Carbon Isotopic Excursions Associated with the Mid-Pleistocene Transition and the Mid-Brunhes Transition

Abstract:

During the last 2 Myr, the climate system experienced two major transitions in variability: the mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT), which represents a shift from dominant low-amplitude 41-kyr frequencies to dominant high-amplitude 100-kyr frequencies, and the mid-Brunhes Transition (MBT), which represents an increase in the amplitude of the 100-kyr frequency. While the MPT and MBT are typically identified in the benthic marine δ¹⁸O stack, their expression in other components of the climate system is less clear. Pleistocene δ¹³C records have been used to characterize climate and ocean circulation changes in response to orbital forcing, but these studies have used either a limited number of records or stacked data sets, which have the potential to bias the variability from the large number of young records. Here we present those existing δ¹³C data sets (n=18) that completely span these transitions. We use empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) on these continuous data sets rather than stacking, allowing the determination of the dominant modes of variability and characterization of the time-frequency variation during the last 2 Myr. Our results identify two substantial carbon isotopic excursions. The first is a pronounced negative excursion during the MPT (~900 ka, MIS 23) that stands out as the strongest minimum in the last 2 Myr (previously identified from five records by Raymo et al., 1997). Corresponding ε_Nd data from the South Atlantic suggest a strong weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation through the MIS 23 interglacial associated with this excursion. The second is a robust positive excursion ~530 ka (MIS 13), prior to the MBT (MIS 11), which stands out as the strongest maximum in the last 2 Myr. Possible causes of these excursions will be discussed.