Stable oxygen isotope and Mg/Ca ratios of planktonic foraminifera from the Caribbean and North Atlantic

DOI

Variations in the strength of the North Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation have been linked to rapid climate changes during the last glacial cycle through oscillations in North Atlantic Deep Water formation and northward oceanic heat flux. The strength of the thermohaline circulation depends on the supply of warm, salty water to the North Atlantic, which, after losing heat to the atmosphere, produces the dense water masses that sink to great depths and circulate back south. Here we analyse two Caribbean Sea sediment cores, combining Mg/Ca palaeothermometry with measurements of oxygen isotopes in foraminiferal calcite in order to reconstruct tropical Atlantic surface salinity during the last glacial cycle. We find that Caribbean salinity oscillated between saltier conditions during the cold oxygen isotope stages 2, 4 and 6, and lower salinities during the warm stages 3 and 5, covarying with the strength of North Atlantic Deep Water formation. At the initiation of the Bølling/Allerød warm interval, Caribbean surface salinity decreased abruptly, suggesting that the advection of salty tropical waters into the North Atlantic amplified thermohaline circulation and contributed to high-latitude warming.

Supplement to: Schmidt, Matthew W; Spero, Howard J; Lea, David W (2004): Links between salinity variation in the Caribbean and North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Nature, 428, 160-163

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.716696
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02346
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.716696
Provenance
Creator Schmidt, Matthew W; Spero, Howard J ORCID logo; Lea, David W
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2004
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 4 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-78.739W, 11.933S, -78.680E, 12.744N); Caribbean Sea
Temporal Coverage Begin 1971-01-01T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 1996-01-14T23:15:00Z