Multi-proxy estimates of sea surface temperature and CO2 in the western
Atlantic during the Late Miocene
Abstract
Reconstructing atmospheric CO2 concentration in the Late Miocene is
crucial for understanding the relationship between greenhouse gas
concentrations and climate change in a warmer-than-modern world. Both
δ11B-based and alkenone-ep-based CO2 estimates feature uncertainties due
to poorly constrained past seawater chemistry, and algal physiological
processes, respectively. Additionally, both proxies estimate
CO2[aq], so they require reliable surface ocean temperatures to
calculate solubility and atmospheric CO2. To evaluate proxy coherence,
in this study we generate new records of alkenone ep and δ11B, from the
western Tropical Atlantic ODP Site 926 during the Late Miocene. We
provide surface ocean temperature estimates from coccolith clumped
isotope thermometry, alkenone undersaturation ratios, and planktonic
foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios. The warm temperatures estimated from our new
clumped isotope records, together with alkenone temperatures
>29°C, confirm warm tropics, and provide constraints on the
assumptions of seawater Mg/Ca and dissolution corrections for
foraminiferal Mg/Ca SST estimates. The new alkenone ep CO2 estimates at
926 yield generally similar CO2 as the new and published δ11B-based CO2
records for the site, and are similar to published alkenone ep CO2
records from the South Atlantic ODP Site 1088. However, over the 7.3 to
7.8 Ma interval, the CO2 values from ep are lower than other records. We
evaluate which proxy indicators can best predict variations in algal
physiology which may bias the ep-based CO2 reconstructions in this
interval at Site 926.