NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Somali Basin during the past 35,000 years

Planktonic foraminiferal and radiolarian signatures are analyzed in the 355 kyr record of a core from the equatorial part of the Somali Basin in order to reconstruct the amplitude of oceanographic processes and to test the reproducibility of the biological response to the glacial/interglacial changes over four climatic cycles. The correspondence analysis applied to the faunal data set reveals that the dominance of mixed layer foraminifera observed during isotope transitions 10/9, 6/5, and 2/1 does not occur during transition 8/7 but appears later within isotope stage 7. This specific signature, interpreted as related to the overflow of water from the South China Sea, can be related to the magnitude of sea level rises in this part of the Indian Ocean. These deep oceanic records of high sea level stands are correlated with occurrences of emerged coral reef terraces in shallow environments.