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Large climate-driven changes of oceanic oxygen concentrations during the last deglaciation

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 151–156 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

During the last glacial termination, the solubility of gases in the ocean decreased as ocean temperatures rose. However, marine sediments have not unanimously recorded ocean deoxygenation throughout this time. Some records show increasing oxygenation since the Last Glacial Maximum, particularly in the deep sea, while many document abrupt oxygenation changes, often associated with apparent changes in the formation rate of North Atlantic Deep Water. Here we present a global compilation of marine sediment proxy records that reveals remarkable coherency between regional oxygenation changes throughout deglaciation. The upper ocean generally became less oxygenated, but this general trend included pauses and even reversals, reflecting changes in nutrient supply, respiration rates and ventilation. The most pronounced deoxygenation episode in the upper ocean occurred midway through the deglaciation, associated with a reinvigoration of North Atlantic Deep Water formation. At this time, the upper Indo-Pacific Ocean was less oxygenated than today. Meanwhile, the bulk of the deep ocean became more oxygenated over the deglaciation, reflecting a transfer of respired carbon to the atmosphere. The observed divergence from a simple solubility control emphasizes the degree to which oxygen consumption patterns can be altered by changes in ocean circulation and marine ecosystems.

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Figure 1: Records of changing climate and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations across the last glacial termination.
Figure 2: Qualitative changes in oxygenation proxies between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Early Holocene (EH).
Figure 3: Quantitative changes in oxygenation proxies between intermediate climate intervals spanning the LGM to Early Holocene.
Figure 4: Qualitative changes in oxygenation proxies between the Bølling–Ållerød/Antarctic Cold Reversal (BA/ACR) and the Early Holocene (EH).
Figure 5: Schematic illustration of relationships between oxygen, nutrients and respired carbon.

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Acknowledgements

E.D.G. thanks NSERC and CIFAR for financial support. D. Bianchi and N. Gruber commented on an early version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Institute, ETHZ, Zurich CH-8092, Switzerland

    Samuel L. Jaccard

  2. Earth and Planetary Sciences McGill University, Montreal H3A 2A7, Canada

    Eric D. Galbraith

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Contributions

S.L.J. and E.D.G. jointly initiated the research project, and both contributed to the interpretation of the results and writing of the manuscript. S.L.J. compiled available data from the literature. E.D.G. performed the data analysis and created the figures.

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Correspondence to Samuel L. Jaccard or Eric D. Galbraith.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Jaccard, S., Galbraith, E. Large climate-driven changes of oceanic oxygen concentrations during the last deglaciation. Nature Geosci 5, 151–156 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1352

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