Particulate δ15N in laminated marine sediments as a proxy for mixing between the California Undercurrent and the California Current: A proof of concept

Abstract

AbstractThe measurements of particulate δ15N in coastal marine laminated sediments provide a high‐resolution proxy for fluctuations in the intensity of denitrification in the water column. In the eastern tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone, this denitrification signal is transported northward by the California Undercurrent, thus serving as a tracer of ocean circulation. This is verified through comparisons between salinity in the thermocline off Southern California (Santa Monica Basin) and the difference between δ15Nsed within age equivalent sediments from a southern (Pescadero Slope) and northern (Santa Monica Basin) site. Trends in this parameter, Δδ15Nsed, relate to Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase changes between 1900 and 1990. We hypothesize that the decline in Δδ15Nsed during warm PDO phases is due to a strengthening of the California Undercurrent transporting 15N‐enriched nitrate from the eastern tropical North Pacific northward. The deviation from this trend after 1990 suggests recent changes in circulation and/or California Current water nutrient biogeochemistry.