Diatom response to oceanographic and climatic changes in the Congo fan area, equatorial Atlantic Ocean, during the last 190ka BP
Langue
EN
Article de revue
Ce document a été publié dans
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 2017-03, vol. 469, p. 47 - 59
Résumé en anglais
Changes in siliceous productivity in the eastern Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, off the Western Africanmargin, over the last several glacial cycles have been either related to global-to-regional oceanographicchanges (upwelling ...Lire la suite >
Changes in siliceous productivity in the eastern Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, off the Western Africanmargin, over the last several glacial cycles have been either related to global-to-regional oceanographicchanges (upwelling intensity) or climate changes (precipitation and river discharge). Based on diatomassemblages in core KZAI-02, located to the south of the mouth of the Congo River, integrated with aselection of geochemical proxies, we show that siliceous productivity in the southeastern Angola Basinresponded to non-linear interactions between both oceanographic and climate changes over the last190,000 years. High diatom accumulation rates were recorded in the middle part of MIS 6, in coldsubstage MIS 5d and in MIS 3-2. During these intervals, high diatom productivity was sustainedessentially by nutrients, including dissolved silica, injected by the Congo River into the ocean. Thehighest productivity was observed during MIS 3, when nutrients were sourced both from the river andregional upwelling. Low diatom accumulation rates were recorded during early and late MIS 6, MIS 5e,early MIS 4 and during the Holocene. These resulted either from low river discharge and overall lownutrient stocks in the Angola Basin (despite evidence for upwelling) or from extremely high riverdischarge. In the case of the latter, the terrigenous load drastically increased the turbidity of the surfacewaters in the southeastern Angola Basin and lowered phytoplankton productivity despite the presenceof sufficient dissolved silica< Réduire
Mots clés en anglais
Diatoms
Productivity
Late quaternary
Millennial time scale
Congo fan area