precisely dated ams 14c marine cores reveal the complexity of millennial scale asian monsoon variability in the northern south china sea md972146 md972148 abstract high sedimentation rate sr cores retrieved from the south china sea scs form the basis for studying the marine components of millennial scale asian monsoon am variability and for comparison with the am reconstructions from cave records on land e g dongge and hulu however carefully correlating the scs sedimentary records to the cave records that are precisely dated by u th methods with resolution of decadal scale has not been completed such a correlation is essential when comparing am influences expressed over land and sea but requires a construction of marine ams 14c age models that are precise enough to be compared to the cave u th age models for the purpose of establishing such a correlation this study presents new data from intensive ams 14c dated marine cores retrieved from the northern scs md972146 md972148 the discrepancy of marine and cave 18o record for the interval of 18 30 ka might be due to the change of marine 14c reservoir age in scs surface water during the glacial period and to the change in interhemispheric dominance of the am systems with the new ams 14c dating on md972146 and md972148 we examined the millennial scale records of planktonic foraminifer 18o and carbonate contents of md972146 md97248 and sonne 17940 2 and compared those records with dongge hulu 18o record of the past 30 ka our results show that in the intervals corresponding to the high latitude northern hemisphere nh younger dryas yd and heinrich i event h1 the ams 14c dated millennial scale oscillations show relatively heavy 18o and low carbonate contents but h2 and h3 are in the opposite direction our results indicate the complexity for the marine cores which were used in interpreting the millennial scale am variability

the old alluvium of singapore and the extinct drainage system to the south china sea in both sand quarry faces and boreholes the old alluvium of singapore is a matrix supported pebbly sand with minor beds of better sorted sands and clays the beds can be grouped into four textural classes pebbles coarse sand with fine pebbles medium to coarse sand clay and silt each with characteristic sedimentary structures the deposit appears to be the proximal facies of an ancient braided river alluvium of possible pleistocene age this widespread but scattered alluvium is found both on land and offshore on the sunda shelf in southeast asia it is believed to have been deposited during low sea levels in singapore the mineralogy of the grains forming the old alluvium suggests a mixed provenance of granitic and low grade metamorphic origin the volume and freshness of the deposited material indicate an environment of considerable relief seasonal rainfall and extremely active erosional processes conditions considerably different from the current ones the old alluvium was probably deposited by seasonal rivers which experienced periodic large floods such regional conditions could have prevailed over much of southeast asia at the time of deposition of the old alluvium

synchroneity of meltwater pulse 1a and the bolling warming new evidence from the south china sea a twofold decrease in long chain n alcane n nonacosane concentrations in a downcore record from the northern south china sea indicates a rapid drop in the supply of terrigenous organic matter to the open south china sea during the last deglaciation paralleled by an equally rapid increase in sea surface temperatures corresponding with the bolling warming at 14 7 ka the sudden drop in terrigenous organic matter delivery to this marginal basin is interpreted to reflect a short term response of local rivers to rapid sea level rise strongly implying that the bolling warming and the onset of meltwater pulse mwp 1a are synchronous this phase relation contrasts with the widely cited onset of this mwp 1a ca 14 ka and implies that previous studies postulating a weakening of deep water formation in the north atlantic due to massive meltwater discharge during mwp 1a need to be reevaluated

steady state supercritical co2 and brine relative permeability in berea sandstone at different temperature and pressure conditions we measure steady state two phase supercritical co2 brine relative permeabilities in a 61 cm long berea sandstone core at three different conditions 40 c and 12 41 mpa 40 c and 8 27 mpa and 60 c and 12 41 mpa under primary drainage we use pressure taps to obtain pressure drops of individual sections of the core and x ray computed tomography ct to obtain in situ saturation profiles which together help to mitigate the capillary end effect we include previously measured relative permeabilities at 20 c and 10 34 mpa and compare all the data using both an eye test and a statistical test we find no appreciable temperature and pressure dependence of co2 relative permeability within 20 60 c and 8 27 12 41 mpa we find slight changes in the brine relative permeability between supercritical co2 conditions 40 60 c and 8 27 12 41 mpa and the liquid co2 condition 20 c and 10 34 mpa the temperature and pressure independence of co2 relative permeability has been previously recognized and reassured in this work using a capillary effect free method this allows one to use a single co2 relative permeability curve in modeling two phase co2 flow within 20 60 c and 8 27 12 41 mpa

world wide delivery of river sediment to the oceans new data and new estimates from old data show that rivers with large sediment loads annual discharges greater than about 15 times 10 6 tons contribute about 7 times 10 9 tons of suspended sediment to the ocean yearly extrapolating available data for all drainage basins the total suspended sediment delivered by all rivers to the oceans is about 13 5 times 10 9 tons annually bedload and flood discharges may account for an additional 1 2 times 10 9 tons about 70 of this total is derived from southern asia and the larger islands in the pacific and indian oceans where sediment yields are much greater than for other drainage basins

response of western pacific marginal seas to glacial cycles paleoceanographic and sedimentological features abstract this paper reviews the recent progress in late quaternary studies in five northwestern pacific marginal seas especially the south china sea as an example a series of marginal seas separate asia from the pacific ocean and significantly modify the material and energy flux linkage between land and sea during glacial cycles the sea level induced environmental signal was amplified in the marginal seas giving rise to drastic changes in areas and configurations of these seas and to reorganization of sea water circulation in basins since most of the western pacific marginal seas are influenced by monsoon circulation and some of these are located within the western pacific warm pool the glacial geographic changes have produced a profound impact on regional and global climate for example the decrease of sea area and sea surface temperature sst in the marginal seas was one of the factors responsible for the enhanced aridity of inland china during the glaciation glacial intensification of the winter monsoon and increased seasonality of sst in marginal seas might explain at least partly the apparent discrepancy between the tropical paleotemperature estimations based on terrestrial and open ocean records in this region as the western pacific marginal seas trap terrigenous material supplied by east asia the deep water sedimentation rates there can be one to two orders of magnitude higher than in the open ocean down slope sediment transport is more active when the sea level changes particularly during the deglaciation at least four types of carbonate cycles have been recognized in the western pacific marginal seas and each of those contains environmental signals from the surface and deep sea water as well as from the drainage basin

paleoenvironmental changes in the northern south china sea over the past 28 000years a study of tex86 derived sea surface temperatures and terrestrial biomarkers abstract we have generated a record of tex86 tex 86 h derived sea surface temperatures ssts over the last 28 ka for core md97 2146 from the northern south china sea scs the tex 86 h derived temperature of a core top sample corresponds to the ssts in warmer seasons the sst record shows a drop during the oldest dryas period an abrupt rise at the onset of the bolling allerod period a plateau across the younger dryas period and an abrupt rise at the beginning of the holocene the glacial interglacial contrast in tex 86 h derived temperature is almost the same as that in foraminiferal mg ca ratio derived temperature but it is larger than those in u 37 k and transfer function derived temperatures possible interpretations are 1 the seasonal shift of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether gdgt production 2 the overestimation of temperature change by tex 86 h and 3 the underestimation of temperature change by u 37 k and transfer function approaches the similar variation in tex 86 h derived temperature at the study site and chinese stalagmite 18o during the last deglaciation suggests that changes in tex 86 h derived temperature in this period reflected atmospheric and oceanic reorganization on a millennial timescale the long chain n alkanes are mainly of higher plant origin before 14 ka and a mixture of higher plant and lithic origins after 14 ka the abundance ratio of long chain to short chain n fatty acids decreases at 15 ka suggesting a drastic change in sediment sources at 14 15 ka we attribute the higher content of fresh higher plant n alkanes and long chain n fatty acids before 14 15 ka to enhanced aeolian transportation and or arid environments increased precipitation likely due to intensified summer monsoon after 14 15 ka enhanced the erosion of sedimentary rocks and increased the contribution of lithic n alkanes

high resolution uk 37 temperature reconstructions in the south china sea over the past 220 kyr past sea surface temperatures sst in the northern and southern areas of the south china sea have been reconstructed for the past 220 kyr using the uk37 alkenone index the sst profiles follow the glacial interglacial pattern exhibiting differences between last glacial maximum and holocene that are 1 3 c larger than those observed at the same latitudes in the atlantic and pacific oceans in termination i both planktonic foraminiferal 18o and sst exhibit well defined bolling allerod and younger dryas events with temperature differences between both periods of 0 8 and 0 4 c in north and south respectively ssts record a constant north south difference of 1 c in the interglacials and nearly 2 5 c in the glacial stages these differences define two distinct climatic and water circulation patterns that correspond with glacial interglacial sea level oscillations which opened and closed water exchange with the tropical indo pacific ocean through the present sunda shelf

terrigenous n alkane input in the south china sea high resolution records and surface sediments abstract molecular abundances of n nonacosane are reported for a suite of 44 surface sediments and four deep sea cores distributed throughout the south china sea scs covering the last 220 ky at different time resolutions the patterns of glacial to interglacial variability of the concentrations of this terrigenous marker are parallel for all cores taking values linearly inversely correlated to the u37k index sea surface temperatures sst with high concentrations during cold glacial intervals and low concentrations during warm interglacial periods the oscillations of this terrigenous marker likely result from the emergence and flooding of the shelves caused by sea level variations which together with scs ssts have a clear dependency on the northern hemisphere climate evolution calculation of accumulation rates for the northernmost core together with the modern distribution of n nonacosane concentrations in surface sediments evidences the complexity of sedimentation patterns in the northern scs in particular and in agreement with recent studies terrigenous materials deposited there might originate from areas different than the highly loaded pearl river for paleoceanographic purposes the noticeable general pattern of the n alkane concentration down core profiles for the four cores studied a parameter apparently unaffected by changes in sedimentation rates prompts its use as a tracer of variations in terrigenous input into this basin over glacial to interglacial times

petrogenetic evolution of metabasalts and metakomatiites of the lower onverwacht group barberton greenstone belt south africa abstract a well preserved sequence by archean standards of mantle derived metabasalts and metakomatiites forms large parts of the lower onverwacht group of the barberton greenstone belt south africa to elucidate the origin of mafic and ultramafic rocks from this 3 55 to 3 45 ga sequence we present a comprehensive geochemical dataset including major and trace elements as well as lu hf and sm nd isotope compositions for a variety of metavolcanic rocks these include metabasalts of the amphibolite facies sandspruit and theespruit formations as well as metabasalts and metakomatiites of the lower greenschist facies komati formation based on their incompatible trace element patterns the basalts of the sandspruit and theespruit formations can be subdivided into a light rare earth element lree depleted group a lree undepleted group and a lree enriched group positive ehf t and end t values of ca 3 to 4 and 0 to 2 respectively together with depletions in th and lacn ybcn indicate derivation of the lree depleted basalts from a depleted mantle source however chondritic ehf t and end t values combined with positive th and lacn ybcn of the lree enriched samples indicate a contribution from older granitoid crust in the petrogenesis of these samples trace element patterns of komatiites and basalts of the komati formation are generally flat relative to primitive mantle with slight depletions in heavy rare earth elements and th and overall positive ehf t of 2 5 3 5 2 s d and end t of 0 5 2 2 2 s d the coherence in trace element characteristics suggests a common magmatic origin for basalts and komatiites this study reveals that the two lavas were derived from the same mantle plume i e komatiites were formed by high degrees of melting of a depleted mantle source containing residual garnet and the basalts were formed by moderate degrees of partial melting in shallower regions of the mantle based on the current dataset combined with published data we propose a geodynamic model for the oldest units of the barberton greenstone belt that describes the development from a submerged continental setting for the sandspruit and theespruit formations to a submarine plateau setting for the komati formation as a consequence of continental rifting

late quaternary insolation forcing on total organic carbon and c37 alkenone variations in the arabian sea we here present records of total organic carbon toc and c37 alkenones used as indicators for past primary productivity from the western was and eastern arabian sea eas new data from an open ocean site of the was upwelling area are compared with similar records from ocean drilling program odp site 723 from the continental margin off oman and md 900963 from the eas these records together with other proxies used to reconstruct upwelling intensity indicate periods of high productivity in tune with precessional forcing on the basis of their phase relationship to boreal summer insolation they can be divided into three groups in the was differences between monsoonal proxies 1 and productivity 2 document a combined signal of moderate sw monsoon winds and of strengthened and prolonged ne monsoon winds whereas in the eas phasing indicates maximum productivity 3 at times of stronger ne monsoon winds associated with precession related maxima in ice volume

a millennial scale u37k sea surface temperature record from the south china sea 8 n over the last 150 kyr monsoon and sea level influence we report 150 kyr records of u37 sea surface temperature sst and carbonate content with 150 200 year sampling resolution from the southern south china sea scs in the northern margin of the western pacific warm pool wpwp using images core md972151 the glacial interglacial sst change is about 5 c for termination ii 23 5 to 28 5 c and 4 c for termination i 24 to 28 c the simultaneous rise of sea level and u37 sst during termination i suggests that sea level change has played an important role in the scs sst variability by influencing the exchange of tropical ocean warm surface water with the scs through the sunda shelf region sill depth 30 50 m when sea level drop was less than 30 m relative to today s md972151 sst was constantly above 27 c a situation which occurred during mis 5e part of mis5c and 5a and over the last 11 kyr sea level change was also the main control on carbonate content in the scs this was lower during low sea level stands due to the dilution effect of enhanced terrigenous inputs within the limitations of our age model millennial scale sst oscillations 1 5 c over a few hundred years occurred frequently during the entire glacial period correlating reasonably well with the hulu monsoon record from eastern china and the dansgaard oeschger d o cycles recorded for high latitude regions in the northern hemisphere such correlations suggest a possible teleconnection between higher latitude atmospheric forcing and low latitude climate oscillations in the western pacific tropical region via the asian monsoon system carbonate content also reveals millennial scale oscillations during the glacial period with higher content correlated with higher sst millennial scale fluctuations of sst and carbonate contents at this low latitude scs provide additional evidence that high frequency climate changes are global phenomena

environmental changes recorded in the holocene sedimentary infill of a tropical estuary abstract early to late holocene sedimentary infill of the potengi jundiai estuary brazil was studied in a 31 5 m long sediment core the borehole was drilled in a mangrove area within the central part of the flood tide delta the sedimentary record encompassing the last 10 kyr was studied for sediment texture and for the n alkanes composition of organic matter om sediments rich in om and bivalve shells accumulated during the period of sea level rise mostly in an intertidal environment of mangrove forest mudflat and subtidal estuarine flood delta the characterization of n alkanes c10 c33 and lignin methoxyphenols by means of direct analytical pyrolysis py gc ms technique allowed determining the sources of the extant om downcore fluctuations were observed in n alkanes and in several n alkane based indices such as long chain carbon preference index cpi c24 c33 long to short chain ratio l s and average chain length acl as well as in the relative proportion of lignin derived compounds the n alkanes distribution points to changing sources of om input to the estuarine sediments over most of the holocene period major inputs of terrestrial vegetation alternated with periods of mixed input from aquatic macrophytes as the rate of sea level rise changed over time the n alkanes distribution and the lignin markers were useful for reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions particularly during the early holocene when the lower potengi river valley now an estuarine area could accommodate terrestrial forest vegetation before switching to halophytic mangroves as sea levels rose

a latitudinal productivity band in the central north atlantic over the last 270 kyr an alkenone perspective productivity changes in the central north atlantic ocean have been traced by means of the total c37 alkenone contents along two sediment cores located at 43 n and 37 n both alkenone signals revealed the occurrence of discrete productivity events every 23 kyr spectral analyses highlight the presence of a dominant 23 kyr periodicity in the alkenone signal which is highly coherent to the precession index however a close comparison revealed small but relevant differences in the timing of several of the productivity events recorded at both locations these asynchronies suggest that the alkenone maxima do not necessarily reflect a general increase of productivity over the north atlantic we propose that the events are related to a latitudinal band of productivity that moves northward and southward over time satellite derived productivity estimates show that the present location of this band is 45 55 n to illustrate this hypothesis we have constructed a conceptual model that reconstructs the temporal changes of productivity at one given location by assuming a productivity band that evolutes latitudinally over time the model is able to reconstruct the main features of the alkenone records namely 1 the occurrence of discrete and abrupt productivity events 2 the asynchrony at different latitudes and 3 the bimodal pattern of many of the productivity peaks

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

variations of terrestrial input and marine productivity in the southern ocean 48 s during the last two deglaciations various biomarkers n alkanes n alcohols and sterols have been studied in a piston core tsp 2pc taken from the southern ocean to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental changes in the subantarctic region for the last two deglaciations mass accumulation rates of terrestrial higher molecular weight n alkanes and n alcohols and marine dinosterol and brassicasterol biomarkers increased significantly at the last two glacials and stayed low during interglacial peaks early holocene and the eemian these records indicate that the enhanced atmospheric transport of continental materials and the increased marine biological productivity were synchronously linked in the southern ocean at the last two glacials this suggests that increased glacial dust inputs have relieved iron limitation in the subantarctic southern ocean these two processes however were not linked at the cooling phase from the eemian to marine isotope stage mis 5d during this period paleoproductivity may have been influenced by the latitudinal migration of the high production zone associated with the antarctic polar front

low latitude hydro climatic changes during the plio pleistocene evidence from high resolution alkane records in the southern south china sea abstract high resolution records of long chain n alkane biomarkers from the southern south china sea reveal tightly response of n alkane distribution to hydro climate changes over the past 5 ma with increasing longer chain n c31 alkanes indicating a correlation with drier conditions and increasing shorter chain n c27 alkanes with wetter conditions the variations of the c31 c27 ratio or the alkane chain length index imply humid conditions before 2 9 ma progressively reduced moisture since then and to bigger fluctuations between wet and dry conditions since 1 2 ma this long term hydro climate trend is superimposed by glacial dry and interglacial wet patterns over the plio pleistocene glacial cycles combined with other proxy records our results indicate that precipitation over the tropical asia pacific strengthened before the onset of the northern hemisphere glaciation and the mid pleistocene climate transition at about 1 2 ma these dramatic humidity changes over major climate transitions imply a crucial role of tropical hydrology dynamics on global climate change in the late cenozoic

millennial reoccurrence of century scale abrupt events of east asian monsoon a possible heat conveyor for the global deglaciation high resolution sediment records from the south china sea reveal a winter monsoon dominated glacial regime and a summer monsoon dominated holocene regime during the last glacial cycle a fundamental change between regimes occurred during deglaciation through a series of millennial reoccurrences of century scale changes in the east asian monsoon eam climate these abrupt events centered at 17 0 15 9 15 5 14 7 13 5 13 9 13 3 12 1 11 5 and 10 7 14c ka correlate well with the millennial scale events in the santa barbara basin and the arabian sea i e a relationship between eam and el nino southern oscillation systems the abrupt increases in summer monsoon imply enhanced heat transport from low latitude sea area to the midlatitude high latitude land area the phase relationship between events of eam and ice sheet may reflect a faster eam response and a slower ice sheet response to the insolation change a far reaching conclusion is that the eam might have triggered the northern hemisphere deglaciation

nitrogen isotope and chlorin paleoproductivity records from the northern south china sea remote vs local forcing of millennial and orbital scale variability abstract variations in nitrogen isotopic composition 15n and total chlorin accumulation rate ar are employed as proxies to reconstruct oceanic nitrate inventory the balance between denitrification and n fixation and paleoproductivity in a rapidly accumulating sediment drift deposit beneath the western pacific warm pool for the last 145 kyr subsurface and deep waters of the northern south china sea scs are sourced from the shallow kuroshio current kc and pacific intermediate water respectively their relative importance in determining sedimentary 15n and paleoproductivity have been altered by changes in equatorial circulation summer and winter monsoon intensity and relative sea level the location and basin configuration of the marginal scs renders it especially sensitive to such changes assuming complete annual nitrate utilization low 15n values during glacial stages are interpreted as a reflection of reduced remote denitrification in the eastern tropical north pacific etnp source waters while much of marine isotope stage mis 3 and the last interglacial were characterized by high denitrification however intervals of anomalously low 15n values are interpreted as reflecting the contribution from regional n fixation in west pacific surface waters transmitted to the site by the shallow kc unusually the holocene is characterized by declining 15n values and an inverse correlation with organic matter content since ca 8 2 ka millennial scale variations during mis 3 indicate higher frequency variations in both etnp denitrification and local n fixation which may be coherent with a hemispheric response to dansgaard oeschger events recorded at high latitudes for much of the last 145 kyr paleoproductivity was decoupled from 15n and instead seems to reflect the extent of the global nitrate inventory stimulated by elevated dust fertilization and regional mixed layer deepening associated with the relative intensity of the se asian winter monsoon despite evaluation of possible conflicting influences on the record of each proxy we interpret our data as clear evidence of glacial interglacial changes in marine nutrient inventory across the whole of the north pacific with a corresponding biogeochemical response and important implications for global co2 drawdown via an invigorated biological pump the relative importance of local regional and global contributions to our records appears to be strongly modulated by relative sea level controlling trans and extra basinal circulation in the scs

late miocene atmospheric co2 concentrations and the expansion of c4 grasses the global expansion of c4 grasslands in the late miocene has been attributed to a large scale decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide co2 concentrations this triggering mechanism is controversial in part because of a lack of direct evidence for change in the partial pressure of co2 pco2 and because other factors are also important determinants in controlling plant type distributions alkenone based pco2 estimates for the late miocene indicate that pco2 increased from 14 to 9 million years ago and stabilized at preindustrial values by 9 million years ago the estimates presented here provide no evidence for major changes in pco2 during the late miocene thus c4 plant expansion was likely driven by additional factors possibly a tectonically related episode of enhanced low latitude aridity or changes in seasonal precipitation patterns on a global scale or both

proceedings of a workshop on alkenone based paleoceanographic indicators 1 the papers in this theme derive from a workshop on alkenone based paleoceanographic indicators held at the j erik jonsson center of the national academy of sciences in woods hole massachusetts october 3 6 1999 the papers fall into two groups position papers prepared in advance of the workshop by the leaders of six different working groups and reports prepared during and after the workshop by rapporteurs and members of the working groups their publication here is intended to provide a record of the discussions and thus to serve to the paleoceanographic community an overview of the conference and its participants is also provided

hydrographic variability in the northern south china sea over the past 45 000 years new insights based on temperature reconstructions by uk 37 and texh86 proxies from a marine sediment core md972146 abstract millennial scale climate variability was persistent feature for greenland ice core and north atlantic marine records during the marine isotope stage mis 3 studying high quality climatic archives outside of the greenland and north atlantic with precise constraint of absolute dating and high resolution sampling is a prerequisite to understand how the millennial scale changes well expressed in north hemisphere nh high latitudes had been propagated out to the other regions here we generated the surface and subsurface hydrography u k 37 and tex h 86 temperatures and terrestrial material input n alkanes records with precise ams 14 c dated control for the 45 ka from a core md972146 retrieved from the northern south china sea scs then we compared our records to the oxygen isotope record from a greenland ngrip ice core and the mean grain size record from a loess sequence at gulang china we found that the millennial scale oscillations of hydrolography and terrestrial material inputs records during the time since the last deglaciation and of 33 45 ka share similar patterns in timing and amplitude of the nh high latitude climate however we found that a non nh pattern of millennial scale oscillations for the late mis 3 20 33 ka of our hydrography and terrestrial material inputs records our studies imply that the changes of obliquity also may be important in determining the timing and amplitude of millennial scale east asian monsoon eam variability expressed in the northern scs hydrography and terrestrial material inputs

oxygen 18 16 variability in greenland snow and ice with 10 3 to 105 year time resolution the 3 km long greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core presents a 100 000 year detailed oxygen isotope profile covering almost a full glacial interglacial cycle measuranents of isotopic fluctuations in snow frost and atmospheric water vapor samples collected during summer field seasons up to 20 0 are compatible with the large and abrupt 80 160 changes observed in accumulated tim snow pit 15 80 profiles from the gisp2 summit area however show rapid smoothing of the 180 160 signal near the surface beyond about 2 m depth the smoothedi5180 signal is fairly well preserved and can be interpreted in terms of average local weather conditions and climate the longer climate fluctuations also have regional and often global significance in the older part of the record corresponding to marine isotope stages mis 5a to 5d the effect of orbital climate forcing via the 19 and 23 kyr precession cycles and the 41 kyr obliquity cycle is obvious from the end ofmis 5a at about 75 000 years b p till the end of the glacial at the younger dryas preboreal transition at 11 650 years b p the o180 160 record shows frequent rapid switches between intermediate interstadial and low stadial values fourier spectra of the oscillations that are superimposed on the orbitally induced changes contain a strong periodicity at 1 5 kyr a broad peak at 4 0 kyr and additional shorter periods detailed comparison of the gisp2 180 160 record with the vostok antarctica 15d record pacific ocean foraminiferal 180 160 grande pile france tree pollen and insolation indicates that a counterpart to many of the rapid 180 160 fluctuations of gisp2 can be found in the other records and that the gisp2 isotopic changes clearly are the local expression of climate changes of worldwide extent correlation of events on the independent gisp2 and specmap time scales for the interval 10 000 50 000 years b p shows excellent chronometric agreement except possibly for the event labeled 3 1 the glacial to interglacial transition evidently started simultaneously in the arctic and the antarctic but its development and its expression in greenland isotopes was later suppressed by the influence of meltwater especially from the barents sea ice sheet on deep water formation and ocean circulation meltwaters from different ice sheets bordering the north atlantic also influenced ocean circulation during the bolling allerod interstadial complex and the younger dryas and led to a distinct development of european climate and greenland 180 160 values the holocene interval with long term stable mean isotopic values contains several fluauations with periods from years to millennia dominant is a 6 3 year oscillation with amplitude up to 3 to 4 0 periodicities of 11 and 210 years also found in the solar modulated records of the cosmogenic isotopes 1obe and 14c suggest solar processes as the cause of these cycles depression of180 160 values cooling by volcanic eruptions is observed in stacked gisp215 80 records but the effect is small and not likely to trigger major climate changes

new insights into the glacial latitudinal temperature gradients in the north atlantic results from uk 37 sea surface temperatures and terrigenous inputs abstract sea surface temperatures sst and input of continental materials have been reconstructed from the study of the long chain alkenones and n alkanes respectively in a core located in the western side of the mid atlantic ridge md952037 37 05 n 32 02 w 2630 m depth both the long and short term variability recorded by the temperatures and the planktonic 18o are basically the same over the last 280 kyr showing a clear glacial interglacial evolution comparison with core su90 08 located only 6 north and directly influenced by the cold polar waters associated with the polar front during glacial times revealed different climatic conditions during glacial periods at both locations whereas core md952037 recorded similar sst values during the last two glacial periods ca 14 15 c the northern core displayed colder conditions during isotopic stage 2 8 10 c than in stage 6 13 15 c these results indicate the existence of a well developed steep north south gradient between 37 and 43 n during the last glacial period but not during stage 6 which suggests a southern expansion of the polar front during the last glacial maximum

plio quaternary sedimentation processes and neotectonics of the northern continental margin of the south china sea abstract analyses of over 6600 km of reflection seismic profiles on the northern continental margin of the south china sea permit the recognition of four quaternary high frequency type 1 sequences of the 4th order deposited during the past ca 690 kyr at the present day shelf edge only lowstand systems tracts characterised by a prograding clinoformal internal reflection pattern are preserved the prograding complexes can be considered as regressive units accumulated during relative sea level falls they exhibit internal discontinuities which might point to minor sea level fluctuations of the 5th order a preliminary regional relative sea level curve for the past 630 kyr is established using the present positions of the delta fronts mapped the neotectonics curve derived by subtracting eustatic sea level changes from the relative sea level curve shows that the depths of the delta fronts today are controlled primarily by regional tectonic movements and the global sea level our seismo stratigraphic interpretation documents that the area off hong kong and around the dongsha islands experienced two uplift episodes during the past 5 ma namely at the miocene pliocene boundary and at the end of the lower middle pleistocene respectively these uplift events which are centred on the dongsha rise led to its subaerial exposure and to the erosion of the pliocene and most of the pleistocene strata the change from thermal subsidence of the continental margin initiated at the end of the drift phase to the phase of magmato tectonic uplift was caused by a reorientation of the tectonic regime the recent depositional environment on the northern continental margin of the south china sea is dominated by sediment accumulation within the inner shelf and the zhujiang pearl river estuary the outer shelf and upper slope especially around the dongsha islands are characterised by bypass of terrigenous material the sedimentary column in the deepsea basin has a thickness of more than 2 km and comprises 14 depositional units starting with terrestrial rift deposits it overlies oceanic as well as transitional crust

a biomarker approach for assessing marine and terrigenous inputs to the sediments of sea of okhotsk for the last 27 000 years abstract a sediment core taken from the sea of okhotsk which is located in the western north pacific rim with an extensive seasonal sea ice cover was investigated for lipid class compounds total organic carbon total nitrogen and 13 c of bulk organic matter to reconstruct changes in sedimentary regimes of marine and terrestrial organic matter over the last 27 kyrs higher molecular weight n alkanes fatty acids and fatty alcohols showed an increase in terrigenous inputs in glacial and to a greater extent in early deglacial periods the enhanced terrestrial input in the deglaciation stages has for the first time been found and never been reported in the open ocean biomarker profiles together with the coarse grain size distribution in nearby sediment cores suggested that sea ice rafting was the main transport mechanism of continental material to the okhotsk sea sediments however the ice rafting inputs have been weakened from 14 kyrs bp to the holocene probably due to a rapid reduction of the sea ice cover and continental shelf erosion profiles of c 37 alkenones phytol and brassicasterol as well as temporal variation in calcium carbonate and organic carbon contents indicated that the marine inputs were enhanced during the deglaciation the enhanced marine inputs were likely caused by an intensification of the primary production induced by a possibly increased nutrient supply from the continental shelves in early deglaciation and by the deglacial retreat of the sea ice cover at 14 kyrs bp this study demonstrates that biomarkers in the marginal marine sediments had recorded changes in the biogeochemical processes in the sea of okhotsk over the last 27 kyrs which may be significantly affected by changes in the okhotsk water exchange processes such as sea ice activity and sea ice transport of terrigenous materials

terrigenous plant wax inputs to the arabian sea implications for the reconstruction of winds associated with the indian monsoon author posting the authors 2005 this is the author s version of the work it is posted here by permission of elsevier b v for personal use not for redistribution the definitive version was published in geochimica et cosmochimica acta 69 2005 2547 2558 doi 10 1016 j gca 2005 01 001

pollen distribution in hemipelagic surface sediments of the south china sea and its relation to modern vegetation distribution abstract this paper analyses the distribution of pollen in the surface sediments of the south china sea as recorded in 28 samples from the area 6 09 20 07 n and 112 05 119 45 e at water depths of 329 4307 m pollen concentrations range from 444 kgrains g dry wt on the lower part of the continental slope in the northeast to zero in the central basin below 4000 m water depth pollen distribution patterns in the concentration and percentage isopolls incorporating data from the literature reflect the routes and mechanisms of pollen transport pollen source areas and considerable systematic differences between north and south the northern scs is distinguished by very high concentrations due to the high production and effective long distance transport of pine pollen and fern spores the maximum of their concentration occurs in the north adjacent to the convergence of the bashi and taiwan straits rather than near the estuaries of big rivers and stretches as a saddle from ne to sw consistent with the direction of the ne winter monsoon and sea current this pattern implies that pine pollen and fern spores adapted to wind transport and water flotation come from the northeast through the straits borne on the winter monsoon and sea current forced by it their source areas should cover large regions probably including south and southeast china most pollen of tropical and subtropical broad leaved trees found in the northern part of the scs occur in low concentrations however these concentrations decrease uniformly offshore implying a fluvial discharge from nearby lowlands in south china in the southern part of the scs pollen of tropical and subtropical broad leaved trees predominate total pollen concentrations however are much lower only 1 10 of those of the northern part the greatest concentrations occur offshore north borneo and decrease toward deep water suggesting fluvial input from relatively local sources on the adjacent islands e g borneo

the flooding of sundaland during the last deglaciation imprints in hemipelagic sediments from the southern south china sea abstract during the last 30 ka the south china sea scs experienced pronounced palaeogeographic changes associated with the postglacial sea level rise which significantly modified the hydrography of this marginal sea the most crucial effects in the southern part of the basin were the submergence of sundaland and the opening of the southern channels connecting the scs to the tropical indo pacific isotopic sedimentological and organic geochemical parameters determined in two sediment cores from the southern scs one in the open sea and the other close to the continental shelf sites 17961 and 17964 respectively show that the main hydrographical changes during this period were related to critical thresholds in sea level rise the main changes occurred at about 15 13 5 ky bp coincident with meltwater pulse mwp ia when sea surface temperatures ssts at both sites experienced a rapid 1 5 c rise and the clay content and n nonacosane concentrations dropped significantly both trends reflect a rapid retreat of the coastline and an initial flooding of sundaland at that time a second important change starting with the beginning of mwp ib at about 11 5 ky bp and culminating at 10 ky bp involved the establishment of modern hydrographic conditions this is evident from the rapid convergence of the foraminiferal oxygen isotope records and the establishment of holocene sst values these results highlight the need to include the flooding emergence of sundaland as an important boundary condition in future modelling studies of asian palaeomonsoons

dynamics of primary productivity in the northern south china sea over the past 24 000 years in this study paleoproductivity on millennial scales was precisely reconstructed from core md12 3428cq in the northern south china sea scs over the past 24 kyr based on a transfer function derived from the strong exponential negative correlation between relative abundance of florisphaera profunda fp in core top sediments and basin wide satellite based primary productivity pp in the scs to detect the potential driving mechanisms of pp correlation analyses were carried out among our pp records and other paleoenvironment parameters pp peaked during 18 15 ka in parallel with the strong east asian winter monsoon eawm from 15 ka to the early holocene a decrease in pp coincided with sea level progradation and weakening of eawm which ultimately reduced fluvial nutrient levels and wind driven upper water column mixing since the middle holocene gradually more frequent el nino southern oscillation enso events have taken place further decreasing pp by injecting oligotrophic kuroshio water masses into the northern scs associated findings conclusively indicated that the main controlling factors of pp in the northern scs have shifted from eawm glacial to enso interglacial over the past 24 kyr this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

reduced early holocene moisture availability inferred from δd values of sedimentary n alkanes in zigetang co central tibetan plateau an 885 cm long laminated sediment core was retrieved from zigetang co a non glacial meltwater fed lake in the central tibetan plateau and analyzed for n alkanes as well as their hydrogen isotopes to trace the regional climatic and environmental history spanning the last 13 8 cal ka bp the short chain n alkanes c15 16 17 likely derived from aquatic algae plankton and photosynthetic bacteria dominate the n alkane composition in this lake this unusual distribution pattern might be attributed to the meromictic lake system that is characterized by a rapid salinity increase and an abrupt decrease in dissolved oxygen in the lake water with depth as well as anoxic conditions at the bottom n alkane indicator ratios e g carbon preference index cpi average chain length acl and aquatic terrigenous ratio atr and d values reveal that higher effective moisture availability at zigetang co occurred in the middle 5 8 2 7 cal ka bp rather than the early holocene this contradicts palaeoclimate reco

on the significance of sea level variations and shelf paleo morphology in governing sedimentation in the southern south china sea during the last deglaciation abstract deglacial sedimentation on the outer sunda shelf the shelf margin and slope shows a close correlation with the stages of flooding of the emerged shelf it is mainly controlled by the relationship between shelf paleo physiography and changes in sea level and sediment supply based on the sedimentological and geochemical variability at five sites along a transect across the outer shelf and the continental slope covering the last 20 000 years four intervals of significant depositional changes are identified the first reorganization in the sedimentation regime which was established during sea level lowstand is associated with the drowning of the lower course of the north sunda river between 16 5 and 14 5 ka during and following the rapid rise in sea level at 14 5 14 ka sedimentation on the slope is characterized by an accelerated decrease in the supply of terrigenous material associated with the flooding of the middle part of the paleo valley this abrupt change in sedimentation is followed by a period of gradual decrease of terrigenous supply to the slope when the surrounding plains of the river valley were flooded 14 8 5 ka the final change occurred between ca 8 5 and 6 ka when the coastline reached its modern position and modern sedimentary patterns are established this change probably marks the end of reworking by transgression given the synchroneity of sedimentological changes along the transect across the sunda shelf and into the deep sea with the environmental shifts on the central shelf sedimentation on the margin and slope appears to be mainly controlled by the interrelationship of sea level shelf paleo physiography and sediment supply moreover the records display lateral changes through time associated with stages of the deglacial transgression which mask any potential sedimentological variability due to changes in precipitation vegetation or atmospheric circulation this fact cautions the interpretation of near shore sedimentary records as unequivocal recorders of local climate change e g se asian monsoon and highlights the need to include variations in shelf physiography and sea level in future paleoceanographic studies

molecular stratigraphy a new tool for climatic assessment variations in sea surface temperatures over the past 500 000 years are inferred from the relative abundance behaviour of two organic compounds c37 alkenones over the upper 8 metres of a sediment core from the eastern equatorial atlantic this molecular record ascribed to contributions from prymnesiophyte algae correlates well with the variations in the 18 signal for the calcareous skeletons of certain planktonic foraminifera thus providing the first demonstration of a new stratigraphical technique which may be especially valuable where methods based on carbonate 18 fail

synchronous tropical south china sea sst change and greenland warming during deglaciation the tropical ocean plays a major role in global climate it is therefore crucial to establish the precise phase between tropical and high latitude climate variability during past abrupt climate events in order to gain insight into the mechanisms of global climate change here we present alkenone sea surface temperature sst records from the tropical south china sea that show an abrupt temperature increase of at least 1 c at the end of the last glacial period within the recognized dating uncertainties this sst increase is synchronous with the bolling warming observed at 14 6 thousand years ago in the greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core