Climate, cryosphere and carbon cycle controls on Southeast Atlantic orbital-scale carbonate deposition since the Oligocene (30–0 Ma)

Abstract

The evolution of the Cenozoic cryosphere from unipolar to bipolar over the past 30 million years (Myr) is broadly known. Highly resolved records of carbonate (CaCO3) content provide insight into the evolution of regional and global climate, cryosphere, and carbon cycle dynamics. Here, we generate the first Southeast Atlantic CaCO3 content record spanning the last 30 Myr, derived from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) ln(Ca / Fe) data collected at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1264 (Walvis Ridge, SE Atlantic Ocean). We present a comprehensive and continuous depth and age model for the entirety of Site 1264 (∼ 316 m; 30 Myr). This constitutes a key reference framework for future palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic studies at this location. We identify three phases with distinctly different orbital controls on Southeast Atlantic CaCO3 deposition, corresponding to major developments in climate, the cryosphere and the carbon cycle: (1) strong ∼ 110 kyr eccentricity pacing prevails during Oligocene–Miocene global warmth (∼ 30–13 Ma), (2) increased eccentricity-modulated precession pacing appears after the middle Miocene Climate Transition (mMCT) (∼ 14–8 Ma), and (3) pervasive obliquity pacing appears in the late Miocene (∼ 7.7–3.3 Ma) following greater importance of high-latitude processes, such as increased glacial activity and high-latitude cooling. The lowest CaCO3 content (92 %–94 %) occurs between 18.5 and 14.5 Ma, potentially reflecting dissolution caused by widespread early Miocene warmth and preceding Antarctic deglaciation across the Miocene Climatic Optimum (∼ 17–14.5 Ma) by 1.5 Myr. The emergence of precession pacing of CaCO3 deposition at Site 1264 after ∼ 14 Ma could signal a reorganisation of surface and/or deep-water circulation in this region following Antarctic reglaciation at the mMCT. The increased sensitivity to precession at Site 1264 between 14 and 13 Ma is associated with an increase in mass accumulation rates (MARs) and reflects increased regional CaCO3 productivity and/or recurrent influxes of cooler, less corrosive deep waters. The highest carbonate content (%CaCO3) and MARs indicate that the late Miocene–early Pliocene Biogenic Bloom (LMBB) occurs between ∼ 7.8 and 3.3 Ma at Site 1264; broadly contemporaneous with the LMBB in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. At Site 1264, the onset of the LMBB roughly coincides with appearance of strong obliquity pacing of %CaCO3, reflecting increased high-latitude forcing. The global expression of the LMBB may reflect increased nutrient input into the global ocean resulting from enhanced aeolian dust and/or glacial/chemical weathering fluxes, due to enhanced glacial activity and increased meridional temperature gradients. Regional variability in the timing and amplitude of the LMBB may be driven by regional differences in cooling, continental aridification and/or changes in ocean circulation in the late Miocene.