Deep-sea coral evidence for lower Southern Ocean surface nitrate concentrations during the last ice age

The Southern Ocean regulates the ocean’s biological sequestration of CO₂ and is widely suspected to underpin much of the ice age decline in atmospheric CO₂ concentration, but the specific changes in the region are debated. Although more complete drawdown of surface nutrients by phytoplankton during...

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Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2017-03, Vol.114 (13), p.3352-3357
Main Authors: Wang, Xingchen Tony, Sigman, Daniel M., Prokopenko, Maria G., Adkins, Jess F., Robinson, Laura F., Hines, Sophia K., Chai, Junyi, Studer, Anja S., Martínez-García, Alfredo, Chen, Tianyu, Haug, Gerald H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antarctic Regions
Anthozoa - chemistry
Anthozoa - metabolism
Atmosphere
Carbon dioxide
Carbon Dioxide - analysis
Carbon Dioxide - metabolism
Carbon sequestration
Coral reefs
Nitrates
Nitrates - analysis
Oceans and Seas
Physical Sciences
Phytoplankton - chemistry
Phytoplankton - metabolism
Plankton
Seawater - chemistry
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Summary:The Southern Ocean regulates the ocean’s biological sequestration of CO₂ and is widely suspected to underpin much of the ice age decline in atmospheric CO₂ concentration, but the specific changes in the region are debated. Although more complete drawdown of surface nutrients by phytoplankton during the ice ages is supported by some sediment core-based measurements, the use of different proxies in different regions has precluded a unified view of Southern Ocean biogeochemical change. Here, we report measurements of the 15N/14N of fossil-bound organic matter in the stony deepsea coral Desmophyllum dianthus, a tool for reconstructing surface ocean nutrient conditions. The central robust observation is of higher 15N/14N across the Southern Ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 18–25 thousand years ago. These data suggest a reduced summer surface nitrate concentration in both the Antarctic and Subantarctic Zones during the LGM, with little surface nitrate transport between them. After the ice age, the increase in Antarctic surface nitrate occurred through the deglaciation and continued in the Holocene. The rise in Subantarctic surface nitrate appears to have had both early deglacial and late deglacial/Holocene components, preliminarily attributed to the end of Subantarctic iron fertilization and increasing nitrate input from the surface Antarctic Zone, respectively.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1615718114