Antiphased dust deposition and productivity in the Antarctic Zone over 1.5 million years

Authors

Michael E. Weber, University of Bonn
Ian Bailey, University of Exeter
Sidney R. Hemming, Columbia University
Yasmina M. Martos, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Brendan T. Reilly, University of California at San Diego
Thomas A. Ronge, Alfred Wegener Institute - Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Stefanie Brachfeld, Montclair State University
Trevor Williams, Texas A&M University
Maureen Raymo, Columbia University
Simon T. Belt, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lukas Smik, University of Plymouth
Hendrik Vogel, University of Bern
Victoria L. Peck, British Antarctic Survey
Linda Armbrecht, University of Tasmania
Alix Cage, Keele University
Fabricio G. Cardillo, Servicio de Hidrografia Naval
Zhiheng Du, CAS - Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources
Gerson Fauth, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos
Christopher J. Fogwill, Cranfield University
Marga Garcia, Andalusian Institute of Earth Science (CSIC-UGR)
Marlo Garnsworthy, Wordy Bird Studio
Anna Glüder, Oregon State University
Michelle Guitard, University of South Florida
Marcus Gutjahr, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Iván Hernández-Almeida, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Frida S. Hoem, Utrecht University
Ji Hwan Hwang, Pukyong National University
Mutsumi Iizuka, Tokyo City University
Yuji Kato, University of Tsukuba
Bridget Kenlee, University of California at Riverside
Suzanne OConnell
Lara F. Pérez
Osamu Seki
Lee Stevens
Lisa Tauxe
Shubham Tripathi
Jonathan Warnock
Xufeng Zheng

ORCID

• Simon T. Belt: 0000-0002-1570-2924
• Christopher J. Fogwill: 0000-0002-6471-1106

Abstract

The Southern Ocean paleoceanography provides key insights into how iron fertilization and oceanic productivity developed through Pleistocene ice-ages and their role in influencing the carbon cycle. We report a high-resolution record of dust deposition and ocean productivity for the Antarctic Zone, close to the main dust source, Patagonia. Our deep-ocean records cover the last 1.5 Ma, thus doubling that from Antarctic ice-cores. We find a 5 to 15-fold increase in dust deposition during glacials and a 2 to 5-fold increase in biogenic silica deposition, reflecting higher ocean productivity during interglacials. This antiphasing persisted throughout the last 25 glacial cycles. Dust deposition became more pronounced across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) in the Southern Hemisphere, with an abrupt shift suggesting more severe glaciations since ~0.9 Ma. Productivity was intermediate pre-MPT, lowest during the MPT and highest since 0.4 Ma. Generally, glacials experienced extended sea-ice cover, reduced bottom-water export and Weddell Gyre dynamics, which helped lower atmospheric CO₂ levels.

DOI Link

10.1038/s41467-022-29642-5

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-29642-5

Publication Date

2022-04-19

Publication Title

Nature Communications

Volume

13

Issue

1

ISSN

2041-1723

Embargo Period

2022-04-29

Recommended Citation

Weber, M., Bailey, I., Hemming, S., Martos, Y., Reilly, B., Ronge, T., Brachfeld, S., Williams, T., Raymo, M., Belt, S., Smik, L., Vogel, H., Peck, V., Armbrecht, L., Cage, A., Cardillo, F., Du, Z., Fauth, G., Fogwill, C., Garcia, M., Garnsworthy, M., Glüder, A., Guitard, M., Gutjahr, M., Hernández-Almeida, I., Hoem, F., Hwang, J., Iizuka, M., Kato, Y., Kenlee, B., OConnell, S., Pérez, L., Seki, O., Stevens, L., Tauxe, L., Tripathi, S., Warnock, J., & Zheng, X. (2022) 'Antiphased dust deposition and productivity in the Antarctic Zone over 1.5 million years', Nature Communications, 13(1). Available at: 10.1038/s41467-022-29642-5