Publication Date:
2014-06-28
Description:
The mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT) marked a fundamental change in glacial-interglacial periodicity, when it increased from ~41-thousand-year to 100-thousand-year cycles and developed higher-amplitude climate variability without substantial changes in the Milankovitch forcing. Here, we document, by using Nd isotopes, a major disruption of the ocean thermohaline circulation (THC) system during the MPT between marine isotope stages (MISs) 25 and 21 at ~950 to 860 thousand years ago, which effectively marks the first 100-thousand-year cycle, including an exceptional weakening through a critical interglacial (MIS 23) at ~900 thousand years ago. Its recovery into the post-MPT 100-thousand-year world is characterized by continued weak glacial THC. The MPT ocean circulation crisis facilitated the coeval drawdown of atmospheric CO2 and high-latitude ice sheet growth, generating the conditions that stabilized 100-thousand-year cycles.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Pena, Leopoldo D -- Goldstein, Steven L -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Jul 18;345(6194):318-22. doi: 10.1126/science.1249770. Epub 2014 Jun 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USA. leopoldo@ldeo.columbia.edu. ; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USA. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24968939" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Atlantic Ocean
;
Atmosphere/chemistry
;
Carbon Dioxide/analysis
;
*Climate
;
*Ice Cover
;
Isotopes/analysis
;
Neodymium/analysis
;
*Seawater
;
*Water Cycle
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
