Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-rkzlw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-05T23:54:56.252Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Paleoceanography and paleoclimatology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2012

Steven Emerson  and
John Hedges
Steven Emerson
Affiliation:
University of Washington
John Hedges
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Get access

Summary

We end Part 1 of this book with a study of past changes in the Earth's atmosphere, oceans and ice volume. Interpretation of past climatic conditions from chemical tracers and isotopes preserved in the geological record requires knowledge and intuition developed from the study of present-day oceanography. For this reason descriptions of how paleoceanographic tracers are used to unravel insights about past ocean circulation and biogeochemistry serve as a review of the geochemical perspectives presented in the first six chapters of this book.

Present human activities create chemical sources to the environment that are, in some cases, comparable to those of the natural (pre-industrial) Earth. Since some of these anthropogenic additions may affect the natural order of the Earth's climate system, it is urgent to understand how the natural system functions mechanistically. For example, the effect of rapidly rising anthropogenic atmospheric CO2 on the climate system of the Earth is a first-order question (see Chapter 11). Even though global models that incorporate physical and biological interactions among the atmosphere, ocean, terrestrial and ice “spheres” now allow scientists to recreate the Earth's system, reasons for even the most first-order observations of climate change during the past million years are still poorly understood. The waxing and waning of glacial ice with roughly a 100 ky cycle is likely triggered by variations in the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface because of changes in the Earth's orbital motions around the sun.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Chemical Oceanography and the Marine Carbon Cycle , pp. 219 - 258
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adkins, J. F. and Schrag, D. P. (2001) Pore fluid constraints on deep ocean temperature and salinity during the last glacial maximum. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 771–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alley, R. B. (2000) The Two Mile Time Machine. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Arrhenius, G. (1952) Sediment cores from the East Pacific. Swedish Deep Sea Expedition (1947–1948) Reports, vol. 5, pp. 1–227.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Fairbanks, R. G. and Zindler, A. (1990) Calibration of the 14 C timescale over the past 30,000 years using mass spectrometric U-Th ages from Barbados corals. Nature 345, 405–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berner, R. A. (1980) Early Diagenesis: A Theoretical Approach. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Berner, W., Stauffer, B. and Oeschger, H. (1978) Past atmospheric composition and climate, gas parameters measured on ice cores. Nature 276, 53–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boudreau, B. P. (1997) Diagenetic Models and their Implementation. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, E. A. (1986) Paired carbon isotope and cadmium data from benthic foraminifera: implications for changes in oceanic circulation, and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 50, 265–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, E. A. (1988) Cadmium: chemical tracer in deepwater paleoceanography. Paleoceanography 3, 471–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, E. A. (1992) Cadmium and δ13C paleochemical ocean distributions during the stage 2 glacial maximum. A. Rev. Earth Sci. 20, 245–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, E. A. and Keigwin, L. (1987) North Atlantic thermohaline circulation during the past 20,000 years linked to high-latitude surface temperature. Nature 330, 35–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W. S. (2002) The Glacial World according to Wally. Palisades, NY: Eldigio Press.Google Scholar
Broecker, W. S. (2004) The Role of the Ocean in Climate Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Palisades, NY: Eldigio Press.Google Scholar
Burdige, D. J. (2006) Geochemistry of Marine Sediments. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chappell, J. and Shackleton, N. J. (1986) Oxygen isotopes and sea level. Nature 324, 137–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, T. J. (1983) The geologic record of climate change. Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 21, 828–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, W. B., Duplessy, J. C. and Labeyrie, L. D. (1988) Changes in the distribution of δ13 C of deep water CO2 between the last glaciation and the Holocene. Paleoceanography 3, 317–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duplessy, J. C., Shackleton, N. J., Matthews, R. K.et al. (1984) 13C record of benthic foraminifera in the last interglacial ocean: implications for the carbon cycle and global deep water circulation. Quat. Res. 21, 222–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EPICA (2004) Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core. Nature 429, 623–8.CrossRef
Grootes, P. M., Stuiver, M., White, J. W. C., Johnsen, S. and Jouzel, J. (1993) Comparison of oxygen isotope records from the GISP@ and GRIP Greenland cores. Nature 366, 552–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemming, S. R. (2004) Heinrich Events: massive late Pleistocene detritus layers of the North Atlantic and their global climate imprint. Rev. Geophys. 42, 1–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hester, K. and Boyle, E. A. (1982) Water chemistry control of the Cd content of benthic foraminifera, Nature, 298, 260–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughen, K., Lehman, S., Southon, J.et al. (2004) 14C activity and global carbon cycle changes over the past 50,000 years. Science 303, 202–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keigwin, L. D. (2004) Radiocarbon and stable isotope constraints on Last Glacial maximum and Younger Dryas ventilation in the western North Atlantic. Paleoceanography 19, PA2012, doi: 10.1029/2004PA001029.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennett, J. P., Cannariato, K. G., Hendy, I. L. and Behl, R. J. (2003) Methane Hydrates in Quaternary Climate Change: The Clathrate Gun Hypothesis. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ku, T. L., Bischoff, J. L. and Boersma, A. (1972) Age studies of mid-Atlantic ridge sediments near 42° N and 20° N. Deep-Sea Res. 19, 233–47.Google Scholar
Lea, D. W. and Boyle, E. A. (1990) Foraminiferal reconstruction of barium distributions in water masses of the glacial oceans. Paleoceanography 5, 719–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lea, D. W., Pak, D. K. and Spero, H. J. (1999) Climate impact of late Quaternary Equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature variations. Science 289, 1719–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackensen, A. H., Hubberten, W., Bickert, T., Fisher, G. and Futterer, D. K. (1993) δ13C in benthic foraminiferal tests of Fontbotia wuellerstorfi (Schwager) relative to δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon in the Southern Ocean deep water: implications for glacial ocean circulation models. Paleoceanography 8, 587–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchitto, T. M., Lynch-Steiglitz, J. and Hemming, S. (2005) Deep Pacific CaCO3 compensation and glacial-interglacial atmospheric CO2. Earth Planet Sci. Lett. 231, 317–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, P. A., Lea, D. W., Rosenthal, Y.et al. (2002) Quaternary deep sea temperature histories derived from benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 198, 193–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monnin, E.et al. (2001) Atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the last glacial termination. Science 291, 112–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peng, T.-H. and Broecker, W. S. (1984) The impacts of bioturbation on the age difference between benthic and planktonic foraminifera in deep sea sediments. Nucl. Inst. Meth. Phys. Res. B5, 346–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petit, J. R.et al. (1999) Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica. Nature 399, 429–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, L. F., Adkins, J. F., Keigwin, L. D.et al. (2005) Radiocarbon variability in the western North Atlantic during the last deglaciation. Science 310, 1469–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruddiman, W. F. (2001) Earth's Climate: Past and Future. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman and Co.Google Scholar
Ruhlemann, C., Mulitza, S., Muller, P. J., Wefer, G. and Zahn, R. (1999) Warming of the tropical Atlantic Ocean and slowdown of thermohaline circulation during the last deglaciation. Nature 402, 511–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachs, J. P. and Anderson, R. F. (2005) Increased productivity in the subantarctic ocean during Heinrich events. Nature 434, 1118–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Severinghaus, J. P. and Brook, E. J. (1999) Abrupt climate change at the end of the last glacial period inferred from trapped air in polar ice. Science 286, 930–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shackleton, N. J. and Opdyke, N. D. (1973) Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28–238: oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year scale. J. Quat. Res. 3, 39–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackleton, N. J., Imbrie, J. and Hall, M. A. (1983) Oxygen and carbon isotope record of East Pacific core V19–30: implications for the formation of deep water in the late Pleistocene North Atlantic. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 65, 233–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sowers, T.et al. (1993) A 135,000-year Vostok-Specmam common temporal framework. Paleoceanography 8, 737–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spero, H. J., Bijima, J., Lea, D. W. and Bemia, B. E. (1997) Effect of seawater carbonate ion concentration on foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotopes. Nature 390, 497–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toggweiler, J. R. (1999) Variation of atmospheric CO2 by ventilation of the ocean's deepest water. Paleoceanography 14, 571–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×