Authors

Michael E. Weber, Universität Bonn
Ian Bailey, University of Exeter
Sidney R. Hemming, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Yasmina M. Martos, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Brendan T. Reilly, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Thomas A. Ronge, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Stefanie Brachfeld, Montclair State UniversityFollow
Trevor Williams, Texas A&M University
Maureen Raymo, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Simon T. Belt, University of Plymouth
Lukas Smik, University of Plymouth
Hendrik Vogel, University of Bern
Victoria L. Peck, British Antarctic Survey
Linda Armbrecht, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
Alix Cage, Keele University
Fabricio G. Cardillo, Servicio de Hidrografia Naval
Zhiheng Du, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources
Gerson Fauth, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos
Christopher J. Fogwill, Cranfield University
Marga Garcia, CSIC - Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (IACT)
Marlo Garnsworthy, Wordy Bird Studio
Anna Glüder, Oregon State University
Michelle Guitard, University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Marcus Gutjahr, GEOMAR - Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel
Iván Hernández-Almeida, ETH Zürich
Frida S. Hoem, Universiteit Utrecht
Ji Hwan Hwang, Pukyong National University
Mutsumi Iizuka, Tokyo City University
Yuji Kato, University of Tsukuba
Bridget Kenlee, University of California, Riverside
Suzanne OConnell, Wesleyan University Middletown
Lara F. Pérez, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2022

Journal / Book Title

Nature Communications

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.

Comments

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-29642-5

Journal ISSN / Book ISBN

85128348255 (Scopus)

Published Citation

Weber, M.E., Bailey, I., Hemming, S.R. et al. Antiphased dust deposition and productivity in the Antarctic Zone over 1.5 million years. Nature Communications 13, 2044 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29642-5

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