Description: The state of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is influenced by both the strength and the location of the Mediterranean Outflow (MOW) plume in the Gulf of Cadiz. To evaluate the influence of MOW on AMOC over deglaciations, precise and accurate salinity and temperature reconstructions are needed. For this purpose, we measured Mg/Ca and clumped isotopes of several benthic foraminiferal species at IODP Site U1390 in the Gulf of Cadiz. The clumped isotope results of Cibicidoides pachyderma, Uvigerina mediterranea and Pyrgo spp. are consistent between species and record no significant difference in Glacial to Holocene DWT. Over the deglaciation, the Mg/Ca-based temperatures derived from U. mediterranea indicate three periods of MOW absence at site U1390. Mg/Ca-based temperatures of Hoeglundina elegans and C. pachyderma are on average 6 °C too cold when compared to the present core-top temperature, which we explain by a carbonate ion effect on these epibenthic species related to the high alkalinity of the MOW. Combining DWT estimates with the benthic oxygen isotope data and considering different relationships between seawater oxygen isotopes and salinity, we infer a salinity decrease of MOWby 3 to 8 units over the deglaciation, and 4 units during S1, accounting for the global d18O depletion due to the decrease in ice volume. Our findings confirm that the Mediterranean Sea accumulates excess salt during a glacial low stand, and suggest that this salt surged into the Atlantic over the deglaciation, presumably during HS1.

Description: For a short time interval (c. 1.2 Myr) during the early middle Eocene (~49 Myr), the central Arctic Ocean was episodically densely covered by the freshwater fern Azolla, implying sustained freshening of surface waters. Coeval Azolla fossils in neighboring Nordic seas were thought to have been sourced from the Arctic. The recognition of a different Azolla species in the North Sea raised doubts about this hypothesis. Here we show that no less than five Azolla species had coeval blooms and spread in the Arctic and NW European regions. A likely trigger for these unexpected Azolla blooms is high precipitation prevailing by the end of the warmest climates of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO).

Description: Current climate change may induce positive carbon cycle feedbacks that amplify anthropogenic warming on time scales of centuries to millennia. Similar feedbacks might have been active during a phase of carbon cycle perturbation and global warming, termed the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 56 million years ago). The PETM may help constrain these feedbacks and their sensitivity to warming. We present new high-resolution carbon isotope and sea surface temperature data from Ocean Drilling Project Site 959 in the Equatorial Atlantic. With these and existing data from the New Jersey shelf and Maud Rise, Southern Ocean, we quantify the lead-lag relation between PETM warming and the carbon input that caused the carbon isotope excursion. We show ~2 ºC of global warming preceded the CIE by millennia, strongly implicating CO2-driven warming triggered a positive carbon cycle feedback. We further compile new and published barium (Ba) records encompassing continental shelf, slope and deep-ocean settings. Based on this compilation, average Ba burial rates approximately tripled during the PETM, which may require an additional source of Ba to the ocean. Although the precipitation pathway is not well constrained, dissolved Ba stored in sulfate-depleted pore-waters below methane hydrates could represent an additional source. We speculate the most complete explanation for early warming and rise in Ba supply is that hydrate dissociation acted as a positive feedback and caused the CIE. This could imply hydrates are more temperature-sensitive than previously considered, and may warrant reconsideration of the political assignment of 2 °C warming as a safe future scenario.

Description: The Paleocene - Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; 56 Ma) was a phase of rapid global warming associated with massive carbon input into the ocean-atmosphere system from a 13C-depleted reservoir. Many mid- and high-latitude sections have been studied and document changes in salinity, hydrology and sedimentation, deoxygenation, biotic overturning and migrations, but detailed records from tropical regions are lacking. Here, we study the PETM at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 959 in the equatorial Atlantic using a range of organic and inorganic proxies and couple these with dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) assemblage analysis. The PETM at Site 959 was previously found to be marked by a ~3.8 per mil negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE), and a ~4 ºC surface ocean warming from the uppermost Paleocene to peak PETM, of which ~1 ºC occurs before the onset of the CIE. We record upper Paleocene dinocyst assemblages that are similar to PETM assemblages as found in extra-tropical regions, confirming poleward migrations of ecosystems during the PETM. The early stages of the PETM are marked by a typical acme of the tropical genus Apectodinium, which reaches abundances of up to 95 %. Subsequently, dinocyst abundances diminish greatly, as do carbonate and pyritized silicate microfossils. The combined paleoenvironmental information from Site 959 and a close by shelf site in Nigeria implies the general absence of eukaryotic surface-dwelling microplankton during peak PETM warmth is most likely caused by heat stress. Crucially, abundant organic benthic foraminiferal linings imply sustained export production, likely driven by prokaryotes. In sharp contrast, the recovery of the CIE yields rapid (〈〈10 kyr) fluctuations in the abundance of several dinocyst groups, suggesting extreme ecosystem and environmental variability.