Coeval Decline of Biological Productivity and Bottom-water Oxygenation
in EEP Ocean Recorded by Magnetofossils during the Antarctic Glaciation
Abstract
The biological pump and deep-ocean ventilation in eastern equatorial
Pacific (EEP) Ocean are thought to play a crucial role in cases of
global CO2 change. However, the integral role of these two processes in
regulating atmospheric CO2 perturbations over major climate transitions
are still unknown. Here, we present the magnetofossil record in EEP
sediments from Sites 1333 and 1218 across the Eocene-Oligocene
Transition (EOT) when the major ice-sheet was first established on
Antarctica. We find that the EEP dust fertilization and bottom-water
oxygenation were well co-archived by magnetofossil in characteristics of
abundance and morphology, respectively. Our observations show a coeval
decline of EEP biological productivity and deep-ocean ventilation during
the Antarctic glacial expansion, and suggest that the reduced deep-ocean
ventilation contributed to the global CO2 decline across the EOT,
whereas the superimposed biological pump action provided a negative
(stabilizing) feedback in the meantime.