Planktic foraminiferal and sea surface temperature record during the last 1 Myr across the Subtropical Front, Southwest Pacific

Abstract

Planktic foraminiferal faunas and modern analogue technique estimates of sea surface temperature (SST) for the last 1 million years (Myr) are compared between core sites to the north (ODP 1125, 178 faunas) and south (DSDP 594, 374 faunas) of the present location of the Subtropical Front (STF), east of New Zealand. Faunas beneath cool subtropical water (STW) north of the STF are dominated by dextral Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, Globorotalia inflata, and Globigerina bulloides, whereas faunas to the south are strongly dominated by sinistral N. pachyderma (80–95% in glacials), with increased G. bulloides (20–50%) and dextral N. pachyderma (15–50%) in interglacials (beneath Subantarctic Water, or SAW). Canonical correspondence analysis indicates that at both sites, SST and related factors were the most important environmental influences on faunal composition. Greater climate-related faunal fluctuations occur in the south. Significant faunal changes occur through time at both sites, particularly towards the end of the mid-Pleistocene climate transition, MIS18–15 (e.g., decline of Globorotalia crassula in STW, disappearance of Globorotalia puncticulata in SAW), and during MIS8–5. Interglacial SST estimates in the north are similar to the present day throughout the last 1 Myr. To the south, interglacial SSTs are more variable with peaks 4–7 °C cooler than present through much of the early and middle Pleistocene, but in MIS11, MIS5.5, and early MIS1, peaks are estimated to have been 2–4 °C warmer than present. These high temperatures are attributed to southward spread of the STF across the submarine Chatham Rise, along which the STF appears to have been dynamically positioned throughout most of the last 1 Myr. For much of the last 1 Myr, glacial SST estimates in the north were only 1–2 °C cooler than the present interglacial, except in MIS16, MIS8, MIS6, and MIS4–2 when estimates are 4–7 °C cooler. These cooler temperatures are attributed to jetting of SAW through the Mernoo Saddle (across the Chatham Rise) and/or waning of the STW current. To the south, glacial SST estimates were consistently 10–11 °C cooler than present, similar to temperatures and faunas currently found in the vicinity of the Polar Front. One interpretation is that these cold temperatures reflect thermocline changes and increased Circumpolar Surface Water spinning off the Subantarctic Front as an enhanced Bounty Gyre along the south side of the Chatham Rise. For most of the last 1 Myr, the temperature gradient across the STF has been considerably greater than the present 4 °C. During glacial episodes, the STF in this region did not migrate northwards, but instead there was an intensification of the temperature gradient across it (interglacials 4–11 °C; glacials 8–14 °C).