ALBERT

Description: Annual growth bands of mollusk shells record several types of paleoenvironmental information, including geochemical proxies for water properties and morphological characteristics of growth and mortality. Sclerochronology, the marine counterpart of dendrochronology, offers a way to link individual shells together to form long continuous records of such parameters. It also allows for precise dating of recent shells and identification of contemporaneous fossil individuals. The longevity of the ocean quahog Arctica islandica (commonly 〉100 yr) makes this species well suited for sclerochronology. Band width records of contemporaneous A. islandica specimens from the same region exhibit high correlations (ρ = 0.60–0.80 for spans of ≥30 bands), indicating some common environmental influences on shell growth. By adopting several strict criteria, fossil (dead-collected) shells can be linked into composite sclerochronologies. A seven-shell 154-yr chronology was constructed for Georges Bank using three live-collected and four dead-collected shells. Band width matching indicates that the dead-collected individuals died in A.D. 1950, 1971, 1978, and 1989. Sclerochronological age assignments were verified using aspartic acid racemization dating. Construction of a 1000-yr sclerochronology is judged to be feasible using the described methods.

Description: A shallow marine sediment core from NW Iceland provides evidence for a brief cooling and freshening at ~ 8200 cal yr BP, consistent with the hypothesis that the catastrophic outburst flood of the proglacial lakes Oijbway and Agassiz caused the 8.2 ka event. This is the first high-resolution record reconstructing near-surface temperatures and δ18Osw by paired measurements of Mg/Ca and δ18Ocalcite of a benthic foraminifer. We developed a new Mg/Ca temperature calibration for Cibicides lobatulus. Our down-core Mg/Ca derived temperature reconstruction dates the 8.2 ka cooling event between ~ 8300 cal yr BP and ~ 8100 cal yr BP, which is similar to the timing and 160-yr duration recorded in the Greenland ice cores. The near-surface temperature drop of ~ 3 to 5°C during the 8.2 ka event was accompanied by lighter δ18Osw values. Synchronously to the changes in the geochemical proxies, the percentages of two Arctic benthic foraminifers increased and the percent calcium carbonate decreased. Our record, combined with several others from the region, suggests that the freshwater outburst spread far from the source into the high-latitude North Atlantic. This freshwater input could have directly caused substantial high-latitude cooling, with reduced North Atlantic Deep Water formation amplifying the climatic impact.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 2000

Description: Benthic foraminiferal δ13C, Cd/Ca, and Ba/Ca are important tools for reconstructing nutrient distributions, and thus ocean circulation, on glacial-interglacial timescales. However, each tracer has its own "artifacts" that can complicate paleoceanographic interpretations. It is therefore advantageous to measure multiple nutrient proxies with the aim of separating the various complicating effects. Zn/Ca is introduced as an important aid toward this goal. Benthic (Hoeglundina elegans) Cd/Ca ratios from the Bahama Banks indicate that the North Atlantic subtropical gyre was greatly depleted in nutrients during the last glacial maximum (LGM). A high-resolution Cd/Ca record from 965 m water depth suggests that Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water formation was strong during the LGM, weakened during the deglaciation, and strengthened again during the Younger Dryas cold period. Comparison of Cd/Ca and δ13C data reveals apparent short-term changes in carbon isotopic air-sea signatures. Benthic foraminiferal Zn/Ca could be a sensitive paleoceanographic tracer because deep water masses have characteristic Zn concentrations that increase about ten-fold from the deep North Atlantic to the deep North Pacific. A "core top calibration" shows that Zn/Ca is controlled by bottom water dissolved Zn concentration and, like Cd/Ca and BalCa, by bottom water saturation state with respect to calcite Since Zn/Ca responds to a different range of saturation states than Cd/Ca, the two may be used together to evaluate changes in deep water carbonate ion (CO32-) concentration. Zn/Ca and Cd/Ca ratios in the benthic foraminifer Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi exhibit large fluctuations over the past 100,000 years in a deep (3851 m) eastern equatorial Pacific sediment core. The data imply that bottom water CO32- concentrations were lowest during glacial Marine Isotope Stage 4 and highest during the last deglaciation. LGM CO32- concentrations appear to have been within a few μmol kg-1 of modern values. Deep North Atlantic Cd/Ca ratios imply much higher nutrient concentrations during the LGM. Although such data have usually been explained by a northward penetration of Southern Ocean Water (SOW), it has been suggested that they could result from increased preformed nutrient levels in the high-latitude North Atlantic or by increased aging of lower North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Glacial Zn/Ca data, however, require a substantially increased mixing with SOW and thus a reduction in NADW formation. Large changes in carbon isotopic air-sea exchange are invoked to reconcile benthic δ13C and trace metal data.

Description: This work was supported by a JOIlUSSAC Ocean Drilling Fellowship (subgrant JSG-CY 12-4), the R. H. Cole Ocean Ventures Fund, the Joint Program Education Office, and the National Science Foundation (grants OCE-9402804 and OCE-9503135 to W. Curry, and grant OCE-9633499 to D. Oppo).