Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT) [~1.25 to 0.85 million years ago (Ma)] marks a shift in the character of glacial-interglacial climate ( 1 , 2 ). One prevailing hypothesis for the origin of the MPT is that glacial deep ocean circulation fundamentally changed, marked by a circulation “crisis” at ~0.90 Ma (marine isotope stages 24 to 22) ( 3 ). Using high-resolution paired neodymium, carbon, and oxygen isotope data from the South Atlantic Ocean (Cape Basin) across the MPT, we find no evidence of a substantial change in deep ocean circulation. Before and during the early MPT (~1.30 to 1.12 Ma), the glacial deep ocean variability closely resembled that of the most recent glacial cycle. The carbon storage facilitated by developing deep ocean stratification across the MPT required only modest circulation adjustments.
Source: Science
Institutions: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, University of Cambridge, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Cardiff University, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, University of Rhode Island
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4404125103