Evolution and dynamics of the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone: Understanding the paradoxes

Abstract

The Arabian Sea hosts a perennial and intense oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) at 150–1200 m depths with O₂ concentrations <0.5 ml/l. It is generally believed that the oxygen-depleted conditions at mid-water depths result from high rate of O₂ consumption due to monsoon-driven productivity generating a high organic matter flux, combined with slow renewal of thermocline waters in the region. With global warming and increasing hypoxia, there is growing interest to better understand the various factors controlling oxygen conditions in the thermocline waters and the impact on the nutrient cycling and climate. In this contribution, we provide an overview of new advances in understanding the basin-wide changes of the OMZ, and highlight new perspectives on the relative roles of ocean and atmospheric circulations in modulating the OMZ intensity through the late glacial-Holocene period. Comprehension of the existing and new proxy records (δ¹⁵N, aragonite preservation, δ¹³C of benthic foraminifera) from the productive western and oligotrophic eastern and north-eastern Arabian Sea provides insights into the regional heterogeneity in basin-wide changes of the OMZ, denitrification and carbonate (aragonite) lysocline, and their links to the seasonal monsoon variability and reorganisation of thermocline circulation. We also highlight the limitations of the existing proxy data to address the important questions of how circulation and chemical properties of intermediate/deep water masses contributing to the Arabian Sea thermocline waters changed in the past. Hence, more detailed proxy data are required to characterise sources of water masses, past changes in their pathways and vertical extents in the Arabian Sea, which are crucial to better constrain the temporal evolution of thermocline ventilation basin-wide.