Salinity estimation from Gulf of Guinea, sediment core MD03-2707

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Hauptverfasser: Leduc, Guillaume, Sachs, Julian P, Kawka, Orest E, Schneider, Ralph R
Format: Dataset Open Access
Sprache:en
Veröffentlicht: PANGAEA 2015
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author Leduc, Guillaume
Sachs, Julian P
Kawka, Orest E
Schneider, Ralph R
author_facet Leduc, Guillaume
Sachs, Julian P
Kawka, Orest E
Schneider, Ralph R
collection Datos científicos de ciencias marinas y ambientales
contents The isotopic composition of surface seawater is widely used to infer past changes in sea surface salinity using paired foraminiferal Mg/Ca and d18O from marine sediments. At low latitudes, paleosalinity reconstructions using this method have largely been used to document changes in the hydrological cycle. This method usually assumes that the modern seawater d18O (d18Osw)/salinity relationship remained constant through time. Modelling studies have shown that such assumptions may not be valid because large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns linked to global climate changes can alter the seawater d18Osw/salinity relationship locally. Such processes have not been evidenced by paleo-data so far because there is presently no way to reconstruct past changes in the seawater d18Osw/salinity relationship. We have addressed this issue by applying a multi-proxy salinity reconstruction from a marine sediment core collected in the Gulf of Guinea. We measured hydrogen isotopes in C37:2 alkenones (dDa) to estimate changes in seawater dD. We find a smooth, long-term increase of ~10 per mil in dDa between 10 and 3 kyr BP, followed by a rapid decrease of ~10 per mil in dDa between 3 kyr BP and core top to values slightly lighter than during the early Holocene. Those features are inconsistent with published salinity estimations based on d18Osw and foraminiferal Ba/Ca, as well as nearby continental rainfall history derived from pollen analysis. We combined dDa and d18Osw values to reconstruct a Holocene record of salinity and compared it to a Ba/Ca-derived salinity record from the same sedimentary sequence. This combined method provides salinity trends that are in better agreement with both the Ba/Ca-derived salinity and the regional precipitation changes as inferred from pollen records. Our results illustrate that changes in atmospheric circulation can trigger changes in precipitation isotopes in a counter-intuitive manner that ultimately impacts surface salinity estimates based on seawater isotopic values. Our data suggest that the trends in Holocene rainfall isotopic values at low latitudes may not uniquely result from changes in local precipitation associated with the amount effect.
format Dataset Open Access
id pangaea_https___doi_org_10_1594_PANGAEA_849518
institution PANGAEA
language en
publishDate 2015
publisher PANGAEA
record_format pangaea
spellingShingle Salinity estimation from Gulf of Guinea, sediment core MD03-2707
Leduc, Guillaume
Sachs, Julian P
Kawka, Orest E
Schneider, Ralph R
AGE; Alkenone C37:2, δD; Gas chromatography - Isotope ratio mass spectrometer (GC-IRMS); MD03-2707; PC; Piston corer; Salinity, standard error; Sea surface salinity; SSS calculated from d18O and d2H (Rohling, 2007); δ Deuterium, standard deviation
The isotopic composition of surface seawater is widely used to infer past changes in sea surface salinity using paired foraminiferal Mg/Ca and d18O from marine sediments. At low latitudes, paleosalinity reconstructions using this method have largely been used to document changes in the hydrological cycle. This method usually assumes that the modern seawater d18O (d18Osw)/salinity relationship remained constant through time. Modelling studies have shown that such assumptions may not be valid because large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns linked to global climate changes can alter the seawater d18Osw/salinity relationship locally. Such processes have not been evidenced by paleo-data so far because there is presently no way to reconstruct past changes in the seawater d18Osw/salinity relationship. We have addressed this issue by applying a multi-proxy salinity reconstruction from a marine sediment core collected in the Gulf of Guinea. We measured hydrogen isotopes in C37:2 alkenones (dDa) to estimate changes in seawater dD. We find a smooth, long-term increase of ~10 per mil in dDa between 10 and 3 kyr BP, followed by a rapid decrease of ~10 per mil in dDa between 3 kyr BP and core top to values slightly lighter than during the early Holocene. Those features are inconsistent with published salinity estimations based on d18Osw and foraminiferal Ba/Ca, as well as nearby continental rainfall history derived from pollen analysis. We combined dDa and d18Osw values to reconstruct a Holocene record of salinity and compared it to a Ba/Ca-derived salinity record from the same sedimentary sequence. This combined method provides salinity trends that are in better agreement with both the Ba/Ca-derived salinity and the regional precipitation changes as inferred from pollen records. Our results illustrate that changes in atmospheric circulation can trigger changes in precipitation isotopes in a counter-intuitive manner that ultimately impacts surface salinity estimates based on seawater isotopic values. Our data suggest that the trends in Holocene rainfall isotopic values at low latitudes may not uniquely result from changes in local precipitation associated with the amount effect.
title Salinity estimation from Gulf of Guinea, sediment core MD03-2707
topic AGE; Alkenone C37:2, δD; Gas chromatography - Isotope ratio mass spectrometer (GC-IRMS); MD03-2707; PC; Piston corer; Salinity, standard error; Sea surface salinity; SSS calculated from d18O and d2H (Rohling, 2007); δ Deuterium, standard deviation
url https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.849518