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Science 21 November 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5342, pp. 1451 - 1454
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5342.1451
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Reports

Insolation Cycles as a Major Control of Equatorial Indian Ocean Primary Production

Luc Beaufort, * Yves Lancelot, Pierre Camberlin, Olivia Cayre, Edith Vincent, Franck Bassinot, Laurent Labeyrie

Analysis of a continuous sedimentary record taken in the Maldives indicates that strong primary production fluctuations (70 to 390 grams of carbon per square meter per year) have occurred in the equatorial Indian Ocean during the past 910,000 years. The record of primary production is coherent and in phase with the February equatorial insolation, whereas it shows diverse phase behavior with delta 18O, depending on the orbital frequency (eccentricity, obliquity, or precession) examined. These observations imply a direct control of productivity in the equatorial oceanic system by insolation. In the equatorial Indian Ocean, productivity is driven by the wind intensity of westerlies, which is related to the Southern Oscillation; therefore, it is suggested that a precession forcing on the Southern Oscillation is responsible for the observed paleoproductivity dynamics.

L. Beaufort, Y. Lancelot, O. Cayre, E. Vincent, Laboratoire de Géologie du Quaternaire du CNRS, CEREGE, Boite Postale 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France.
P. Camberlin, Centre de Recherches de Climatologie, Université de Bourgogne, Boite Postale 138, 21004 Dijon Cedex, France.
F. Bassinot and L. Labeyrie, Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, CNRS-CEA, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: beaufort{at}cerege.fr

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