Pore fluid constraints on the temperature and oxygen isotopic composition of the glacial ocean
- Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
- Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
- Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)
Pore fluids from the upper 60 meters of sediment 3000 meters below the surface of the tropical Atlantic indicate that the oxygen isotopic composition ({delta}{sup 18}O) of seawater at this site during the last glacial maximum was 0.8 {plus_minus} 0.1 per mil higher than it is today. Combined with the {delta}{sup 18}O change in benthic foraminifera from this region, the elevated ratio indicates that the temperature of deep water in the tropical Atlantic Ocean was 4{degree}C colder during the last glacial maximum. Extrapolation from this site to a global average suggests that the ice volume contribution to the change in {delta}{sup 18}O of foraminifera is 1.0 per mil, which partially reconciles the foraminiferal oxygen isotope record of tropical sea surface temperatures with estimates from Barbados corals and terrestrial climate proxies. 25 refs., 3 figs.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 426159
- Journal Information:
- Science, Vol. 272, Issue 5270; Other Information: PBD: 28 Jun 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Late glacial stage and holocene tropical ice core records from Huascaran, Peru
Global changes in deep-sea benthic foraminiferal distribution over the last to complete glacial cycles