Deglacial Millennial-scale Calcium Carbonate Spikes in the North Pacific Ocean

Abstract:

Numerous paleoproxy records from the subarctic Pacific Ocean show two very pronounced deglacial peaks in calcium carbonate content for the Heinrich 1/ Bolling-Allerod (H1-BA) transition (at 14 ka) and for the Younger Dryas/Preboreal transition (at 11 ka). Focusing on the H1-BA transition, some model simulations capture the North Pacific shift from ventilated to stratified conditions and from cooling to warming conditions via oceanic and atmospheric connections between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. To test the impact of these physical scenarios (variations in ocean stratification and temperature during the H1-BA transition) on calcite production or preservation, we conduct a series of idealized experiments using the Earth System Model Intermediate Complexity LOVECLIM. The variations in North Pacific Ocean stratification by anomalous freshwater forcing show low calcite productivity in associated with the subsurface nutrient decline. On the other hand, the rapid H1-BA warming of the North Pacific Ocean induced by anomalous heat forcing in turn increases calcite productivity due to the temperature-dependent growth rate of phytoplankton. These results suggest the possibility that the millennial-scale calcium carbonate peaks are the result of surface biogeochemical responses to the climate transition, not by the deep circulation response.