Open AccessMajor Pleistocene stages in a carbon perspective: The South China Sea record and its global comparison
Author(s) -
Wang Pinxian,
Tian Jun,
Cheng Xinrong,
Liu Chuanlian,
Xu Jian
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
paleoceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1944-9186
pISSN - 0883-8305
DOI - 10.1029/2003pa000991
Subject(s) - geology , quaternary , glacial period , marine isotope stage , pleistocene , oceanography , paleontology , isotopes of carbon , physical geography , total organic carbon , interglacial , geography , ecology , biology
Carbon isotope sequences at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1143, South China Sea, reveal a long‐term cyclicity of ∼500 kyr that is superimposed on the glacial cycles and is present in long δ 13 C sequences from all oceans. The Quaternary δ 13 C record is punctuated by four δ 13 C maximum events: δ 13 Cmax‐I, which began in marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 around 50–60 kyr ago, δ 13 Cmax‐II (MIS 13, 0.47–0.53 Ma), δ 13 Cmax‐III (MIS 27–29, 0.97–1.04 Ma) and δ 13 Cmax‐VI (MIS 53–57, 1.55–1.65 Ma). As the same cyclicity is also found in carbonate curves, the δ 13 Cmax events must denote major reorganization in the carbon reservoir of the global ocean. They also are associated with major changes in glacial cyclicity, such as the Mid‐Brunhes Event following δ 13 Cmax‐II and the Mid‐Pleistocene Revolution following δ 13 Cmax‐III, which in turn were associated with expansion of the ice sheets. From a carbon perspective, therefore, the Quaternary period has passed through three major stages, and each appears to represent a further step in ice cap development.