Description: During the past 40,000 years, global climate has moved into and out of a full glacial period, with the deglaciation marked by several millennial-scale rapid climate change events. Here we investigate the ecological response of deep-sea coral communities to both glaciation and these rapid climate change events. We find that the deep-sea coral populations of Desmophyllum dianthus in both the North Atlantic and the Tasmanian seamounts expand at times of rapid climate change. However, during the more stable Last Glacial Maximum, the coral population globally retreats to a more restricted depth range. Holocene populations show regional patterns that provide some insight into what causes these dramatic changes in population structure. The most important factors are likely responses to climatically driven changes in productivity, [O2] and [CO3]2-.

Description: During a time of negligible atmospheric pO2, Earth's early sulfur cycle generated a spectacular geological signal seen as the anomalous fractionation of multiple sulfur isotopic ratios. The disappearance of this signal from the geologic record has been hypothesized to constrain the timing of atmospheric oxygenation, though interpretive challenges exist. Asymmetry in existing S isotopic data, for example, suggest that the Archean crust was not mass balanced, with the implication that the loss of S isotope anomalies from the geologic record might lag the rise of atmospheric O2. Here, we present new S isotopic analyses of modern surface and groundwaters that drain Archean terrains in order to independently evaluate Archean S cycle mass balance. Natural waters contain sulfur derived from the underlying bedrock and thus can be used to ascertain its S isotopic composition at scales larger than typical geological samples allow. Analyses of 52 water samples from Canada and South Africa suggest that the Archean crust was mass balanced with an average multiple S isotopic composition equivalent to the bulk Earth. Overall, our work supports the hypothesis that the disappearance of multiple S isotope anomalies from the sedimentary record provides a robust proxy for the timing of the first rise in atmospheric O2.

Description: Here are presented Mulu, Borneo (4°6'N, 114°53'E) Secret Cave stalagmite SC02 d18O and d13C values over Termination 1, published in Buckingham et al. (2022). This study reports a d18O and d13C record for the portion of SC02 104.1 to 182.4 mm distance from top of stalagmite. The d18O record spans the full deglaciation, and reveals for the first time distinct d18O variations connected with the Bølling-Allerød onset and the Younger Dryas event.

Description: The neodymium isotopic composition of marine precipitates is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for identifying changes in ocean circulation and mixing on million year to millennial timescales. Unlike nutrient proxies such as d13C or Cd/Ca, Nd isotopes are not thought to be altered in any significant way by biological processes, and thus they can serve as a quasi-conservative water mass tracer. However, the application of Nd isotopes in understanding the role of thermohaline circulation in rapid climate change is currently hindered by the lack of direct constraints on the signature of the North Atlantic end-member through time. Here we present the first results of Nd isotopes measured in U-Th-dated deep-sea corals from the New England seamounts in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Our data are consistent with the conclusion that the Nd isotopic composition of North Atlantic deep and intermediate water has remained nearly constant through the last glacial cycle. The results address long-standing concerns that there may have been significant changes in the Nd isotopic composition of the North Atlantic end-member during this interval and substantiate the applicability of this novel tracer on millennial timescales for paleoceanography research.

Description: Our record of Younger Dryas intermediate-depth seawater D14C from North Atlantic deep-sea corals supports a link between abrupt climate change and intermediate ocean variability. Our data show that northern source intermediate water (~1700 m) was partially replaced by 14C-depleted southern source water at the onset of the event, consistent with a reduction in the rate of North Atlantic Deep Water formation. This transition requires the existence of large, mobile gradients of D14C in the ocean during the Younger Dryas. The D14C water column profile from Keigwin (2004) provides direct evidence for the presence of one such gradient at the beginning of the Younger Dryas (~12.9 ka), with a 100 per mil offset between shallow (〈~2400 m) and deep water. Our early Younger Dryas data are consistent with this profile and also show a D14C inversion, with 35 per mil more enriched water at ~2400 m than at ~1700 m. This feature is probably the result of mixing between relatively well 14C ventilated northern source water and more poorly 14C ventilated southern source intermediate water, which is slightly shallower. Over the rest of the Younger Dryas our intermediate water/deepwater coral D14C data gradually increase, while the atmosphere D14C drops. For a very brief interval at ~12.0 ka and at the end of the Younger Dryas (11.5 ka), intermediate water D14C (~1200 m) approached atmospheric D14C. These enriched D14C results suggest an enhanced initial D14C content of the water and demonstrate the presence of large lateral D14C gradients in the intermediate/deep ocean in addition to the sharp vertical shift at ~2500 m. The transient D14C enrichment at ~12.0 ka occurred in the middle of the Younger Dryas and demonstrates that there is at least one time when the intermediate/deep ocean underwent dramatic change but with much smaller effects in other paleoclimatic records.