Geochemical records provide evidences for the evolution of the marine redox environment in the southwestern Sumatra waters over the past 35,000 years

Abstract

The marine redox environment (MRE) can affect marine productivity and nutrient cycling, as well as governs material and energy transport. However, its evolution process and driving mechanism in different historical periods revealed significant regional characteristics. Southwestern Sumatra waters, located at the Indo-Pacific Ocean convergence, are an ideal region for studying the evolution of MRE due to significant upwelling and variable productivity levels resulting from the seasonal monsoonal activity. In this study, based on the sediment core SO184–10043, systematic trace element geochemical analysis was conducted for reconstructing the MRE over the past 35,000 years using redox proxies, namely, Ni/Co, U/Th, and biogenic Barium (Babio). Ni/Co and U/Th varied in a range of 1–4 and 0.2–1, indicating general oxic conditions with matching productivity levels indicated by Babio (ranging from 300 × 10–6 to 580 × 10–6). A comparison with other reconstructed archives indicated that the MRE records of the sediment core in this study were in consistence in responding to the high-latitude climate records with strong semi-precession and millennial fluctuations. Suggestively, these fluctuations correspond to the natural summertime insolation, triggering the latitudinal motions of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), as well as leading to corresponding changes in the seasonal Indian monsoon system. Freshwater lids modulate the mixing effect by acting as barriers and influencing the upwelling development, thereby leading to strong oxic conditions in the MRE. Therefore, robust evidence on the millennial-scale variability in MRE driven by the ITCZ movement and regional monsoon changes in the tropical Indian Ocean is provided by the trace element archives employed in the present study, thereby providing novel insights into the evolution of MRE in response to global and local climate changes.