Stable isotope stratigraphy from the Antarctic continental margin during the last one million years

doi:10.1016/0025-3227(89)90068-6

Marine Geology

Volume 87, Issues 2–4, June 1989, Pages 315-321

https://doi.org/10.1016/0025-3227(89)90068-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

A stable isotope record from the eastern Weddell Sea from 69°S is presented. For the first time, a 250, 000-yr record from the Southern Ocean can be correlated in detail to the global isotope stratigraphy. Together with magnetostratigraphic, sedimentological and micropalaeontological data, the stratigraphic control of this record can be extended back to 910,000 yrs B.P. A time scale is constructed by linear interpolation between confirmed stratigraphic data points.

The benthic δ¹⁸O record (Epistominella exigua) reflects global continental ice volume changes during the Brunhes and late Matuyama chrons, whereas the planktonic isotopic record (Neogloboquadrina pachyderma) may be influenced by a meltwater lid caused by the nearby Antarctic ice shelf and icebergs.

The worldwide climatic improvement during deglaciations is documented in the eastern Weddell Sea by an increase in production of siliceous plankton followed, with a time lag of approximately 10,000 yrs, by planktonic foraminifera production. Peak values in the difference between planktonic and benthic δ¹³C records, which are 0.5‰ higher during warm climatic periods than during times with expanded continental ice sheets, also suggest increased surface productivity during interglacials in the Southern Ocean.

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Environmental changes of the stadial/interstadial type during the Late Saalian (MIS-6) – Multi-proxy record at the Wola Starogrodzka site, central Poland
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It is probable that this event corresponds to the Zeifen lnterstadial, while the following positive peak in δ18O to the Kattegat Stadial. Also a number of other benthic and planktic oxygen isotope records both from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans show the 6.01 event (Emiliani, 1966; Ninkovich and Shackleton, 1975; Shackleton, 1977; Shackleton and Matthews, 1977; Shackleton et al., 1983; Morley and Shackleton, 1984; Duplessy and Shackleton, 1985; Shackleton, 1986; Ruddiman et al., 1987; Mackensen et al., 1989; Imbrie et al., 1993). In the 90s, Seidenkrantz et al. (1996) compared the marine, lacustrine, and terrestrial records registered the MIS-6 from the whole world and showed the common existence of a short termed climatic oscillation between stadial and interstadial conditions just prior to the MIS-6/MIS-5e boundary.
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The contourite paradigm was conceived a few decades ago, yet there remains a need to establish a sound connection between contourite deposits, basin evolution and oceanographic processes. Significant recent advances have been enabled by various factors, including the establishment of two IGCP projects and the realisation of several IODP expeditions. Contourites were first described in the Northern and Southern Atlantic Ocean, and since then, have been discovered in every major ocean basin and even in lakes. The 120 major contourite areas presently known are associated to myriad oceanographic processes in surface, intermediate and deep-water masses. The increasing recognition of these deposits is influencing palaeoclimatology & palaeoceanography, slope-stability/geological hazard assessment, and hydrocarbon exploration. Nevertheless, there is a pressing need for a better understanding of the sedimentological and oceanographic processes governing contourites, which involve dense bottom currents, tides, eddies, deep-sea storms, internal waves and tsunamis. Furthermore, in light of the latest knowledge on oceanographic processes and other governing factors (e.g. sediment supply and sea-level), existing facies models must now be revised. Persistent oceanographic processes significantly affect the seafloor, resulting in large-scale depositional and erosional features. Various classifications have been proposed to subdivide a continuous spectrum of partly overlapping features. Although much progress has been made in the large-scale, geophysically based recognition of these deposits, there remains a lack of unambiguous and commonly accepted diagnostic criteria for deciphering the small-scaled contourite facies and for distinguishing them from turbidite ones. Similarly, the study of sandy deposits generated or affected by bottom currents, which is still in its infancy, offers great research potential: these deposits might prove invaluable as future reservoir targets. Expectations for the forthcoming analysis of data from the IODP Expedition 339 are high, as this work promises to tackle much of the aforementioned lack of knowledge. In the near future, geologists, oceanographers and benthic biologists will have to work in concert to achieve synergy in contourite research to demonstrate the importance of bottom currents in continental margin sedimentation and evolution.
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iii), Deep and Bottom Water formation in the Weddell Sea was enhanced during glacials because the relative amount of bottom water formed by brine rejection in polynyas and the seasonal SIZ increased greatly. This is corroborated by the dominance of Epistominella exigua in the benthic foraminiferal faunas at the Antarctic continental margin throughout most of the glacial stages, which depends on the existence of large polynyas with at least seasonally significant primary production (Mackensen et al., 1989, 1994) and also fossil evidence for sustained existence of petrel colonies in the Weddell Sea's hinterland throughout the last glacial period (Thatje et al., 2008). The investigated core site PS2561-2 is located at the south-eastern flank of the Agulhas Plateau in the Agulhas Basin (Fig. 1).
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Upwelling of deep water directly at the core sites is probably even more likely because of a bench-like feature extending eastward along the slope between 900 and 1500 m water depth (Fig. 2) (Gilbert et al., 1998). Similar benches characterise parts of the continental slope in the eastern and SE Weddell Sea (Grobe and Mackensen, 1992; Weber et al., 1994; Forsberg et al., 2003), where sediments deposited during the Last Glacial Period are characterised by relatively high abundances of foraminifera and cyclic grain-size fluctuations, respectively, which were interpreted as indicating their deposition in a polynya setting (Mackensen et al., 1989, 1996; Weber et al., 1994). Thus, the unusual slope morphologies in the NW, SE and eastern Weddell Sea may have promoted the upwelling of deep water masses and polynya formation during the Last Glacial Period (cf. Grobe and Mackensen, 1992; Thatje et al., 2008).
Cores from a contourite drift on the continental slope in the NW Weddell Sea, Antarctica, contain up to four sandy foraminifer-rich layers (WA1–4), with dispersed ice-rafted debris (IRD), interbedded with silty–clayey sands and sandy muds. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C dating on Neogloboquadrina pachyderma from the foraminifer-rich layers WA2 and WA3 yielded ages spanning the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 (20,319–28,543 cal yr BP) and the middle part of MIS 3 (41,349–43,242 cal yr BP), respectively. We attribute the high abundances of planktonic and benthic foraminifera to deposition in a seasonally open-marine environment. Given that the NW Weddell Sea shelf was covered by grounded ice at the LGM (and probably during MIS 2 and MIS 3) and that diatom-based reconstructions place the northern limit of winter and summer sea-ice coverage to the north of the core sites during the Last Glacial Period, our results document the presence of a seasonal or perennial polynya in the NW Weddell Sea. The polynya may have been formed by katabatic winds blowing off the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS) when it was grounded at the continental shelf break, although polynya formation through upwelling of deep water cannot be ruled out. In addition we argue that previously published data from the southern, southeastern and southwestern Weddell Sea as well as the Ross Sea may indicate the widespread occurrence of polynyas along the Antarctic continental margin during the Last Glacial Period. The widespread occurrence of polynyas could help explain how (i) AABW formation (through brine rejection) continued throughout the LGM, and (ii) Antarctic shelf benthos survived glacial periods. The presence of polynyas through glacial periods also has implications for sea-ice reconstructions from ice core records, possibly biasing the signal towards a reduced sea-ice cover. Finally we propose that the fringes of the APIS, which probably influence the presence or absence of polynyas in the NW Weddell Sea, are sensitive to changes in Antarctic temperature that may be related to a reduction in oceanic heat transport from the North Atlantic.
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Citation Excerpt :
In core PS2547 as well as in cores PS1388 and PS1506 from the Weddell Sea (locations see Fig. 1), δ18O ratios of planktonic and benthic foraminifera tests are relatively low during glacial MIS 14 (Fig. 7; Grobe et al., 1990; Mackensen et al., 1994; Hillenbrand et al., 2002). At site PS1388, the δ18O signal of MIS 14 is so inconspicuous that initially a hiatus spanning MIS 15–MIS 14 was assumed for this site (Mackensen et al., 1989; Grobe et al., 1990). However, the higher resolution of planktonic and benthic δ18O curves available for nearby core PS1506 proved the completeness of the sedimentary record during the Brunhes chron and thus led to a revision of the δ18O stratigraphy for core PS1388 (Mackensen et al., 1994; Supplementary Table).
Modern global warming is likely to cause future melting of Earth's polar ice sheets that may result in dramatic sea-level rise. A possible collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) alone, which is considered highly vulnerable as it is mainly based below sea level, may raise global sea level by up to 5–6 m. Despite the importance of the WAIS for changes in global sea level, its response to the glacial–interglacial cycles of the Quaternary is poorly constrained. Moreover, the geological evidence for the disintegration of the WAIS at some time within the last ca. 750 kyr, possibly during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 (424–374 ka), is ambiguous. Here we present physical properties, palaeomagnetic, geochemical and clay mineralogical data from a glaciomarine sedimentary sequence that was recovered from the West Antarctic continental margin in the Amundsen Sea and spans more than the last 1 Myr. Within the sedimentary sequence, proxies for biological productivity (such as biogenic opal and the barium/aluminum ratio) and the supply of lithogenic detritus from the West Antarctic hinterland (such as ice-rafted debris and clay minerals) exhibit cyclic fluctuations in accordance with the glacial–interglacial cycles of the Quaternary. A prominent depositional anomaly spans MIS 15–MIS 13 (621–478 ka). The proxies for biological productivity and lithogenic sediment supply indicate that this interval has the characteristics of a single, prolonged interglacial period. Even though no proxy suggests environmental conditions much different from today, we conclude that, if the WAIS collapsed during the last 800 kyr, then MIS 15–MIS 13 was the most likely time period. Apparently, the duration rather than the strength of interglacial conditions was the crucial factor for the WAIS drawdown. A comparison with various marine and terrestrial climate archives from around the world corroborates that unusual environmental conditions prevailed throughout MIS 15–MIS 13. Some of these anomalies are observed in the pelagic Southern Ocean and the South Atlantic and might originate in major ice-sheet drawdown in Antarctica, but further research is required to test this hypothesis.

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Letter sectionStable isotope stratigraphy from the Antarctic continental margin during the last one million years

Abstract

Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta

Mar. Geol.

Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.

Deep-Sea Res.

Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.

Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.

Quat. Res.

Mar. Geol.

Mar. Geol.

Quat.Res.

Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.

Mar. Micropaleontol.

Vostok ice core provides 160,000-year record of atmospheric CO2

Nature

Deep-sea carbonates: reading the carbon-isotope signal

Geol. Rundsch.

Cenozoic geochronology

Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

A hiatus in early Quaternary sediments documented in the magnetostratigraphic record of “Meteor” cores from the eastern equatorial Atlantic

“Meteor” Forschungsergeb

Water masses and circulation in the Weddell Sea

Pleistocene temperatures

J. Geol.

Letter section
Stable isotope stratigraphy from the Antarctic continental margin during the last one million years

Vostok ice core provides 160,000-year record of atmospheric CO₂