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Abrupt changes in high-latitude nutrient supply to the Atlantic during the last glacial cycle

Hendry, Katharine Rosemary 2012. Abrupt changes in high-latitude nutrient supply to the Atlantic during the last glacial cycle. Geology 40 (2) , pp. 123-126. 10.1130/G32779.1

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Abstract

The supply of nutrients to the low-latitude thermocline is largely controlled by intermediate depth waters formed at the surface in the high southern latitudes. Silicic acid is an essential macronutrient for diatoms, which are responsible for a significant portion of marine carbon export production. Changes in ocean circulation, such as those observed during the last deglaciation, would influence the nutrient composition of the thermocline and, therefore, the relative abundance of diatoms in the low-latitudes. Here we present the first record of the silicic acid content of the Atlantic over the last glacial cycle. Our results show that at intermediate depths of the South Atlantic the silicic acid concentration was the same at the LGM as it is today, overprinted by high silicic acid pulses that coincided with abrupt changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation during Heinrich Stadials and the Younger Dryas. We suggest these pulses were caused by changes in intermediate water formation resulting from shifts in the subpolar hydrological cycle, with fundamental implications for the nutrient supply to the Atlantic.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GC Oceanography
Q Science > QE Geology
Publisher: Geological Society of America
ISSN: 0091-7613
Last Modified: 23 Mar 2017 02:58
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/15196

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