Quantitative planktonic foraminifers taphonomy and palaeoceanographic implications over the last 1 My from IODP Sites U1436 and U1437

Abstract

Abstract International Ocean Discovery Program Sites U1437 and U1436, two intermediate water depth sites located near the Kuroshio Current were studied for planktonic proxies, shell weights, percent fragments, foraminifers concentrations, and benthic/planktonic ratios. Over the last 1 My, the foraminifers assemblages responded to local temperature changes. The taphonomy of these assemblages limits their usefulness as palaeoclimatic records but greatly inform qualitatively of intermediate water mass changes on each side of the Izu Rise. Carbonate dissolution (CD) is pervasive and always more intense during interglacials at the shallowest Site U1436 to the East. Carbonate preservation improved during glacials after 0.6 Ma at U1437B (West) likely signaling changes within the glacial Antarctic Intermediate Water and therefore, its source water the Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water from Marine Isotope Stage 16. The first occurrence of a very large Laurentide ice-sheet at the time is proposed as a potential indirect cause for this observation. Both the intensification of carbonate dissolution during each interglacials from MIS17 onwards and the better preservation during succeeding glacials after that are attributed to the increasing influence of the North Atlantic Deep Water and the Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water via the Antarctic Intermediate Water during Interglacial and Glacial intervals, respectively.