ALBERT

Description: The temporal succession of changes in Amazonian hydroclimate during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) (ca. 18-14.7 cal ka BP) is currently poorly resolved. Here we present HS1 records based on isotope, inorganic and organic geochemistry from a marine sediment core influenced by the Amazon River discharge. Our records offer a detailed reconstruction of the changes in Amazonian hydroclimate during HS1, integrated over the basin. We reconstructed surface water hydrography using stable oxygen isotopes (d18O) and Mg/Ca-derived paleotemperatures from the planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber, as well as salinity changes based on stable hydrogen isotope (dD) of palmitic acid. We also analyzed branched and isoprenoid tetraether concentrations, and compared them to existing bulk sediment ln(Fe/Ca) data and vegetation reconstruction based on stable carbon isotopes from n-alkanes, in order to understand the relationship between continental precipitation, vegetation and sediment production. Our results indicate a two-phased HS1 (HS1a and HS1b). During HS1a (18-16.9 cal ka BP), a first sudden increase of sea surface temperatures (SST) in the western equatorial Atlantic correlated with the slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the associated southern hemisphere warming phase of the bipolar seesaw. This phase was also characterized by an increased delivery of terrestrial material. During HS1b (16.9-14.8 cal ka BP), a decrease in terrestrial input was, however, associated with a marked decline of seawater d18O and palmitic acid dD. Both isotopic proxies independently indicate a drop in sea surface salinity (SSS). A number of records under the influence of the North Brazil Current, in contrast, indicate increases in SST and SSS resulting from a weakened AMOC during HS1. Our records thus suggest that the expected increase in SSS due to the AMOC slowdown was overridden by a two-phased positive precipitation anomaly in Amazonian hydroclimate.

Description: Seafloor methane release can significantly affect the global carbon cycle and climate. Appreciable quantities of methane are stored in continental margin sediments as shallow gas and hydrate deposits, and changes in pressure, temperature and/or bottom-currents can liberate significant amounts of this greenhouse gas. Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of marine methane deposits and their relationships to environmental change are critical for assessing past and future carbon cycle and climate change. Here we present foraminiferal stable carbon isotope and sediment mineralogy records suggesting for the first time that seafloor methane release occurred along the southern Brazilian margin during the last glacial period (40–20 cal ka BP). Our results show that shallow gas deposits on the southern Brazilian margin responded to glacial−interglacial paleoceanographic changes releasing methane due to the synergy of sea level lowstand, warmer bottom waters and vigorous bottom currents during the last glacial period. High sea level during the Holocene resulted in an upslope shift of the Brazil Current, cooling the bottom waters and reducing bottom current strength, reducing methane emissions from the southern Brazilian margin.

Description: The western tropical Atlantic plays an important role in the interhemispheric redistribution of heat during millennial-scale changes in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The proper evaluation of this role depends on a clear understanding of sea surface temperature (SST) variations during AMOC slowdown periods like Heinrich Stadials (HS) in the western tropical Atlantic. However, published SST records from the western tropical Atlantic between ca. 4°S and 7°N show inconsistencies that are apparently related to the employed temperature proxy (i.e., Mg/Ca versus alkenone unsaturation index U37k′). In general, while Mg/Ca values indicate warming during Heinrich Stadials, U37k′ values show cooling. To assess this issue, we sampled core GeoB16224-1 retrieved off French Guiana (i.e., 6°39.38′N) and reconstructed water temperatures at high resolution using Mg/Ca on the foraminifera species Globigerinoides ruber, U37k′, TEX86 and modern analogue technique (MAT) transfer functions using planktonic foraminifera assemblages calibrated for 50 m water depth. Our results show that Mg/Ca and TEX86 values recorded an increase in SST related to AMOC slowdown. Conversely, U37k′ and MAT values registered a decrease in temperatures during HS3 and HS1. Our U37k′ and Mg/Ca results thus confirm the previously reported inconsistency for the period between 48-13 cal ka BP. We suggest that several non-thermal physiological effects probably imparted a negative temperature bias on the U37k′ temperatures during Heinrich Stadials. However, MAT-based temperatures show similar variability with U37k′-based temperatures. Hence, we also suggest that during severe slowdown periods of the AMOC, a steeper meridional temperature gradient together with a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergent Zone produced not only an increase in SST but also a stronger upper water column stratification and a shoaling of the thermocline, decreasing subsurface temperatures. Our new high resolution temperature records allow a better characterization of the thermal response of the upper water column in the tropical western Atlantic to slowdown events of the AMOC, reconciling previously discrepant records.

Description: Marine productivity largely controls the oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide and contributed to the global climate changes that led to the termination of the last glacial cycle. Past changes in marine productivity were presumably associated with disturbances in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). In the South Atlantic, however, the evolution of marine productivity throughout the last glacial–interglacial cycle is still poorly constrained mainly due to the scarcity of records with high temporal resolution. Here we present high‐resolution records of paleoproductivity and upper‐water‐column properties from the western subtropical South Atlantic covering the last 40,000 years. Our records are based on faunal and stable oxygen isotopic analyses of planktonic foraminifera from a marine sediment core collected from an upwelling region off southeastern South America (27°S). We used the relative abundance of eutrophic planktonic foraminifera (i.e., Globigerinita glutinata and Globigerina bulloides) as proxies of primary productivity. Our findings reveal, for the first time, enhanced primary productivity during Heinrich Stadials along the last glacial, when the AMOC showed reduced strength. Additionally, our results reveal decreased primary productivity over the Last Glacial Maximum, a period of markedly lower sea level; and the Younger Dryas, when the AMOC showed only moderate reductions. The most outstanding productivity decline, however, is depicted at the onset of the Holocene, when the AMOC recovers its strength. We hypothesize that the observed changes were triggered by the dynamics of the Brazil Current primarily driven by disturbances in the AMOC.

Description: We are providing records of Globorotalia crassaformis as a new late Quaternary biostratigraphic marker for the southeastern Brazilian margin.

Description: Western boundary upwelling systems such as those found in the southeastern Brazilian margin (SBM) are promoted by special atmospheric and oceanographic interactions with topography of the coastline. In order to investigate the evolution of the upwelling system in SBM over the past 110 kyr, the abundance of Globigerina bulloides (a planktonic foraminiferal species typically associated with upwelling waters) from two marine cores was combined with estimates of upper water thermal structure derived from Modern Analog Technique based on planktonic foraminifera. High abundances (up to 35%) of large specimens of G. bulloides (〉= 250 µm) associated with cooling subsurface waters reveal the occurrence of an intense coastal upwelling system between 110 kyr and 88 kyr. Changes in coastline orientation due to lower sea level stand (20-70 m lower than today) and a longer season of vigorous Brazil Current (BC) and prevailing northeasterly winds maintained permanently the cold and nutrient-rich South Atlantic Central Waters (SACW) over the shelf promoting the strongest upwelling system of the Brazilian coast over the past 110 kyr. At 88 kyr, a sharp reduction of 14% in abundance of G. bulloides and a 2.6 °C warming of the water column indicates an abrupt weakening of the coastal upwelling, probably caused by a disturbance in SACW formation. During the last glaciation, longer current winter-like conditions of prevailing southwesterly winds and a weakened Brazil Current suppressed the upwelling system in SBM. At this time, constant and relatively high abundance of G. bulloides (up to 10%) suggest that the coastal upwelling was restricted to a short period of months year-round, when the BC and northeasterly winds were relatively vigorous despite the glacial context. The predominance of warm and oligotrophic Tropical Waters due to the shutdown of coastal upwelling in northern SBM was inferred for the last 20 kyr. Despite vigorous northeasterly winds and BC strength, high sea level stand during the Holocene submersed the Abrolhos Bank (AB) leading to a new coastline configuration. Presently, the interaction between the AB and the BC generated a new oceanographic feature in SBM, the Vitoria Eddy, with very limited efficiency in producing a strong upwelling such as the one recorded in the past.

Description: The number of sea surface temperature reconstructions from the Brazilian margin has grown through the last years, but with the surge of new records it has been turn difficult to explain individual data variability. In order to overcome this difficult and understant the evolution of surface temperature across the entire Brazilian margin from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene, we propose a SST-stack based on Mg/Ca of surface-dwelling planktic foraminifera. The data display the temperature reduction during the LGM and the amplitude and timing of major SST increase across the last deglaciation. Interesting insights also emerge from the Holocene, with a SST decline from the late Holocene towards the present likely related to global volcanic activity. Published Mg/Ca-derived sea surface temperature for the Brazilian Margin were compiled. The age models from different studies were all transferred to Marine20 radiocarbon calibration and final probabilistic age model for each core was provided by Bacon. The Mg/Ca calibration from different studies were all transferred to the recent calibration of Gray and Evans (2019; doi:10.1029/2018PA003517). The new sea surface temperature (anomalies) and ages for each record were interpolated to a resolution of 0.4 ka and the data was grouped. Finally, a 1000-year window bootstrap smoothing with the robust LOWESS method and 2000 Monte Carlo simulations using the Acycle software to remove high-frequency variabilities.