A 0.6 million year record of millennial‐scale climate variability in the tropics

Abstract

AbstractA ~600 kyr long scanning X‐ray fluorescence record of redox variability from the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, provides insight into rapid climate change in the tropics over the past five glacial‐interglacial cycles. Variations in the sediment accumulation of the redox‐sensitive element molybdenum (Mo) can be linked to changes in Intertropical Convergence Zone migration and reveal that millennial‐scale variability is a persistent feature of tropical climate over the past 600 kyr, including during periods of interglacial warmth. This new record supports the idea that high‐frequency tropical climate variability is not controlled solely by ice volume changes, with implications for the role of high‐latitude forcing of Intertropical Convergence Zone position and tropical hydrology on millennial timescales.