Seismic multichannel reflection profiles from the Gulf of Cadiz, IODP Expedition 339

Sediments cored along the southwestern Iberian margin during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 339 provide constraints on Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) circulation patterns from the Pliocene epoch to the present day. After the Strait of Gibraltar opened (5.33 million years ago), a limited volume of MOW entered the Atlantic. Depositional hiatuses indicate erosion by bottom currents related to higher volumes of MOW circulating into the North Atlantic, beginning in the late Pliocene. The hiatuses coincide with regional tectonic events and changes in global thermohaline circulation (THC). This suggests that MOW influenced Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), THC, and climatic shifts by contributing a component of warm, saline water to northern latitudes while in turn being influenced by plate tectonics.

综合大洋钻探计划（Integrated Ocean Drilling Program）第339航次在伊比利亚西南大陆边缘钻取的沉积物，为上新世（Pliocene epoch）至今的地中海流出水（Mediterranean Outflow Water, MOW）环流模式提供了关键约束依据。直布罗陀海峡于533万年前开通后，仅有有限体量的地中海流出水涌入大西洋。上新世晚期起，流入北大西洋的地中海流出水体量升高，相关底流的侵蚀作用形成了沉积间断。这些沉积间断与区域构造事件及全球热盐环流（global thermohaline circulation, THC）的变化相吻合。研究表明，地中海流出水通过向高纬度海域输入暖盐水体组分，对大西洋经向翻转环流（Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, AMOC）、全球热盐环流以及气候变迁产生了影响，而其自身亦受到板块构造活动的调控。