Upwelling intensification as part of the Pliocene-Pleistocene climate transition.
A deep-sea sediment core underlying the Benguela upwelling system off southwest Africa provides a continuous time series of sea surface temperature (SST) for the past 4.5 million years. Our results indicate that temperatures in the region have declined by about 10 degrees C since 3.2 million years ago. Records of paleoproductivity suggest that this cooling was associated with an increase in wind-driven upwelling tied to a shift from relatively stable global warmth during the mid-Pliocene to the high-amplitude glacial-interglacial cycles of the late Quaternary. These observations imply that Atlantic Ocean surface water circulation was radically different during the mid-Pliocene.
Marlow
J R
JR
Department of Fossil Fuels and Environmental Geochemistry, Drummond Building, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. J.R.Marlow@ncl.ac.uk
Lange
C B
CB
Wefer
G
G
Rosell-Mele
A
A
D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D002980:Climate; D017377:Diatoms; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D009276:Namibia; D013696:Temperature; D014872:Water Movements; D014919:Wind