The Influence of North Atlantic Valves and Gateways on Neogene Climate Change

Abstract:

Our current proxies for pCO₂ suggest Neogene levels were relatively constant (~300 ± 100 ppm) except for the middle Miocene Climatic Optimum with estimates approaching 400 ± 100 ppm. Yet, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet became a polar ice sheet and permanent feature on Earth while large-scale Northern Hemisphere ice sheets waxed and waned with scant differences in pCO₂. Three possibilities to explain these observations are: 1) our pCO₂ proxies are incorrect; 2) Earth’s climate is far more sensitive than our current model simulations suggest; or 3) tectonic differences overprinted accepted climate sensitivity to pCO₂.

Two marine gateways that influenced Neogene deep-water circulation are the Greenland-Scotland Ridge and the Central American Isthmus (CAI). Driven by mantle plume variations under Iceland, the GSR acted as a regulator of Northern Component Water (NCW, analogous to NADW) by controlling access to the dense polar waters to the north. During the latest Miocene and early Pliocene, mean depths along the GSR and NCW production were at their greatest. By the late Pliocene (~3 Ma), mantle plume activity increased and NCW production waned.

Most researchers have focused on surface water changes (e.g., salinity) in relating closure of the CAI to Pliocene climate change. However, I propose that its primary influence came with the elimination of low-latitude, deep-water connection between the Atlantic and Pacific. Combined with vigorous NCW production, closure of the CAI re-distributed nutrients between the oceans. Carbon isotope and Cd/Ca profiles indicate that “modern” basin-to-basin differences started during the latest Miocene and were fully developed in the Pliocene. The South Atlantic path for NCW also delivered heat to the Southern Ocean, facilitating sea ice changes, as indicated by biosiliceous patterns. These tectonic boundary changes and their affects on surface and deep water circulation contributed to the Pliocene pause in global cooling that began in the middle Miocene.