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

Publication Date

2022-04-19

Publication Title

Nature Communications

Volume

13

Issue

1

ISSN

2041-1723

Acceptance Date

2022-03-25

Deposit Date

2022-04-27

Embargo Period

2022-04-29

Funding

We are very grateful to the captain, crew, and IODP staff that made IODP Expedition 382 (Iceberg Alley) and subsequent research successful. This research used samples and/ or data provided by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). Funding for this research was provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG–Priority Programme 527, Grant We2039/17-1 (M.E.W.), a Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) UK IODP grant NE/T006609/1 (I.B.), and the IODP U.S. Science Support Program (National Science Foundation prime award OCE-1450528) through Columbia University for all U.S.-based participants via subaward 97(GG009393).

Additional Links

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85128348255

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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