Graduation Year
2006
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.S.
Degree Granting Department
Marine Science
Major Professor
Benjamin P. Flower, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Terrence M. Quinn, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Michael Howell, Ph.D.
Keywords
climate change, sea surface temperature variability, freshwater floods
Abstract
Sediment core MD02-2550 from Orca Basin located in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) provides a high-resolution early Holocene record of climatic and hydrologic changes from ~10.5 to 7 thousand calendar years before present (ka). Paired analyses of Mg/Ca and δ18O on the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber (white variety, 250-355 µm) sampled at ~ 20 year resolution were used to generate proxy records of sea surface temperature (SST) and the δ18O of seawater in the GOM (δ18OGOM). The Mg/Ca-SST record contains an overall ~1.5 °C warming trend from 10.5 to 7 ka that appears to track the intensity of the annual insolation cycle and six temperature oscillations (0.5-2 °C), the frequency of which are consistent with those found in records of solar variability. The δ18OGOM record contains six ~ 0.5 ‰ oscillations from 10.5 to 7 ka that bear some resemblance to regional hydrologic records from Haiti and the Cariaco Basin, plus a -0.8 ‰ excursion that may be associated with the “8.2 ka event” recorded in Greenland air temperatures. The δ18OGOM record, if interpreted as a salinity proxy, suggest large salinity fluctuations (> 2 ‰) reflecting changes in evaporation-precipitation (E-P) and Mississippi River input to the GOM. Percent Globigerinoides sacculifer records from three cores in the GOM exhibit remarkably coherent changes, suggesting episodic v centennial-scale incursions of Caribbean waters. Spectral analysis of the Mg/Ca-SST and the δ18OGOM time series indicate that surface water conditions may be influenced by solar variations because they share significant periods of variability with atmospheric ∆ 14C near 700, 200, and 80-70 years. Our results add to the growing body of evidence that the sub-tropics were characterized by significant decadal to centennial-scale climatic and hydrologic variability during the early Holocene.
Scholar Commons Citation
LoDico, Jenna Meredith, "Sub-Centennial Scale Climatic and Hydrologic Variability in the Gulf of Mexico during the Early Holocene" (2006). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/3867
