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Single Tests of Thermocline Dwelling Foraminifera Globorotalia inflata as Recorder of Upper Water Column Structure off Mauritania (NW Africa): Methodology and Paleoceanographic Use
Author(s) -
Johnstone Heather J. H.,
Kuhnert Henning,
Bickert Torsten,
Romero Oscar,
Pälike Heiko
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
paleoceanography and paleoclimatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.927
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 2572-4525
pISSN - 2572-4517
DOI - 10.1029/2019pa003844
Subject(s) - oceanography , foraminifera , geology , thermocline , water column , upwelling , stadial , younger dryas , ocean gyre , water mass , paleoceanography , last glacial maximum , holocene , salinity , glacial period , subtropics , benthic zone , paleontology , biology , fishery
Thermocline‐dwelling foraminifera calcify over a depth range of several hundred meters; analysis of individual shells therefore allows insight to the hydrography of the upper water column. We analyzed δ 18 O, δ 13 C, and Mg/Ca of individual tests of the planktonic foraminifera Globorotalia inflata from a sediment core (GeoB7926‐2) obtained from 20°N in the eastern tropical Atlantic. To facilitate sample throughput, tests were cleaned before Mg/Ca analysis using a pipette robot. The eight samples came from five time periods with contrasting climate states. Median reconstructed temperatures were lowest during the warmth of the Bølling Allerød BA) (11.8°C), while highest temperatures (>14°C) were recorded during the cold periods of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), late Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), and the Younger Dryas (YD). Southward shift in the subtropical gyre during Northern Hemisphere cold periods and modulation by upwelling could explain the temperature change but not all of the salinity change. δ 18 O seawater‐IVC indicated that salinity was higher than the global average during the LGM, with very high salinity excursions in HS1 and a smaller excursion in the YD. The upwelling signature was most strongly imprinted on range in δ 13 C. The large changes in salinity and δ 13 C between time slices cannot be explained by upwelling intensity but indicate the presence of a very saline water mass, with low δ 13 C, in the eastern North Atlantic subsurface during Northern Hemisphere cold periods.