0 1 more negative below corresponding to changes in phosphate of the order of 0 1 mol kg less phosphate above and more below the boundary

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

recent deep sea benthic foraminiferal distributions in the south china and sulu seas thirty nine surface sediment samples collected from the south china and sulu seas were examined to determine the bathymetric distribution of benthic foraminifera in these two basins and the factors responsible for these distributions the benthic foraminiferal faunas of both basins are highly diverse but have low absolute abundances benthic number and species diversity systematically decrease with increasing water depth four faunal assemblages were identified for each basin byq mode principal component analysis theglobocassidulina subglobosa uvigerina assemblage 1500 m and theuvigerina assemblage 1400 m represent the shallowest assemblages in the south china sea and sulu sea respectively and are found within the oxygen minimum zone of each basin where the sedimentary organic carbon content is highest and the pore water oxygen penetration depth zo is shallowest thebulimina aculeata assemblage occurs at water depths between 1700 and 2000 m in the southeastern south china sea and is also associated with relatively high sedimentary organic carbon content theastrononion pusillum assemblage is found in south china sea at the depths between 1500 and 3200 m below the lysocline 3200 m in the south china sea this assemblage is replaced by the agglutinatedrhabdammina abyssorum assemblage this assemblage reflects the presence of a water mass that is highly undersaturated with respect to calcite in the sulu sea thepyrgo murrhina assemblage occupies water depths from 1400 to 2200 m below 2200 m two deep water assemblages are present that are both dominated byoridorsalis umbonatus a correlation between various environmental and benthic foraminiferal variables indicates that salinity temperature sediment grain size water depth and bottom water oxygen concentration are not key factors controlling the benthic foraminiferal distribution in either the south china sea or the sulu sea rather organic carbon content and oxygen penetration depth in sediments appear to play important roles in determining the distribution of benthic foraminifera in both basins

microfossil evidence for changing salinity patterns in the bay of bengal over the last 20 000 years the monsson climate characterizing the northern indian ocean produces salinity gradients that are large compared with those in other open ocean areas these gradients are substantially independent of thermal and other ecologically important gradients this situation makes it possible not only to isolate the effect of salinity on sea bed distribution patterns of planktonic foraminifera but also to investigate past salinity changes along a north south transect of piston cores in the bay of bengal analysis of 152 surface sediment samples reveals that at least three factors other than salinity are important in controlling foraminiferal distribution sea bed dissolution surface productivity and surface temperature of these dissolution is the most important therefore in order to reconstruct past salinity patterns in the bay of bengal faunal indices need to be developed that isolate the effect of salinity we have developed two independent approaches the first uses ternary diagrams of the three dominant dissolution resistant species globoquadrina dutertrei globorotalia menardii pulleniatina obliquiloculata high values of g dutertrei are associated with low surface salinities the second approach uses dissolution buffered salinity transfer functions based on the total foraminiferal fauna in the 152 surface samples from the northern indian ocean applied to downcore samples these methods show the same basic historical pattern of salinity variation which is in turn consistent with independent inferences based on preliminary oxygen isotope data duplessy 1980 historical changes in the bay of bengal salinity are reconstructed along a north south transect of seven cores at 90 e the stratigraphy of the transect is controlled by oxygen isotope profiles that are similar to the generalized patterns observed in other areas over the past 20 000 yr salinity gradients are reconstructed for three time intervals 1 the last glacial maximum lgm 2 the mid termination mt and 3 the holocene during the lgm interval salinity was highger in the bay of bengal particularly in the north thus reducing the north south salinity gradient during the mt the middle of the transition from glacial to interglacial global climatic regimes northern bay of bengal surface salinity was considerably reduced while salinity to the south was generally similar to today thus the salinity gradient between 10 n and 15 n was considerably steeper than today in contrast the holocene gradient was approximately the same as the modern gradient with absolute values along the transect being slightly but uniformly higher these changes in the pattern of salinity are explained in terms of changes in the local patterns of precipitation and river run off during the lgm the salinity pattern probably results from decreased precipitation and decreased run off by the ganges brahmaputra river system during the mt decreased salinity in the northern bay of bengal is caused by increased precipitation and run off rather than by the influx of glacial meltwater the steeper mt salinity gradient in the central bay of bengal suggests increased eastward advection of equatorial surface waters by a southwest monsoon current somewhat more vigorous than today these patterns can be correlated with faunal evidence from the western arabian sea that suggest decreased upwelling during the lgm and increased upwelling during the mt this coupling of events may be associated with changes in the pattern or intensity of circulation during the southwest monsoon decreased intensity at the lgm 18 000 b p and increased intensity at the mt 10 500 to 12 500 b p