Pliocene-Pleistocene oxygen isotope record Site 586, Ontong Java Plateau

doi:10.1016/0377-8398(92)90012-9

Marine Micropaleontology

Volume 18, Issue 3, February 1992, Pages 171-198

https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-8398(92)90012-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

Oceanographic changes in the western equatorial Pacific during the past 6 Ma are inferred from oxygen isotopic analyses of planktic and benthic foraminifera from Ontong Java Plateau (DSDP Site 586). The taxa areGlobigerinoides sacculifer, Pulleniatina, Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi, andOridorsalis umbonatus. Cooling and ice buildup are indicated by an¹⁸O enrichment of 0.3‰ in the planktic species near 3.4 Ma. This shift apparently is compensated in the benthic data by a warming of the deep waters by between 1° and 2°C. We suggest that the dominant source of upper deep water supply to the Pacific changed from Antarctic to North Atlantic at that time, the North Atlantic-derived water being warmer. Near 2.8 Ma (approximately) the planktic foraminifera again record an enrichment in¹⁸O (Δδ¹⁸O=0.25‰). We suggest ice buildup in the northern hemisphere as the cause, because of subsequent sharp increase in fluctuations of the δ¹⁸O signal, that is, instability. The enrichment is magnified in the benthic foraminifera (Δδ¹⁸O=0.5‰) by a cooling of the deep water by 1.5° at the time, presumably signalling a glacial-type reduction of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) production.

Episodic divergence between the signals ofG. sacculifer andPulleniatina in the Pleistocene apparently reflects periods of increased upwelling in the western equatorial Pacific. The amplitude of ice volume fluctuations cannot be reconstructed from δ¹⁸O data alone, unless there are constraints on temperature variations. The increase in amplitude of fluctuation of the benthic and planktic signals during the Pleistocene may be attributed either to an increase in maximum ice volume, or to an increase in the fractionation of continental ice, or a combination of both causes.

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Research paperPliocene-Pleistocene oxygen isotope record Site 586, Ontong Java Plateau

Abstract

Mar. Geol.

Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta

Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

Mar. Micropaleontol.

Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

Quat. Res.

Mar. Micropaleontol.

Mar. Geol.

Mar. Micropaleontol.

General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans

Pliocene biostratigraphy of DSDP Sites 111 and 116 from the North Atlantic Ocean and the age of northern hemisphere glaciation

J. Stockh. Contrib. Geol.

Paleomagnetism of sediments collected during Leg 90, Southwest Pacific

Isotopic composition of atmospheric O2 in ice linked with deglaciation and global primary productivity

Nature

Paleoceanography: the deep-sea record

On the determination of Pleistocene temperatures from planktonic foraminifera

J. Foraminiferal Res.

Deep-sea carbonates: dissolution and mass wasting on Ontong-Java Plateau

Science

Cenozoic paleoceanography 1986: An introduction

Paleoceanography

Sporadic shutdown of North Atlantic deep water production during the Glacial-Holocene transition

Nature

Stable isotopes in deep-sea carbonates: Box Core ERDC-92, west equatorial Pacific

Oceanol. Acta

Foraminifera on the deep-sea floor; lysocline and dissolution rate

Oceanol. Acta

Late Pliocene-Pleistocene glaciation

Neogene geochronology and chronostratigraphy

Evidence for a cooler and drier climate in the Ethiopian uplands towards 2.5 Myr ago

Nature

Floating ice caps in the Arctic ocean

Science

Oxygen isotopes and sea level

Nature

Deuterium and oxygen18O variations in the ocean and marine atmosphere

Stable isotopes in precipitation

Tellus

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Science

General Oceanography, An Introduction

Late Neogene paleoceanographic evolution of Site 590: southwest Pacific

Pleistocene temperatures

J. Geol.

Paleotemperature analysis of Caribbean cores P6304-8 and P6304-9 and a generalized temperature curve for the past 425,000 years

J. Geol.

Modification of the oxygen isotope record in deep-sea cores by Pleistocene dissolution cycles

Nature

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Chronology of fluctuating sea levels since the Triassic

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Late Pliocene reorganization of deep vertical water-mass structure in the western South Atlantic: faunal and isotopic evidence

Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

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Research paper
Pliocene-Pleistocene oxygen isotope record Site 586, Ontong Java Plateau

Isotopic composition of atmospheric O₂ in ice linked with deglaciation and global primary productivity

Deuterium and oxygen¹⁸O variations in the ocean and marine atmosphere