NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - North Atlantic Intermediate water carbon isotopes during the Pleistocene

Variations in the stable isotopic composition of benthic foraminifera from Deep-Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) site 502B in the Caribbean Sea are used to reconstruct Atlantic intermediate water circulation variability over the last 1.2 m.y. Comparison of this record with other North Atlantic benthic isotope records indicates that Atlantic intermediate water circulation was relatively enhanced during glacial maxima when North Atlantic deep water (NADW) production was reduced. However, a simple, compensatory relationship between intermediate and deepwater circulation is not apparent. Geochemical models have shown that such changes in ocean circulation can affect atmospheric CO2 levels by changing vertical nutrient and alkalinity profiles. The Δδ13C difference between Caribbean site 502B and deep equatorial Pacific site 677 is highly coherent and in phase with ice volume. Like the δ18O record, there is an increase in amplitude (40%) and a large increase in 100 kyr power after 0.7 Ma. The 1.2‰ Δδ13C amplitude scales to 70 ppm V in atmospheric CO2 using Boyle's (1986) box model result. The implied increase in CO2 amplitude after 0.7 Ma may suggest a positive feedback role in effecting the higher-amplitude climatic fluctuations which characterize the last 0.7 m.y.