Description
- Abstract:
- This work presents novel Miocene – Pliocene (13 - 2.6 Ma) sea surface temperatures (SST) from the Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic, South Atlantic and North Pacific. The focus of this research is to contextualize major terrestrial evolutionary transitions for this time period in the framework of emerging Northern Hemisphere glaciation. The SSTs show a unique perspective into the warmth and temperature dynamics of the Late Miocene, which is not available via pre-existing, published records. In this work we present the first continuous SST record from the Monte dei Corvi Mediterranean section obtained through alkenone paleothermometry. We extended the use of the alkenone proxy into Late Miocene uplifted sections in order to capitalize on the Mediterranean’s sensitivity to continental climate. The Mediterranean SSTs bridge global continental biome shifts and temperature decrease in the Late Miocene. We found that the temperature trends we first reconstructed in the Mediterranean can be traced globally with the SSTs we reconstructed in the North Atlantic (ODP Sites 907, 982), South Atlantic (ODP Site 1088) and North Pacific (ODP Sites 883/884, 887) and likely represent a prelude to glaciation during a warm period that predates large-scale glacial-interglacial cycles. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that the first record of Late Miocene Mediterranean SST significantly revises the timing of Mediterranean salinity increase related to the desiccation of the basin at 5.9 Ma. The reconstructions show that Mediterranean salinity increased significantly above the Late Miocene mean after 6.7 Ma and not earlier as previously suggested by other authors. Lastly, this work traces and compares SST between the Gulf of Cadiz (IODP Site U1387) and the Mediterranean Sea in the Pliocene in order to address the temperature component of the Mediterranean-Atlantic connection prior to large-scale Northern Hemisphere glaciation. The purpose of the comparison is to reconstruct the temperature component of density of Mediterranean inflow and outflow, which can have broad reaching implications for global thermohaline circulation.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2015)
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Citation
Tzanova, Alexandrina,
"Linking Late Miocene-Pliocene sea surface temperatures, terrestrial biome transitions and intensification of glaciation using alkenone paleothermometry"
(2015).
Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0474884
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Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences department....