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Oxygenated deep waters fed early Atlantic overturning circulation upon Antarctic glaciation

Nature Geoscience volume 16, pages 1014–1019 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) exerts a major control on the global distribution of heat, dissolved oxygen and carbon in the ocean. Yet the timing and cause of the inception of this system and its evolution since the start of the Cenozoic Era 65 million years ago (Ma) remain highly uncertain. Here we present records of microbial source indicators based on glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether distributions from the Cenozoic Northwest Atlantic Ocean (~43‒18 Ma) and use them to infer changes in AMOC-driven deep-ocean oxygenation. At this location, oxygenation is strongly controlled by southwestward Deep Western Boundary Current transport of newly formed deep waters that feed AMOC. Our Eocene data show short-term high-amplitude variability and an overall decrease in oxygenation of AMOC-feed waters culminating in especially poor ventilation between ~36.5 and ~34 Ma. AMOC-feed waters became better oxygenated upon initiation of Antarctic glaciation at the Eocene/Oligocene transition, ~34 Ma, and were consistently well ventilated from ~30 Ma. Our findings indicate a close association between the inception of Antarctic glaciation and AMOC and suggest that both vertical mixing and wind-driven upwelling in the Southern Ocean were key to fully establishing AMOC as an agent of deep-ocean ventilation.

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Fig. 1: Site locations and modern dissolved oxygen level in the Atlantic Basin.
Fig. 2: Mid-Eocene to early Miocene GDGT records from U1404 in the North Atlantic.
Fig. 3: Detailed view of changes in microbial community and association with surface conditions at U1404.
Fig. 4: Representative early AMOC records.

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Data availability

We declare that the new data that support the findings of this study are available in Supplementary Table 1. All new data associated with the paper can also be accessed at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21922107.

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Acknowledgements

This research used samples provided by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), which is sponsored by the US National Science Foundation and participating countries under management of Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. We thank the scientists and supporting staff of IODP Expedition 342, IODP for providing samples for this study, IODP China office for additional support and Y. Cao and J. Hu for technical support. This research was supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB40000000) (to W.L. and Z.L.), Hong Kong Research Grant Council grant 17305019 and 17303614 (to Z.L.), UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant NE/L007452/1 (to S.M.B), NERC grant NE/K014137/1 (to P.A.W.), a Royal Society Wolfson award (to P.A.W.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China 42122021 (to H.W.) and 42273059 (to Y.Z.) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS 2019403 (to H.W.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Center for Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, China

    Huanye Wang, Weiguo Liu, Hongxuan Lu & Zhonghui Liu

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yancheng Zhang, Yu Liang & Zhonghui Liu

  3. School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China

    Yancheng Zhang

  4. School of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China

    Yu Liang

  5. Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Yuxin He

  6. University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Steven M. Bohaty & Paul A. Wilson

  7. Institute of Climate and Carbon Neutrality, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Zhonghui Liu

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Contributions

P.A.W. and Z.L. participated in IODP Expedition 342 in seagoing capacities. Z.L., W.L., S.M.B. and P.A.W. conceived the idea of using GDGT source indicators to infer early AMOC history. H.W., W.L., H.L., Y.Z., Y.L. and Y.H. performed data analysis. Z.L. and P.A.W. led the writing of the paper with intellectual contributions from all co-authors.

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Correspondence to Paul A. Wilson or Zhonghui Liu.

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Nature Geoscience thanks Ronnakrit Rattanasriampaipong and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: James Super, in collaboration with the Nature Geoscience team.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Structures of isoprenoidal and branched glycerol ether lipids.

Left: archaeol and isoprenoid GDGTs. Right: branched GDGTs. Grey numbers indicate values of [M + H]+ ions for those compounds.

Extended Data Fig. 2 GDGT distribution patterns revealed in modern core top and suspended particulate matter studies.

a, MI (methane index), b, GDGT-0/cren, and c, ΔRI (ring index) values plotted against the associated TEX86 values in modern ocean surface sediment (Sedi) and suspended particulate matter (SPM). d, ACE (the relative abundance of archaeol to caldarchaeol) against ocean water depth. The highlighted bar in a indicates the range of TEX86 values after ~30 Ma at U1404 (Extended Data Fig. 3), when the GDGTs were mainly produced by the normal marine Thaumarchaeota, and the highlighted bar in d indicates ACE range in modern oxic waters. Data sources25,26,27,28. See Methods for definitions of GDGT source indicators. NP, North Pacific; BS: Black Sea (water depth > 1000 m in a‒c).

Extended Data Fig. 3 Additional GDGT records from U1404 in the North Atlantic.

a, Global benthic δ18O record3. b, TEX86. c, ΔRI (ring index). d, ACE (the relative abundance of archaeol to caldarchaeol, in log scale). e, GDGT-2/GDGT-3 (in log scale). f, IIIa/IIa (in log scale). g, MI (methane index). See Methods for definitions of GDGT source indicators and compound names. Interval of elevated ΔRI, ACE, and MI values (plotted inversely) at ~36.5‒34 Ma highlighted. Particularly high GDGT-2/GDGT-3 (>5)62 and IIIa/IIa (>0.92)61 over the late Eocene indicate dominant deep-water contributions with little terrestrial influence. The Eocene-Oligocene boundary (EOB, 33.9 Ma) indicated for reference.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Mid-Eocene to early Miocene productivity records at U1404 in the North Atlantic.

a, Global benthic δ18O record3. b, Alkenone content32 (C37). c, Isoprenoid and branched GDGT content (isoGDGTs and brGDGTs). d, Total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN)31. e, Shipboard31 and lab (circles)32 measurements of CaCO3 percentages. The highlighted interval at ~36.5‒34 Ma and the indicated EOB are the same as Extended Data Fig. 3.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Additional GDGT source indicator records from the North Atlantic.

a, ODP 64777, b, ODP 91374, c, IODP U140675,76, d, IODP U141175, and e, IODP U1404 BIT (branched and isoprenoid tetraether index) records. Among the source indicator records, BIT is mostly available. The highlighted interval at ~36.5‒34 Ma and the indicated EOB are the same as Extended Data Fig. 3.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

GDGT fractional abundance and indices and carbon isotopic values of the alkyl moieties of GDGTs and carbonates from IODP Site U1404, North Atlantic.

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Wang, H., Liu, W., Lu, H. et al. Oxygenated deep waters fed early Atlantic overturning circulation upon Antarctic glaciation. Nat. Geosci. 16, 1014–1019 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01292-2

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