Changes in ocean circulation are often credited as the primary control on large-scale climate change during the Miocene. This study investigates the latest Oligocene to middle Miocene evolution of Southern Ocean circulation by evaluating stable isotopic trends of shallow- and deep-dwelling planktonic foraminifera, as well as epsilon-p records reconstructed from the carbon isotopic composition of diunsaturated alkenones in the southwestern Altantic Ocean (Deep Sea Drilling Project site 516). Changes in epsilon-p at site 516 closely paralleled the opening and deepening of the Drake Passage as inferred from seafloor magnetic anomalies. A large negative shift in epsilon-p at ~20.3 Ma is interpreted to reflect an increase in upper water column nutrient concentrations, caused by the onset or strengthening of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Measurable alkenone concentrations disappear by ~17 Ma, prior to a collapse in surface-to-thermocline d18O and d13C gradients. This is interpreted as reflecting a severe decrease in mixed layer nutrient concentrations and reduced proto-Antarctic Intermediate Water influence. The d18O gradient was reestablished by 14.5 Ma, coincident with the hypothesized East Antarctic ice sheet expansion, suggesting a direct relationship between increased strength of the ACC and the largest climate shift of the middle Miocene.

Supplement to: Pagani, Mark; Arthur, Michael A; Freeman, Katherine H (2000): Variations in Miocene phytoplankton growth rates in the southwest Atlantic: Evidence for changes in ocean circulation. Paleoceanography, 15(5), 486-496