Variations in intermediate and deep ocean circulation in the subtropical northwestern Pacific from 26 ka to present based on a new calibration for Mg/Ca in benthic foraminifera

Abstract

Abstract. To understand variations in intermediate and deep ocean circulation in the North Pacific, bottom water temperatures (BWT), carbon isotopes (δ13C) of benthic foraminifera, and oxygen isotopes (δ18O) of seawater at a water depth of 1166 m were reconstructed from 26 ka to present. A new regional Mg/Ca calibration for the benthic foraminifera Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi was established to convert the benthic Mg/Ca value to BWT, based on twenty-six surface sediment samples and a core top sample retrieved around Okinawa Island. In addition, core GH08-2004, retrieved from 1166 m water depth east of Okinawa Island, was used to reconstruct water properties from 26 ka to present. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), from 24 to 18 ka, BWT appeared to be relatively constant at approximately 2 °C, which is ~1.5–2 °C lower than today. One of the prominent features of our BWT records was a millennial-scale variation in BWT during the last deglaciation, with BWT higher during Heinrich event 1 (H1; ~17 ka) and the Younger Dryas (YD; ~12 ka) and lower during the Bølling/Allerød (B/A; ~14 ka). The record of seawater δ18O in core GH08-2004 exhibited a rapid increase in association with the rapid warming of BWT at 17 ka, likely due to the reduced precipitation in the North Pacific in response to less moisture transport from the equatorial Atlantic as a result of the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. During the interval from 17 to 15 ka, the bottom water temperature tended to decrease in association with a decrease in the carbon isotope values of C. wuellerstorfi, likely as a result of increased upwelling of the older water mass that was stored in the abyssal Pacific during the glacial time. The timing of the increased upwelling coincided with the deglacial atmospheric CO2 rise initiated at ~17 ka, and suggested that the increased upwelling in the subtropical northwestern Pacific from 17 to 15 ka contributed to the carbon release from the Pacific into the atmosphere.