Impact of iceberg melting on Mediterranean thermohaline circulation during Heinrich events
| Type | Article | ||||||||
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| Date | 2005-06 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Author(s) | Sierro Fj1, Hodell Da2, Curtis Jh2, Flores Ja1, Reguera I1, Colmenero-Hidalgo E1, Barcena Ma1, Grimalt Jo3, Cacho I4, Frigola J4, Canals M4 | ||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Univ Salamanca, Dept Geol, E-37008 Salamanca, Spain. 2 : Univ Florida, Dept Geol Sci, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA. 3 : nst Chem & Environm Res, Dept Environm Chem, IBarcelona 08034, Spain. 4 : Univ Barcelona, Dept Stratig Paleontol & Marine Geosci, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain. |
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| Source | Paleoceanography (0883-8305) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2005-06 , Vol. 20 , N. PA2019 , P. 1-13 | ||||||||
| DOI | 10.1029/2004PA001051 | ||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 167 | ||||||||
| Keyword(s) | climatic change, Heinrich events, Mediterranean Sea, carbon and oxygen isotopes, thermohaline circulation, Pleistocene | ||||||||
| Abstract | Down-core samples of planktonic and benthic foraminifera were analyzed for oxygen and carbon isotopes in International Marine Past Global Changes Study (IMAGES) core MD99-2343 in order to study the interactions between climate change in the Northern Hemisphere and the western Mediterranean thermohaline circulation at times of Heinrich events (HE). Our results confirm the antiphase correlation between enhanced North Atlantic Deep Water formation and low ventilation in the Mediterranean. However, this study reveals that this antiphase relationship in deepwater formation between the North Atlantic and Mediterranean was interrupted during times of HE when the injection of large volumes of water from melting icebergs reached the entrance to the Mediterranean. These events, which lasted less than 1000 years, are represented by pronounced decreases in both planktonic delta(18)O and benthic delta(13)C signals. Lower salinities of Mediterranean surface water resulted in a slowdown of western Mediterranean deepwater overturn even though cold sea surface temperatures and drier climate should have resulted in enhanced deepwater formation. | ||||||||
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