Chemistry and stable isotope record of sediment core GeoB4905-4

DOI

Evidence of rapid climatic oscillations like those observed in the Greenland ice cores and sediments from high latitudes of the northern Atlantic have been recognized in the pulses of terrigenous material to continental margin sediments off Cameroon. Fe/Ca ratios used as a parameter to quantify the relative proportions of terrigenous fluxes versus marine carbonate monitor the variability of the west African monsoon. They reveal the history of abrupt changes in precipitation over western and central Africa during the past 52 kyr. These rapid changes are particularly pronounced during the last glacial period and occur at timescales of a few thousand years. Stable oxygen isotope (delta18O) records of Globigerinoides ruber (pink) show high negative values reflecting periods of high monsoon precipitation. The Fe/Ca pattern is very similar to the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles from the Greenland ice cores. The good correspondence between the warm interstadials of the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles from the GISP2 ice core records and the high pulses of Fe/Ca sedimentation in our core suggest a strong teleconnection between the low-latitude African climate and the high-latitude northern hemisphere climate oscillations during the last glacial. This climatic link is probably vested in the west African monsoonal fluctuation that alters tropical sea surface temperatures, thermohaline circulations and in turn net export of heat from the south to the north Atlantic, coupled with the variability of the low-latitude southeast trade winds.

Supplement to: Adegbie, Adesina T; Schneider, Ralph R; Röhl, Ursula; Wefer, Gerold (2003): Glacial millennial-scale fluctuations in central African precipitation recorded in terrigenous sediment supply and freshwater signals offshore Cameroon. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 197(3-4), 323-333

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.736662
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00474-7
Related Identifier https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-ep000103077
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.736662
Provenance
Creator Adegbie, Adesina T; Schneider, Ralph R ORCID logo; Röhl, Ursula ORCID logo; Wefer, Gerold ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2003
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 Geosciences; Natural Sciences
Spatial Coverage (9.390 LON, 2.500 LAT); off Cameroon