Laetitia Pichevin

Enhanced carbon pump inferred from relaxation of nutrient limitation in the glacial ocean

The modern Eastern Equatorial Pacific (EEP) Ocean is a large oceanic source of carbon to the atmosphere. Primary productivity over large areas of the EEP is limited by silicic acid and iron availability, and because of this constraint the organic carbon export to the deep ocean is unable to compensate for the outgassing of carbon dioxide that occurs through upwelling of deep waters. It has been suggested that the delivery of dust-borne iron to the glacial ocean could have increased primary productivity and enhanced deep-sea carbon export in this region, lowering atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations during glacial periods. Such a role for the EEP is supported by higher organic carbon burial rates documented in underlying glacial sediments, but lower opal accumulation rates cast doubts on the importance of the EEP as an oceanic region for significant glacial carbon dioxide drawdown. Here we present a new silicon isotope record that suggests the paradoxical decline in opal accumulation rate in the glacial EEP results from a decrease in the silicon to carbon uptake ratio of diatoms under conditions of increased iron availability from enhanced dust input. Consequently, our study supports the idea of an invigorated biological pump in this region during the last glacial period that could have contributed to glacial carbon dioxide drawdown. Additionally, using evidence from silicon and nitrogen isotope changes, we infer that, in contrast to the modern situation, the biological productivity in this region is not constrained by the availability of iron, silicon and nitrogen during the glacial period. We hypothesize that an invigorated biological carbon dioxide pump constrained perhaps only by phosphorus limitation was a more common occurrence in low-latitude areas of the glacial ocean.

Palaeoclimate reconstructions reveal a strong link between El Nino-Southern Oscillation and Tropical Pacific mean state

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one of the most important components of the global climate system, but its potential response to an anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO2 remains largely unknown. One of the major limitations in ENSO prediction is our poor understanding of the relationship between ENSO variability and long-term changes in Tropical Pacific oceanography. Here we investigate this relationship using palaeorecords derived from the geochemistry of planktonic foraminifera. Our results indicate a strong negative correlation between ENSO variability and zonal gradient of sea-surface temperatures across the Tropical Pacific during the last 22 ky. This strong correlation implies a mechanistic link that tightly couples zonal sea-surface temperature gradient and ENSO variability during large climate changes and provides a unique insight into potential ENSO evolution in the future by suggesting enhanced ENSO variability under a global warming scenario.

Present morphology and depositional architecture of a sandy confined submarine system: the Golo turbidite system (eastern margin of Corsica)

Abstract The modern sandy Golo turbidite system (500 km2) is located in a confined basin on the eastern margin of Corsica. The Golo turbidite system is fed by a single river, which supplies coarse sand derived from active weathering of the neighbouring mountains. The late Quaternary deposits have been imaged using a closely spaced grid of 1000 km of sparker seismic-reflection profiles (line spacing close to 1.6 km, vertical resolution of 2m). The turbidite system is composed of four non-coalescent fans that were at times active simultaneously and of two small deposits onto the slope. The resulting sedimentation pattern is characterized by stacked turbidite deposits. At a regional scale, there is a continuum of fan morphologies and geometries from south to north. The use of both seismic and sedimentary facies, together with mapped seismic geometry of sedimentary bodies, allowed definition of four architectural elements: (1) submarine valley (canyon and gully), (2) sandy channel, (3) muddy levee, and (4) sandy lobe. Some of these architectural elements can be recognized at a scale that is comparable to outcrop examples. Features such as progressive lateral migration and avulsion, or complex longitudinal evolution (progradation and retrogradation), can also be accurately described. Despite the active tectonics along the studied margin, the main variations in sedimentation appear to be controlled by eustatic changes, pre-existing seafloor topography, and sediment source characteristics. The general pattern of sedimentation is controlled by the influence of a confining slope, leading to the predominance of aggradation and to specific morphology and architecture of sedimentary bodies.

Silicic acid biogeochemistry in the Gulf of California: Insights from sedimentary Si isotopes

reflects transient iron limitation. Our new d 30 Si record from the Guaymas Basin shows dramatic variations at millennial timescales. Low d 30 Si values synchronous with Heinrich events are interpreted as resulting from the decline in Si(OH)4 utilization at times of decreased upwelling strength, while nearly complete Si(OH)4 utilization was observed at times of invigorated upwelling and increased opal burial during the Holocene, the Bolling-Allerod and the last glacial period. We attribute the complete utilization of Si(OH)4 to the occurrence of transient Fe limitation at these times. Our study highlights the importance of Fe limitation on Si and C cycling in coastal upwelling regions and suggests that upwelling dynamics, in combination with Fe availability, have the potential to modulate marine Si distribution and opal burial even at short timescales. Citation: Pichevin, L., R. S. Ganeshram, B. C. Reynolds, F. Prahl, T. F. Pedersen, R. Thunell, and E. L. McClymont (2012), Silicic acid biogeochemistry in the Gulf of California: Insights from sedimentary Si isotopes, Paleoceanography, 27, PA2201,

Interhemispheric leakage of isotopically heavy nitrate in the eastern tropical Pacific during the last glacial period

denitrification zone while the Nicaragua site is at the southern boundary. The d 15 N record from Nicaragua shows an ‘‘Antarctic’’ timing similar to denitrification changes observed off Peru-Chile but is radically different from the northern records. We attribute this to the leakage of isotopically heavy nitrate from the South Pacific oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) into the Nicaragua Basin. The Nicaragua record leads the other eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP) records by about 1000 years because denitrification peaks in the eastern tropical South Pacific (ETSP) before denitrification starts to increase in the Northern Hemisphere OMZ, i.e., during warming episodes in Antarctica. We find that the influence of the heavy nitrate leakage from the ETSP is still noticeable, although attenuated, in the Gulf of Tehuantepec record, particularly at the end of the Heinrich events, and tends to alter the recording of millennial timescale denitrification changes in the ETNP. This implies (1) that sedimentary d 15 N records from the southern parts of the ETNP cannot be used straightforwardly as a proxy for local denitrification and (2) that denitrification history in the ETNP, like in the Arabian Sea, is synchronous with Greenland temperature changes. These observations reinforce the conclusion that on millennial timescales during the last ice age, denitrification in the ETNP is strongly influenced by climatic variations that originated in the highlatitude North Atlantic region, while commensurate changes in Southern Ocean hydrography more directly, and slightly earlier, affected oxygen concentrations in the ETSP. Furthermore, the d 15 N records imply ongoing physical communication across the equator in the shallow subsurface continuously over the last 50–70 ka. Citation: Pichevin, L. E., R. S. Ganeshram, S. Francavilla, E. Arellano-Torres, T. F. Pedersen, and L. Beaufort (2010), Interhemispheric leakage of isotopically heavy nitrate in the eastern tropical Pacific during the last glacial period, Paleoceanography, 25, PA1204, doi:10.1029/2009PA001754.

New insights into productivity and redox‐controlled trace element (Ag, Cd, Re, and Mo) accumulation in a 55 kyr long sediment record from Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California

A high-resolution, 55 kyr long record of chalcophile and redox-sensitive trace element accumulation (Ag, Cd, Re, and Mo) from MD02-2515, western Guaymas Basin, is investigated in conjunction with patterns in stratigraphy and productivity. High opal concentrations (~59 wt. %), representing increased diatom production, coincide with laminated sediments and dilute the concentrations of organic carbon (Corg) and metals. A similarity between opal and normalized Corg, Ag, and Cd concentrations suggests delivery to the sediments by diatom export production, while patterns in normalized Re and Mo accumulation suggest a different emplacement mechanism. Although Mo enrichment in organic-rich, laminated sediments typically represents anoxic conditions at other locations, Mo (and Re) in Guaymas Basin is enriched in nonlaminated and bioturbated sediments that are representative of oxygenated conditions. Adsorption onto Fe- and/or Mn-oxyhydroxide surfaces during oxygenation inadequately explains both the Re and Mo enrichments. Thus, recently published mechanisms invoking direct Re and Mo removal from the water column and bioturbation-assisted irrigation of Re into the sediments are used to explain the counterintuitive observations in Guaymas Basin. The MD02-2515 stratigraphic and proxy records are also different from other records in the northeast Pacific in that there is little correspondence with Greenland Dansgaard-Oeschger interstadials. There is some correlation with Heinrich events, suggesting that ventilation of intermediate waters and/or reduced productivity may be important in controlling stratigraphy and trace element accumulation. The results question whether MD02-2515 records can be compared to northeast Pacific open-margin records, especially before 17 kyr B.P.

Persistent millennial-scale climate variability in the eastern tropical North Pacific over the last two glacial cycles

High-resolution sediment records from the eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP) spanning the last ~240 ka B.P. were studied to document the nature of millennial-scale climatic events in the tropical Pacific and to investigate teleconnection mechanisms. We present organic carbon (%OC) and diffuse spectral reflectivity records as indicative of upwelling and productivity changes off NW Mexico over the middle to late Pleistocene. The new productivity records document the persistence of abrupt millennial-scale changes over the last two glacial cycles. Detailed spectral and wavelet time series analyses show the predominance of longer climatic cycles (2–6 ka) during the last and the penultimate glacial periods. The persistence of millennial variability during the penultimate glacial, in absence of large ice rafted debris events in the North Atlantic, suggests that freshwater input through ice sheet dynamics is not essential for millennial-scale climate variability. Given the worldwide emerging picture of remarkable similar millennial-scale records over long time periods, we suggest that the pacing of this climate variability may represent a natural resonance in the climate system, amplified by a tightly coupled oceanic and atmospheric teleconnection processes. We present a schematic scenario of millennial-scale climate change depicting the role of the tropical Pacific in this global teleconnection system by linking productivity and upwelling changes in the ETNP with shifts in the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the strength of the subtropical North Pacific High.