Qingyun Nan

Paleoenvironmental Changes in the Northern Okinawa Trough since 25 ka BP: REE and Organic Carbon Evidence

Paleoenvironmental changes in the northern Okinawa trough covering the last 25 ka were synthetically reconstructed using REE and organic carbon indices of core CSH1. Variations of these parameters revealed three distinct intervals of major sediment provenance changes that can be related to sea-level fluctuation and Tsushima Warm Current evolution. Interval 1 (16–24.7 ka BP) is characterized by dominantly fluvial discharge from the Changjiang (Yangtze River) and Huanghe (Yellow River) as well as high primary productivity. In Interval 2 (7.3–16 ka BP), the Changjiang and Huanghe mouths regressed with sea-level rising. The newly formed Tsushima Warm Current could carry some sediment loads of Taiwan to the study core, especially during its late phase (7.3–8.2 ka BP). Modern oceanographic conditions were finally established since the beginning of Interval 3, leading to more terrigenous contribution from Taiwan, whereas low sea-surface productivity in the study area.

Contribution of Asian dust and volcanic material to the western Philippine Sea over the last 220 kyr as inferred from grain size and Sr-Nd isotopes

Asian dust and volcanogenic materials are two major components in the northwestern Pacific. Quantitatively distinguishing them and estimating their mass accumulation rates (MARs) are very important for understanding regional and global climate change. Here we present the grain-size composition of detrital sediments and the radiogenic strontium (Sr) and neodymium (Nd) isotopic compositions of different grain-size fractions of detrital sediments that were recovered from the western Philippine Sea. These new records show that the different grain-size distributions can be associated with 1) Asian dust from the western and central Chinese deserts and Chinese loess and 2) volcanogenic materials that were derived from the Luzon Islands. The MARs of this Asian dust and volcanic materials are obtained by using Weibull-function fitting. The MARs of Asian dust and volcanic materials are coupled with the glacial-interglacial cycle; these values are found to have been higher and more variable during the glacial period than during the interglacial period. We argue that the strengthening aridity of the Asian continent, which is connected to solar insolation and ice volume variations from orbital eccentricity, constitutes an important mechanism that drives the high MARs of glacial dust in the western Philippine Sea. The internal positive feedback of dust may be another important mechanism. The significant increase in volcanic material during the glacial period was caused by sea level changes, which were driven by the ice volume and solar insolation at high latitudes, and by strengthened precipitation from the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which is driven by orbital eccentricity and precession cycles on the Luzon Islands.

Sea surface temperature and salinity reconstruction based on stable isotopes and Mg/Ca of planktonic foraminifera in the western Pacific Warm Pool during the last 155 ka

Changes in sea surface temperature (SST), seawater oxygen isotope (δ18Osw), and local salinity proxy (δ18Osw-ss) in the past 155 ka were studied using a sediment core (MD06-3052) from the northern edge of the western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP), within the flow path of the bifurcation of the North Equatorial Current. Our records reveal a lead-lag relationship between paired Mg/Ca-SST and δ18O during Termination II and the last interglacial period. Similarity in SST between our site and the Antarctic temperature proxy and in CO2 profile showed a close connection between the WPWP and the Antarctic. Values of δ18O sw exhibited very similar variations to those of mean ocean δ18Osw, owing to the past sea-level changes on glacial-interglacial timescale. Calculated values of δ18Osw-ss reflect a more saline condition during high local summer insolation (SI) periods. Such correspondence between δ18Osw-ss and local SI in the WPWP may reflect complex interaction between ENSO and monsoon, which was stimulated by changes in solar irradiance and their influence on the local hydrologic cycle. This then caused a striking reorganization of atmospheric circulation over the WPWP.

Paleoproductivity evolution in the West Philippine Sea during the last 700 ka

In order to reconstruct the paleoproductivity evolution history of the West Philippine Sea during the last 700 ka, the vertical gradient of Δδ13C in dissolved inorganic carbon (Δδ13C between those of foraminifera Pulleniatina obliquiloculata and Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi) and planktonic foraminiferal assemblages were analysed in piston Core MD06-3047 retrieved from the Benham Rise (east of the Luzon Island). Paleoproductivity evolution in the West Philippine Sea during the last 700 ka is closely related to glacial-interglacial cycles and precession-controlled insolation. Controlling factors of paleoproductivity could have been both thermocline fluctuations related with ENSO-like processes and eolian input associated with East Asian winter monsoon, and the former could have been the primary factor. A higher productivity and a shallower thermocline coeval with the occurrence of low CO2 concentrations in the EPICA Dome C ice core might indicate that biological export production in the low-latitude could act as a significant sink in the global carbon cycle, and modify atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Spectral analysis further reveals that the paleoproductivity is mainly controlled by thermocline fluctuations subjected to ENSO processes responding to processional variability of insolation. High coherences in eccentricity, obliquity and precession periods further revealing the close link between thermocline fluctuations, paleoproductivity and atmospheric CO2 levels.

A quantitative reconstruction of the paleoenviornmental variations of the South Yellow Sea inner shelf based on benthic foraminiferal transfer functions

Transfer functions between the benthic foraminiferal fauna of seventy-one sediment surface-samples retrieved from the South Yellow Sea inner shelf and the environmental factors, including the summer bottom-water salinity (Ss), the summer bottom-water temperature (Ts) and the winter bottom-water temperature (Tw) have been developed utilizing weighted averaging partial least square regression (WA-PLS). Subsequently, the transfer functions have been applied to a late Holocene piston core SY01 from the South Yellow Sea inner shelf, established the variation curves of the Ss, Ts, and Tw during the last 3.9 cal. ka. The Ss and Ts showed a nearly synchronous trend to the published stalagmite δ18O curve from the Jiuxian Cave, meaning they could be used as reliable indicators for the summer monsoon. Similarly, the Tw could be used as an indicator for the winter monsoon for its synchronous change to the insensitive grain size variation of the core ZY-2 retrieved from the Central Yellow Sea mud area. These results suggest that transfer functions based on benthic foraminiferal fauna can be a potentially useful tool in palaeoceanographic and palaeoenvironmental research along the Chinese seaboard.