1400 yr multiproxy record of climate variability from the northern Gulf of Mexico

J.N. Richey; R.Z. Poore; B.P. Flower; T. M. Quinn

doi:10.1130/g23507a.1

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1400 yr multiproxy record of climate variability from the northern Gulf of Mexico

J.N. Richey·R.Z. Poore·B.P. Flower·T. M. Quinn

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Abstract

A continuous decadal-scale resolution record of climate variability over the past 1400 yr in the northern Gulf of Mexico was constructed from a box core recovered in the Pigmy Basin, northern Gulf of Mexico. Proxies include paired analyses of Mg/Ca and δ 18 O in the white variety of the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber and relative abundance variations of G. sacculifer in the foraminifer assemblages. Two multi-decadal intervals of sustained high Mg/Ca indicate that Gulf of Mexico sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were as warm or warmer than near-modern conditions between 1000 and 1400 yr B.P. Foraminiferal Mg/Ca during the coolest interval of the Little Ice Age (ca. 250 yr B.P.) indicate that SST was 2–2.5 °C below modern SST. Four minima in the Mg/Ca record between 900 and 250 yr B.P. correspond with the Maunder, Spörer, Wolf, and Oort sunspot minima, suggesting a link between changes in solar insolation and SST variability in the Gulf of Mexico. An abrupt shift recorded in both δ 18 O calcite and relative abundance of G. sacculifer occurred ca. 600 yr B.P. The shift in the Pigmy Basin record corresponds with a shift in the sea-salt-sodium (ssNa) record from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 ice core, linking changes in high-latitude atmospheric circulation with the subtropical Atlantic Ocean.

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Geology Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 18.18° to 30.4° latitude; -97.86° to -81.04° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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BibTeX RIS

J.N. Richey, R.Z. Poore, B.P. Flower, T. M. Quinn. 2007. 1400 yr multiproxy record of climate variability from the northern Gulf of Mexico. https://doi.org/10.1130/g23507a.1

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