Pulleniatina Minimum Event during the last deglaciation in the southern South China Sea

• DOI: 10.1007/s11434-009-0290-4
• Publication Date: 2009-05-15T04:14:44Z
• Authors: Yang An; ZhiMin Jian
• Keywords: Pulleniatina Minimum Event; subsurface seawater temperature; upper ocean structure; 13. Climate action; the southern South China Sea; 14. Life underwater; 01 natural sciences; the last deglaciation; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The planktonic foraminiferal faunal census of core MD 05-2894 (7°2.25′N, 111°33.11′E, water depth 1982 m), retrieved from the southern South China Sea (SCS) during the “Marco Polo” cruise in 2005, was performed to investigate the abundance changes of a subsurface dweller, Pulleniatina obliquiloculata. The results display that the abundance of P. obliquiloculata nearly declines to zero during 16.0-14.9 ka, corresponding to the Heinrich 1 (H1) cold interval. The unexpected decrease of P. obliquiloculata occurs in the adjacent cores, roughly between 17 and 14.8 ka based on the previous studies. Accordingly, the Pulleniatina Minimum Event in the last deglaciation can serve as a good stratigraphical indicator, at least in the southern SCS. To further explore the changes of sea surface temperature (SST) and sub-surface seawater temperature (SSST), we made parallel Mg/Ca measurements on surface dweller Globigerinoides ruber and subsurface dweller P. obliquiloculata tests. Since the last deglaciation, the SSTs show a continuous increasing trend towards the late Holocene, while the warming of the subsurface water is punctuated by a 2°C-cooling interval across the deglacial Pulleniatina Minimum Event. Both increased δ18O differences between G. ruber and P. obliquiloculata, and increased temperature differences between surface and subsurface water suggest a shoaling of the mixed layer during the deglacial Pulleniatina Minimum Event. Therefore, we consider that the significant changes in the upper ocean structure are responsible for the Pulleniatina Minimum Event during the last deglaciation in the southern SCS.