ALBERT

Description: Most of the helium-3 in oceanic sediments conies from interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), and can therefore be used to infer the accretion rate of dust to the Earth through time (Ozima et al., 1984, doi:10.1038/311448a0; Takayanagi and Ozima, 1987, doi:10.1029/JB092iB12p12531; Farley, 1995, doi:10.1038/376153a0). 3He records from slowly accumulating pelagic clays indicate that the accretion rate varies considerably over millions of years, probably owing to cometary and asteroidal break-up events3. Muller and MacDonald have proposed (Muller and MacDonald, 1995, doi:10.1038/377107b0) that periodic changes in this accretion rate due to a previously unrecognized 100-kyr periodicity in the Earth's orbital inclination might account for the prominence of this frequency in climate records of the past million years (Imbrie et al., 1993, doi:10.1029/93PA02751). Here we report variations in the 3He flux to the sea floor that support this idea. We find that the flux recorded in rapidly accumulating Quaternary sediments from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge oscillates with a period of about 100 kyr. We cannot yet say, however, whether the 100-kyr climate cycle is a consequence of, a cause of, or an effect independent of these periodic changes in the rate of delivery of interplanetary dust to the sea floor.

Description: We have determined the helium abundance and isotopic composition of seafloor carbonate sediments from the flanks of the Ontong Java Plateau, western equatorial Pacific Ocean (ODP Site 806). These results provide a two million year record of the burial flux of extraterrestrial 3He, which we believe is a proxy for the terrestrial accretion rate of interplanetary dust particles. The 3He burial flux prior to ~700 ka was relatively low, ~0.5 pcc/cm**2/kyr, but from 700 ka to the present, the burial flux gradually increased to a value of ~1.0 pcc/cm**2/kyr. 100 kyr periodicity in the 3He burial flux is apparent over the last 700 kyr and correlates with the oxygen isotope record of global climate, with high 3He burial fluxes associated with interglacial periods. This periodicity and phase are consistent with previous 3He measurements in North Atlantic sediments. Although 100 kyr periodicity in 3He burial flux is in agreement with recent predictions of the accretion rate of interplanetary dust based on a model of the orbital evolution of asteroidal debris, the measurements and predictions differ by one half cycle in phase. Nevertheless, our observations suggest the terrestrial accretion rate of interplanetary dust is controlled by orbital eccentricity and/or inclination relative to the solar-system invariable plane. Such control is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the hypothesis of that variations in extraterrestrial dust accretion modulates terrestrial climate with a 100 kyr period. We also identify several brief (〈25 kyr) intervals of strongly enhanced 3He burial, possibly related to random and transient fluctuations in the accretion rate of asteroidal or cometary dust particles.

Description: The mass accumulation rates (MARs) of aeolian dust in the ocean basins provide an important record of climate in the continental source regions of atmospheric dust and of the prevailing wind patterns responsible for dust transport in the geologic past. The incorporation of other terrigenous components such as volcanic ashes in seafloor sediments, however, often obscures the aeolian dust record. We describe a new approach which uses the delivery rate of crustal 4He to seafloor sediments as a proxy for the mass accumulation rate of old continental dust which is unaffected by the addition of other terrigenous components. We have determined the flux of crustal 4He delivered to the seafloor of the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) in the western equatorial Pacific over the last 1.9 Myrs. Crustal 4He fluxes vary between 7.7 and 30 ncc/cm**2/kyr and show excellent correlation with global climate as recorded by oxygen isotopes, with high crustal 4He fluxes associated with glacial periods over the entire interval studied. Furthermore, the onset of strong 100 kyr glacial-interglacial climate cycling is clearly seen in the 4He flux record about 700 kyrs ago. These data record variations in the supply of Asian dust in response to climate driven changes in the aridity of the Asian dust sources, consistent with earlier work on Asian dust flux to the northern Pacific Ocean. However, in contrast to previous studies of sites in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, there is no evidence that the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (an effective rainfall barrier to the southward transport of northern hemisphere dust across the equator in the central and eastern Pacific) has influenced the delivery of Asian dust to the OJP. The most likely carrier phase for crustal helium in these sediments is zircon, which can reasonably account for all the 4He observed in the samples. As a first order estimate, these results suggest that the mass accumulation rate of Asian dust on the OJP over the last 1.9 Myrs varied from about 4 to 15 mg/ cm**2/kyr. In contrast, previous studies show that over the same interval the total MAR of terrigenous dust (i.e. Asian dust plus local volcanics) on OJP varied between about 34 and 90 mg/ cm**2/kyr.