Abstract
Ocean circulation and climate are strongly interconnected. Under climatic conditions very different from those of today, deep and intermediate water circulation was subject to drastic changes1–7. For instance, during the last glacial maximum (LGM), deep ocean water was cooler than now by several degrees8. These temperature changes in the deep ticean were associated with striking variations in chemical characteristics of the intermediate and deep water masses of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans3,8–13. Here we reconstruct the hydrological structure of the deep and intermediate water of the Indian Ocean during LGM (∼18,000yr BP). The carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of the benthic foramiriifira genus Cibicides show that the water-column structure of the Indian Ocean during; LGM was marked by the presence of a deep front separating intermediate and deep-water masses with very different characteristics: Intermediate-water mass temperatures and §13C were similar to those of today. By contrast, the Jeep water was cooler than iiow by at least 1.5 °C, more depleted in 13C and poorly oxygenated.
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Kallel, N., Labeyrie, L., Juillet-Leclerc, A. et al. A deep hydrological front between intermediate and deep-wafpr , masses in the glacial Indian Ocean. Nature 333, 651–655 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/333651a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/333651a0
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