The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is a critical part of the global thermohaline conveyor. It plays a key role in transporting heat from the equatorial Pacific (the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool) to the Indian Ocean and exerts a major control on global climate. The complex tectonic history of the Indonesian archipelago, a result of continued northward motion and impingement of the Australasian plate into the southeast Asian part of the Eurasian plate, makes it difficult to reconstruct long-term (i.e., million year) ITF history from sites within the archipelago. The best areas to investigate ITF history are downstream in the Indian Ocean, either in the deep ocean away from strong tectonic deformation or along proximal passive margins that are directly under the influence of the ITF. Although previous Ocean Drilling Program and Deep Sea Drilling Project deep-water cores recovered in the Indian Ocean have been used to chart Indo-Pacific Warm Pool influence and, by proxy, ITF variability, these sections lack direct biogeographic and sedimentological evidence of the ITF. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 356 cored seven sites covering a latitudinal range of 29°S–18°S off the northwest coast of Australia to obtain a 5 My record of the ITF, Indo-Pacific Warm Pool, and climate evolution that has the potential to match orbital-scale deep-sea records in its resolution. The material recovered will allow us to describe the history of the Australian monsoon and its variability, a system whose genesis is thought to be related to the initiation of the East Asian monsoon and is hypothesized to have been in place since the Pliocene or earlier. It also will lead to a better understanding of the nature and timing of the development of aridity on the Australian continent. Detailed paleobathymetric and stratigraphic data from the transect will also allow subsidence curves to be constructed to constrain the spatial and temporal patterns of vertical motions caused by the interaction between plate motion and convection within the Earth’s mantle, known as dynamic topography. The northwest shelf is an ideal location to study this phenomenon because it is positioned on the fastest moving continent since the Eocene, on the edge of the degree 2 geoid anomaly. Accurate subsidence analyses over 10° of latitude can resolve whether northern Australia is moving with or over either a time-transient or long-term stationary downwelling within the mantle, thereby vastly improving our understanding of deep-Earth dynamics and their impact on surficial processes.
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Aridification of Northwest Australia and Nutrient Decline in the Timor Sea During the 40 Kyr World
Studying tropical hydroclimate and productivity change in the past is critical for understanding global climate dynamics. Northwest Australia is an ideal location for investigating Australian monsoon dynamics, the variability of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF), and their impact on past productivity and Pacific warm pool evolution, which remain poorly understood during the 40 kyr world in the mid‐early Pleistocene. In this study, we present multi‐proxy records from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1483 in the Timor Sea spanning the last 2,000 ka, including orbitally‐resolved records from the 40 kyr world between 2,000 and 1,300 ka. Our results suggest that northwest Australia underwent a step of increased aridification and that productivity in the Timor Sea declined during the transition from ∼1,700 to ∼1,400 ka. We attribute this aridification to the reduced moisture supply to this region caused by the ITF restriction and warm pool contraction. We ascribe the declined productivity to a decrease in the nutrient supply of the Pacific source water associated with global nutrient redistribution. At orbital timescale, multiple mechanisms, including sea level changes, monsoon, and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) dynamics, and variations in the ITF and Walker circulation could have controlled variations of productivity and terrigenous input in the Timor Sea during the 40 kyr world. Our bulk nitrogen and benthic carbon isotope records suggest a strong coupling to biogeochemical changes in the Pacific during this period. This research contributes to a better understanding of tropical hydroclimate and productivity changes during the 40 kyr world.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10470954
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
- Volume:
- 38
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2572-4517
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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null (Ed.)The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is a critical part of the global thermohaline conveyor. It plays a key role in transporting heat from the equatorial Pacific (the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool) to the Indian Ocean and exerts a major control on global climate. The complex tectonic history of the Indonesian archipelago, a result of continued northward motion and impingement of the Australasian plate into the southeast Asian part of the Eurasian plate, makes it difficult to reconstruct long-term (i.e., million year) ITF history from sites within the archipelago. The best areas to investigate ITF history are downstream in the Indian Ocean, either in the deep ocean away from strong tectonic deformation or along proximal passive margins that are directly under the influence of the ITF. Although previous Ocean Drilling Program and Deep Sea Drilling Project deepwater cores recovered in the Indian Ocean have been used to chart Indo-Pacific Warm Pool influence and, by proxy, ITF variability, these sections lack direct biogeographic and sedimentological evidence of the ITF. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 356 cored seven sites covering a latitudinal range of 29°S–18°S off the northwest coast of Australia to obtain a 5 My record of ITF, Indo-Pacific Warm Pool, and climate evolution that has the potential to match orbital-scale deep-sea records in its resolution. The material recovered will allow us to describe the history of the Australian monsoon and its variability, a system whose genesis is thought to be related to the initiation of the East Asian monsoon and is hypothesized to have been in place since the Pliocene or earlier. It also will lead to a better understanding of the nature and timing of the development of aridity on the Australian continent. Detailed paleobathymetric and stratigraphic data from the transect will also allow subsidence curves to be constructed to constrain the spatial and temporal patterns of vertical motions caused by the interaction between plate motion and convection within the Earth’s mantle, known as dynamic topography. The northwest shelf is an ideal location to study this phenomenon as it is positioned on the fastest moving continent since the Eocene, on the edge of the degree 2 geoid anomaly. Accurate subsidence analyses over 10° of latitude can resolve whether northern Australia is moving with or over either a time-transient or long-term stationary downwelling within the mantle, thereby vastly improving our understanding of deep-Earth dynamics and their impact on surficial processes.more » « less
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null (Ed.)The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is a critical part of the global thermohaline conveyor. It plays a key role in transporting heat from the equatorial Pacific (the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool) to the Indian Ocean and exerts a major control on global climate. The complex tectonic history of the Indonesian Archipelago, a result of continued northward motion and impingement of the Australasian Plate into the Southeast Asian part of the Eurasian Plate, makes it difficult to reconstruct long-term (i.e., million year) ITF history from sites within the archipelago. The best areas to investigate ITF history are downstream in the Indian Ocean, either in the deep ocean away from strong tectonic deformation or along proximal passive margins that are directly under the influence of the ITF. Although previous Ocean Drilling Program and Deep Sea Drilling Project deepwater cores recovered in the Indian Ocean have been used to chart Indo-Pacific Warm Pool influence and, by proxy, ITF variability, these sections lack direct biogeographic and sedimentological evidence of the ITF. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 356 will drill a transect of cores over 10° latitude on the northwest shelf (NWS) of Australia to obtain a 5 m.y. record of ITF, Indo-Pacific Warm Pool, and climate evolution that has the potential to match orbital-scale deep-sea records in its resolution. Coring the NWS will reveal a detailed shallow-water history of ITF variability and its relationship to climate. It will allow us to understand the history of the Australian monsoon and its variability, a system whose genesis is thought to be related to the initiation of the East Asian monsoon and is hypothesized to have been in place since the Pliocene or earlier. It also will lead to a better understanding of the nature and timing of the development of aridity on the Australian continent. Detailed paleobathymetric and stratigraphic data from the transect will also allow subsidence curves to be constructed to constrain the spatial and temporal patterns of vertical motions caused by the interaction between plate motion and convection within the Earth’s mantle, known as dynamic topography. The NWS is an ideal location to study this phenomenon because it is positioned on the fastest moving continent since the Eocene, on the edge of the degree two geoid anomaly. Accurate subsidence analyses over 10° of latitude can resolve whether northern Australia is moving with/over a time-transient or long-term stationary downwelling within the mantle, thereby vastly improving our understanding of deep-Earth dynamics and their impact on surficial processes.more » « less
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Abstract Salinity in the Indonesian seas integrates regional oceanographic and atmospheric processes, such as Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) and monsoon rainfall. Here we present a multicentury (1777–1983) δ18O coral record from Nightcliff Reef, located in the Timor Passage off the coast of northern Australia, which we use to infer local salinity change. We show that Australian monsoon rainfall and ITF influence salinity at the study site. These reconstructed salinity changes in the Timor Passage correlate with changes in Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) modes, including the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). While environmental stress creates challenging conditions for coral growth, this record particularly tracks the central Pacific signature of ENSO‐driven interannual variability, in agreement with reconstructions of rainfall across northern Australia. The strength of interannual variance in the record follows fluctuations in other local ENSO‐sensitive rainfall reconstructions, demonstrating a strong regional ENSO signature. However, this regional pattern differs from variance in composite ENSO reconstructions, suggesting that the multi‐site nature of these reconstructions may create biases. Salinity variability on decadal and longer time scales occurs throughout the record. Some of these oscillations are consistent with other ITF‐sensitive coral records. Our new salinity record adds a strongly Pacific‐sensitive record to the existing suite of regional paleoclimate reconstructions. Relationships among these records highlight the complexity of salinity in the Indonesian seas and the controls on its variability.
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Abstract We explore the response of northeastern Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) to deglacial (
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