Publication Date:
2023-11-04
Description:
Upper water column dynamics in the southern South China Sea were reconstructed in order to track changes in the activity of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) since the Last Glacial Maximum. We used the difference in the stable oxygen isotopes (Delta d18O) and Mg/Ca-based temperatures (Delta T) of surface-dwelling (G. ruber) and thermocline-dwelling (P. obliquiloculata) planktonic foraminifera and the temperature difference between alkenone- and P. obliquiloculata Mg/Ca-based temperatures to estimate the upper ocean thermal gradient at International Marine Past Global Change Study (IMAGES) core MD01-2390. Estimates of the upper ocean thermal gradient were used to reconstruct mixed layer dynamics. We find that ourDelta d18O estimates are biased by changes in salinity and, thus, do not display a true upper ocean thermal gradient. The Delta T of G. ruber and P. obliquiloculata as well as the alkenone and P. obliquiloculata suggest increased surface water mixing during the late glacial, likely due to enhanced EAWM winds. Surface water mixing was weaker during the late Holocene, indicating a weaker influence of winter monsoon winds. The weakest winter monsoon activity occurred between 6.5 ka and 2.5 ka. Inferred EAWM changes since the Last Glacial Maximum coincide with EAWM changes as recorded in Chinese loess sediments. We find that the intensity of the EAWM and the East Asian summer monsoon show an inverse behavior during the last glacial and deglaciation but covaried during the middle to late Holocene.
Keywords:
-; Age, 14C AMS; Age, 14C calibrated; Age, dated; Age, dated material; Age, dated standard deviation; Age, maximum/old; Age, minimum/young; Calendar age; DEPTH, sediment/rock; Giant piston corer; GPC; IMAGES; IMAGES VII - WEPAMA; International Marine Global Change Study; Laboratory; Laboratory code/label; Marion Dufresne (1995); MD012390; MD01-2390; MD122; South China Sea
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 75 data points
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