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Science 19 November 1982:
Vol. 218. no. 4574, pp. 784 - 787
DOI: 10.1126/science.218.4574.784
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Articles

Deep Circulation of the North Atlantic over the Last 200,000 Years: Geochemical Evidence

EDWARD A. BOYLE 1 and LLOYD D. KEIGWIN 2

1 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139
2 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

Variations in the cadmium/calcium ratio of North Atlantic Deep Water are recorded in the fossil shells of benthic foraminifera. The oceanic distribution of cadmium is similar to that of the nutrients, hence the cadmium/calcium ratio in shells records temporal variations in nutrient distributions. Data from a North Atlantic sediment core show that over the past 200,000 years there has been a continuous supply of nutrient-depleted waters into the deep North Atlantic. The intensity of this source relative to nutrient-enriched southern waters diminished by about a factor of 2 during severe glaciations. This evidence combined with carbon isotope data indicates that the continental carbon inventory may have been less variable than previously suggested.

Submitted on February 8, 1982
Revised on July 15, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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The U-series Toolbox for Paleoceanography.
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Trace element variations in coeval Holocene speleothems from GB Cave, southwest England.
M. S. Roberts, M. S. Roberts, P. L. Smart, C. J. Hawkesworth, W. T. Perkins, and N. J.G. Pearce (1999)
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Deep-Sea Coral Evidence for Rapid Change in Ventilation of the Deep North Atlantic 15,400 Years Ago.
J. F. Adkins, H. Cheng, E. A. Boyle, E. R. Druffel, and R. L. Edwards (1998)
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Characteristics of the deep ocean carbon system during the past 150,000 years: Sigma CO2 distributions, deep water flow patterns, and abrupt climate change.
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Temporal variation in intensity of upwelling off southwest Africa.
W. W. Hay and J. C. Brock (1992)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 64, 463-497
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Quaternary Deepwater Paleoceanography.
E. A. Boyle and E. A. Boyle (1990)
Science 249, 863-870
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North-east Atlantic Neogene benthic foraminiferal faunas: tracers of deep-water palaeoceanography.
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Geological Society, London, Special Publications 21, 191-203
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