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Late Quaternary Upwelling Variations in the Eastern Equatorial Atlantic Ocean as Inferred from Dinoflagellate Cysts, Planktonic Foraminifera, and Organic Carbon Content

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christine Höll
Affiliation:
Historische Geologie/Paläontologie, Universität Bremen, Fachbereich-5 Geowissenschaften, Postfach 330 440, 28334, Bremen, Germany, E-mail: [email protected]
Sylvia Kemle-von Mücke
Affiliation:
Meeresgeologie, Universität Bremen, Fachbereich-5 Geowissenschaften, Postfach 330 440, 28334, Bremen, Germany

Abstract

Analysis of multiple proxies shows that eastern equatorial Atlantic upwelling was subdued during isotope stage 5.5, more intense during stages 4, 5.2, 5.4, and 6, and most intense early in stage 2. These findings are based on proxy measures from a core site about 600 km southwest of Liberia. The proxies include total organic carbon content, the ratio of peridinoid and oceanic organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst species, accumulation rates of calcareous dinoflagellates, estimates of sea surface paleotemperatures, the difference in stable oxygen isotope composition between two species of planktonic foraminifera that live at different water depths, and the abundance of the planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina dutertrei. Most of these parameters consistently vary directly or inversely with one another. Slight discrepancies between the individual parameters show the usefulness of a multiple proxy approach to reconstruct paleoenvironments. Our data confirm that northern summer insolation strongly influences upwelling in the eastern equatorial Atlantic Ocean.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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