Export production and terrigenous matter in the Central Equatorial Pacific Ocean during interglacial oxygen isotope Stage 11

This study addresses changes in the absolute magnitude and spatial geometry of particle flux and export production in a meridional transect across the central equatorial Pacific Ocean's upwelling system during oxygen isotope Stage II and Stage 12 and compares these time periods to the current Holocene interglacial system. Temporal and spatial variability in several chemical proxies of export production, and in particular the distributions of Ba, scavenged Al, and P, are studied in a suite of sediment cores gathered along a cross-equator transect at 5 degrees S, 2 degrees S, 0 degrees, 2 degrees N, and 4 degrees N. Because this latitudinal range preserves strong gradients in biogenic particle flux in the modern equatorial Pacific Ocean, we are able to assess variations in the relative magnitude of export production as well as the meridional width of the equatorial system through the late Quaternary glacial/interglacial cycles. During interglacial oxygen isotope Stage Ii the chemical proxies each indicate lower particle flux and export production than during Stage 12. These records are consistent throughout the transect during this time period, but geographic narrowing (during the interglacial) and widening (during the glacial) of the meridional gradient also occurs. Although carbonate concentration varies dramatically through glacial/interglacial cycles at all latitudes studied, the productivity proxies record only minimal glacial/interglacial change at 5 degrees S and 4 degrees N, indicating that the carbonate minima at these latitudes is controlled dominantly by dissolution rather than production. The chemical data indicate that although the spatial geometry of the system during Stages 11 and 12 indicates maximum productivity at the equator during both glacial and interglacial conditions, the absolute magnitude of export production integrated from 5 degrees S to 4 degrees N during Stage 11 was 25-50% less than during Stage 12, and also was 25-50% less than it is now. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.