Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-44mx8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-18T06:49:34.525Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Surface Circulation of the Indian Ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum, Approximately 18,000 yr B.P.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Warren L. Prell ,
William H. Hutson ,
Douglas F. Williams ,
Allan W.H. Bé ,
Kurt Geitzenauer  and
Barbara Molfino
Warren L. Prell
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA
William H. Hutson*
Affiliation:
School of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331 USA
Douglas F. Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208 USA
Allan W.H. Bé
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, New York 10964 USA
Kurt Geitzenauer
Affiliation:
Atlantic Richfield, Houston, Texas 77005 USA
Barbara Molfino
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, New York 10964 USA
*
1Presently at Bell Laboratories, Whippany, New Jersey 07981.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A seasonal reconstruction of the Indian Ocean during the last glacial maximum (∼18,000 yr B.P.) reveals that its surface circulation and sea surface temperature patterns were significantly different from the modern Indian Ocean. This reconstruction is based on the planktonic foraminiferal biogeography and estimated sea surface temperatures in 42 Indian Ocean samples. Compared to modern conditions, the polar front was 5° to 10° latitude further north during the last glacial maximum; the Subtropical Convergence was 2° to 5° latitude further north. The West Australian Current was more intense as part of the West Wind Drift was deflected northward along the coast of Australia. The Agulhas Current was cooler and weaker during the summer and more saline and subtropical during the winter. In general, the low latitudes underwent little temperature change. The western Arabian Sea was warmer which implies less upwelling and a weaker Southwest Monsoon. On the average, the Indian Ocean was 1.9°C cooler in February and 1.7°C cooler in August during the last glacial maximum.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , November 1980 , pp. 309 - 336
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bé, A.W.H. Foraminifera families: Globigerinidae and Globorotalidae Fraser, J.H. Fisches d'Identification du zooplankton. Cons. Internat. Explor. Mer. 1967 fiche 108, Charlottenlund, Denmark Google Scholar
Bé, A.W.H. Duplessy, J.C. Subtropical convergence fluctuations and Quaternary climates in the middle latitudes of the Indian Ocean. Science 194 1976 419 422 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broecker, W.S. Chemical Oceanography 1974 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich New York Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S. Van Donk, J. Insolation changes, ice volumes and the O18 record in deep-sea cores. Journal of Geophysical Research 8 1970 169 196 Google Scholar
Burckle, L.H. Clarke, D. Oceanographic conditions around Antarctica during the last glacial maximum. EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union 57 1976 258 Google Scholar
Butzer, K.W. Stuckenrath, R. Bruzewicz, A.J. Helgren, D.M. Late Cenozoic paleoclimates of the Gaap Escarpment, Kalahari Margin, South Africa. Quaternary Research 10 1978 310 339 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CLIMAP The surface of the ice-age Earth. Science 191 1976 1131 1137 Google Scholar
Conolly, J.R. Postglacial-glacial change in climate in the Indian Ocean. Nature (London) 214 1967 873 875 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullen, J.L. Duplessy, J.-C. Changes in monsoonal circulation over the last ice-age cycle: Microfossil evidence from the Bay of Bengal. Abstracts with Programs 11 1979 408 Google Scholar
Deacon, G.E.R. The Southern Ocean Hill, M.N. The Sea 1962 Inter-Science New York 281 296 Google Scholar
Denton, G. H., and Hughes, T. (Eds.). (In press). “The Last Great Ice Age”. Wiley Interscience, New York.Google Scholar
Duplessy, J.-C. La geochimie des isotopes stables du carbone dans la mer. These doct. es Sci. Phys. 1972 Univ. Paris-VI Google Scholar
Duplessy, J.-C. Lalou, C. Vinot, A.C. Differential isotopic fractionation in benthic foraminifera and paleotemperatures reassessed. Science 168 1970 250 251 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emiliani, C. Pleistocene temperatures. Journal of Geology 63 1955 538 578 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emiliani, C. Paleotemperature analysis of Caribbean cores P6304-8 and P6304-9 and a generalized temperature curve for the past 425,000 years. Journal of Geology 74 1966 109 126 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emiliani, C. Shackleton, N.J. The Brunhes Epoch: Isotopic paleotemperatures and geochronology. Science 183 1972 511 514 Google Scholar
Epstein, S. Buchsbaum, R. Lowenstam, H.A. Urey, H.C. Revised carbonate-water isotopic temperature scale. Geological Society of American Bulletin 64 1953 1315 1326 Google Scholar
Frerichs, W.E. Pleistocene-Recent boundary and Wisconsin glacial biostratigraphy in the northern Indian Ocean. Science 159 1968 1456 1458 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gates, W.L. Modeling the ice-age climate. Science 191 1976 1138 1144 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gates, W.L. The numerical simulation of ice-age climate with a global general circulation model. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 33 1976 1844 1873 Google Scholar
Hays, J.D. Lozano, J.A. Shackleton, N.J. Irving, G. Reconstruction of the Atlantic and western Indian Ocean sectors of the 18,000 B.P. Antarctic Ocean Cline, R.M. Hays, J.D. Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Memoir 145 1976 337 372 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutson, W.H. Application of transfer functions to Indian Ocean planktonic foraminifera. Quaternary Research 3 1978 87 112 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutson, W.H. The Agulhas Current during the Late Pleistocene—Analysis of modern faunal analogs. Science 207 1980 64 66 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hutson, W.H. Prell, W.L. A paleoecological transfer function, FI-2, for Indian Ocean planktonic foraminifera. Journal of Paleontology 54 1980 381 399 Google Scholar
Kipp, N.G. New transfer function for estimating past sea-surface conditions from sea-bed distribution of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in the North Atlantic Cline, R.M. Hays, J.D. Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Memoir 145 1976 3 41 Google Scholar
Kolla, V. Biscaye, P.E. Distribution and origin of quartz in the sediments of the Indian Ocean. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 47 1977 642 649 Google Scholar
Malmgren, B.A. Kennett, J.P. Late Quaternary paleoclimatic applications of mean size variations in Globigerina bulloides d'Orbigny in the southern Indian Ocean. Journal of Paleontology 52 1978 1195 1207 Google Scholar
Manabe, S. Hahn, D.G. Simulation of the tropical climate of an Ice Age. Journal of Geophysical Research 82 1977 3889 3911 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, E. Timor and the colonization of Australia by birds. The Emu 44 1944 113 130 Google Scholar
Morley, J.J. Hays, J.D. Comparison of glacial and interglacial oceanographic conditions in the South Atlantic from variations in calcium carbonate and radiolarian distribution. Quaternary Research 1980 (in press) Google Scholar
Oba, T. Planktonic foraminifera from the deep-sea cores of the Indian Ocean. Scientific Reports of Tohoku University (Geology) 38 1967 193 219 2nd series Google Scholar
Oba, T. Biostratigraphy and isotopic paleotemperature of some deep-sea cores from the Indian Ocean. Scientific Reports of Tohoku University (Geology) 41 1969 129 195 Google Scholar
Olausson, E. Haq, B.U. Gunvor, G.B. Olsson, I.U. Evidence in Indian Ocean cores of Late Pleistocene changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation. Geologiska Foreningens Stockholm Forhandlingar 93 1971 51 84 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, F.L. Planktonic foraminiferal species in Pacific sediments. Micropaleontology 8 1962 219 254 Google Scholar
Peng, T.-H. Broecker, W.S. Kipphut, G. Shackleton, N.J. The relation of sediment mixing to the distortion of climatic records in the deep-sea sediments Andersen, N.R. Malahoff, A. The Fate of Fossil Fuel CO2 in the Oceans 1977 Plenum New York Google Scholar
Pisias, N.G. Late Quaternary sediment of the Panama Basin: sedimentation rates, periodicities, and controls of carbonate and opal accumulation Cline, R.M. Hays, J.D. Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Memoir 145 1976 375 391 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prell, W.L. Glacial/interglacial variability of monsoonal upwelling: Western Arabian Sea 1978 International Conference “Evolution of Planetary Atmospheres and Climatology of the Earth” 1978 Centre Nationales d'Etudes Spatiales Nice, France 149 156 Google Scholar
Prell, W.L. Curry, W.B. Faunal and isotopic indices of monsoonal upwelling: Western Arabian Sea. Oceanologica Acta 1980 (in press) Google Scholar
Prell, W.L. Hutson, W.H. Zonal temperature-anomaly maps of Indian Ocean surface waters: modern and ice-age patterns. Science 206 1979 454 456 Google Scholar
Prell, W.L. Hutson, W.H. Williams, D.F. The Subtropical Convergence and Late Quaternary circulation in the southern Indian Ocean. Marine Micropaleontology 4 1979 225 234 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rognon, P. Williams, M.A.J. Late Quaternary climatic changes in Australia and North Africa: A preliminary interpretation. Palaeogeograchy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 21 1977 285 327 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarnthein, M. Sand deserts during glacial maximum and climatic optimum. Nature (London) 272 1978 43 46 Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. Oxygen isotope analyses and Pleistocene temperatures re-assessed. Nature (London) 215 1967 15 17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. The oxygen isotope stratigraphic record of the Late Pleistocene. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B 280 1977 169 182 Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. Opdyke, N.D. Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28–238: oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale. Quaternary Research 3 1973 39 55 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Street, F.A. Grove, A.T. Global maps of lake-level fluctuations since 30,000 yr B.P.. Quaternary Research 12 1979 83 118 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiede, J. Wind regimes over the Late Quaternary southwest Pacific Ocean. Geology 7 1979 259 262 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thierstein, H.R. Geitzenauer, K.R. Molfino, B. Shackleton, N.J. Global synchroneity of Late Quaternary coccolith datum levels: validation by oxygen isotopes. Geology 5 1977 400 404 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Andel, T.H. Heath, G.R. Moore, T.C. McGeary, D.F.R. Late Quaternary history, climate, and oceanography of the Timor Sea, northwestern Australia. American Journal of Science 265 1967 737 758 Google Scholar
Vella, P. Watkins, N.D. Middle and Late Quaternary paleomagnetics and biostratigraphy of four subantarctic deep-sea cores from southwest of Australia O. L. Bandy Memorial Volume 1975 Univ. of Southern California Press Google Scholar
Vella, P. Ellwood, B.B. Watkins, N.D. Surface-water temperature changes in the Southern Ocean southwest of Australia during the last one million years Suggate, R.P. Cresswell, M.M. Quaternary Studies 1975 Royal Society of New Zealand Wellington 297 309 Google Scholar
Vincent, E. Planktonic foraminifera, sediments and oceanography of the Late Quaternary, southwest Indian Ocean. Allan Hancock Monographs in Marine Biology 9 1976 1 235 Google Scholar
Vincent, E. Indian Ocean Neogene planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and its paleoceanographic implications Heirtzler, J.R. Bolli, H.M. Davies, T.A. Saunders, J.B. Sclater, J.G. Indian Ocean Geology and Biostratigraphy 1977 American Geophysical Union 269 584 Google Scholar
Webster, P.J. Streten, N.A. Late Quaternary ice age climates of tropical Australasia: Interpretations and reconstructions. Quaternary Research 10 1978 279 309 Google Scholar
Williams, D.F. Johnson, W. Diversity of Recent planktonic foraminifera in the southern Indian Ocean and Late Pleistocene paleotemperatures. Quaternary Research 5 1975 237 250 Google Scholar
Williams, D.F. Planktonic foraminiferal paleoecology in deep-sea sediments of the Indian Ocean. Ph.D. Thesis 1976 Univ. of Rhode Island Google Scholar
Williams, D.F. Sommer, M.A. Bender, M.L. Carbon isotopic compositions of Recent planktonic foraminifera of the Indian Ocean. Earth & Planetary Science Letters 36 1977 391 403 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, D.F. Late Quaternary fluctuations of the Polar Front and Subtropical Convergence in the southeast Indian Ocean. Marine Micropaleontology 1 1976 363 375 Google Scholar
Wyrtki, K. Oceanographic Atlas of the International Indian Ocean Expedition 1971 National Science Foundation Washington Google Scholar
Wyrtki, K. Physical oceanography of the Indian Ocean Zeitzschel, B. The Biology of the Indian Ocean 1973 Springer-Verlag New York 18 36 Google Scholar
Zobel, B. Biostratigraphische Untersuchungen an Sedimenten des indisch, Pakistanischen Kontinental-randes (Arabisches Meer). Meteor Forsch.-Ergebnisse 12 1973 9 73 Reihe C. Google Scholar