Neodymium isotopic composition of intermediate and deep waters in the glacial southwest Pacific

Abstract

Neodymium (Nd) isotopes, tracers of deep water mass source and mixing, were measured on sedimentary planktic foraminifera with authigenic coatings from a depth-transect of cores (1400–4800 m) from Chatham Rise in the southwest Pacific, over the past 30 ka. We observe deglacial variations in the Nd isotopic composition, which showed an average glacial composition of εNd=−5.0 (1σ; ±0.3n=4) for cores sites below 3200 mbsl. No significant deglacial variation was observed in the Nd isotopic composition of intermediate depth waters (1400 mbsl), in contrast with benthic foraminifera δC13 data. The deglacial εNd shift of CDW in the southwest Pacific is consistent with changes observed in the deep South Atlantic and Equatorial Indian Ocean, but εNd values are offset by ∼1εNd-unit to more radiogenic values throughout the deglacial records, likely due to admixture of a Nd isotope signal which was modified in the Southern Ocean or Pacific, perhaps by boundary exchange. However, this modification did not overprint the deglacial Nd isotope change. The consistent deglacial evolution of εNd in the South Atlantic, Equatorial Indian and southwest Pacific CDW, is evidence for the connection of CDW during the glacial, and propagation of diminished North Atlantic Deep Water export to the glacial Southern Ocean. In contrast, spatial heterogeneities in the benthic foraminifera δC13 of CDW have been observed in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific basins of the deep glacial Southern Ocean. The Nd isotope data implies a well-connected deep Southern Ocean, which transported waters from the Atlantic to the Indian and Pacific oceans, during the glacial. This suggests that basin-scale variability in the glacial δC13 composition of CDW was unrelated to circulation changes.