Late Miocene carbon isotope records and marine biological productivity: Was there a (dusty) link?

Abstract

We examine whether or not a relationship exists between the late Miocene carbon isotope shift (∼7.6–6.6 Ma) and marine productivity at four sites from the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Ocean Drilling Program Sites 721, 1146, 1172, and 846). We use a multiproxy approach based on benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates, elemental ratios, and dissolution indices, and we compare these data to benthic foraminiferal δ13C values measured on the same samples. Although some of these sites have been targeted previously in studies of either the late Miocene/early Pliocene “biogenic bloom” (Sites 721 and 846) or the late Miocene carbon isotope shift (Site 1172), our records are the first to establish paired proxy records of carbon isotopes and paleoproductivity allowing a direct assessment of a potential link. Our results indicate that at all sites, productivity increased sometime during the δ13C shift; at three sites (721, 1146, and 846), productivity increased at the beginning of the shift. The correlation coefficients derived from linear regression between micropaleontologically derived productivity and foraminiferal δ13C values are relatively high during the time interval containing the late Miocene δ13C shift (and statistically significant at three of the sites). Carbon flux and isotope mass balance considerations illustrate that transfer of organic matter between the terrestrial and marine reservoirs together with enhanced oceanic upwelling best approximates observed changes in carbon isotope records and paleoproductivity. We note that long‐term trend in the Site 846 paleoproductivity record can be correlated to the long‐term trend in the Site 848 eolian flux reconstructions of Hovan (1995) hinting at a link between strengthened wind regime and productivity during the late Miocene.