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Southern Ocean source of 14C-depleted carbon in the North Pacific Ocean during the last deglaciation

Abstract

During the last deglaciation, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations rose at the same time that the Δ14C of that CO2 fell. This has been attributed to the release of 14C-depleted carbon dioxide from the deep ocean1, possibly vented through the Southern Ocean2,3,4,5. Recently, a sediment record from the eastern North Pacific Ocean spanning the last deglaciation was interpreted to reflect transport of such radiocarbon-depleted CO2 from the Southern Ocean through Antarctic Intermediate Water2. However, the suggestion that the record reflects intermediate water derived from the Southern Ocean remains controversial. Here we assess the source of the deglacial intermediate water by measuring the neodymium isotopes of fossil fish teeth/debris from the same eastern North Pacific core used in the earlier study2. The isotopic signature of a water mass, which is captured in the fossil fish teeth, reflects the location in which it formed. Our data exhibit a clear shift in the neodymium isotope values towards Southern Ocean values about 18,000 years ago, coinciding with the negative Δ14C excursion. We conclude that these data support a Southern Ocean source for the deglacial radiocarbon-depleted CO2 detected in the eastern North Pacific.

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Figure 1: Modern hydrography.
Figure 2: ɛNd record from Baja California for the past 38 kyr.
Figure 3: Meridional multi-proxy responses to the last deglaciation (8–22 kyr BP).

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Kamenov for technical support regarding Nd isotope analyses on the Nu Plasma multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer at the University of Florida as well as D. Hodell and D. Newkirk for scientific discussions. The manuscript benefited from comments by A. Piotrowski. We also thank A. van Geen for access to core samples. Core retrieval was supported by NSF grant OCE 98-09026 to A. van Geen and Y. Zheng. Financial support for the research was provided by NSF grant OCE-0623393 to E.E.M. Partial support for this research was also provided by GSA Graduate Student Research grant to C.B.

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C.B. and E.E.M. conceived the study. C.B. analysed the Nd isotope data and wrote the paper with the help of all of the co-authors. E.E.M., K.H. and T.M.M. supplied ideas that shaped the final version. All authors contributed towards writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to C. Basak.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Basak, C., Martin, E., Horikawa, K. et al. Southern Ocean source of 14C-depleted carbon in the North Pacific Ocean during the last deglaciation. Nature Geosci 3, 770–773 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo987

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