Response of deep ocean circulation to initiation of northern hemisphere glaciation (3–2 MA)

Abstract

Carbon isotopic records from benthic foraminifera are used to map patterns of deep ocean circulation between 3 and 2 million years ago, the interval when significant northern hemisphere glaciation began. The δ18O and δ13C data from four Atlantic sites (552, 607, 610, and 704) and one Pacific site (677) show that global cooling over this interval was associated with increased suppression of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation. However, the relative strength of NADW production was always greater than is observed during late Pleistocene glaciations when extreme decreases in NADW are observed in the deep North Atlantic. Our data indicate that an increase in the equator‐to‐pole temperature gradient associated with the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation did not intensify deepwater production in the North Atlantic but rather the opposite occurred. This is not unexpected as it is the “warm high‐salinity” characteristic, rather than the “low temperature,” of thermocline waters that is critical to the deepwater formation process in this region today.