Precession-driven changes in Iceland–Scotland Overflow Water penetration and bottom water circulation on Gardar Drift since ~ 200 ka

© The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 440 (2015): 561-563, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.09.042.Benthic foraminiferal stable isotopic records from a transect of sediment cores south of the Iceland-Scotland Ridge reveal that the penetration depth of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) varied on orbital timescales with precessional pacing over the past ~ 200 kyr. Similar, higher benthic foraminiferal δ13 C values (~ 1.0 ‰) were recorded at all transect sites downstream of the Iceland-Scotland Ridge during interglacial periods (Marine Isotope Chrons 5 and 1), indicating a deeply penetrating ISOW. During glacial periods (Marine Isotope Chrons 6, 4, and 2), benthic foraminiferal δ13C values from the deeper (2700-3300 m), southern sites within this transect were significantly lower (~ 0.5 ‰) than values from the northern (shallower) portion of the transect (~ 1.0 ‰), reflecting a shoaling of ISOW and greater influence of glacial Southern Component Water (SCW) in the deep Northeast Atlantic. Particularly during intermediate climate states, ISOW strength is driven by precesional cycles, superimposed on the large-scale glacial-interglacial ISOW variability. Millennial-scale variability in the penetration of ISOW, likely caused by high-frequency Heinrich and Dansgaard-Oeschger Events, is most pronounced during intermediate climate states.This research was supported by National Science Foundation grant OCE-0095219 to J.D. Wright2016-10-0

Insensitivity of alkenone carbon isotopes to atmospheric CO₂ at low to moderate CO₂ levels

Atmospheric pCO2 is a critical component of the global carbon system and is considered to be the major control of Earth’s past, present and future climate. Accurate and precise reconstructions of its concentration through geological time are, therefore, crucial to our understanding of the Earth system. Ice core records document pCO2 for the past 800 kyrs, but at no point during this interval were CO2 levels higher than today. Interpretation of older pCO2 has been hampered by discrepancies during some time intervals between two of the main ocean-based proxy methods used to reconstruct pCO2: the carbon isotope fractionation that occurs during photosynthesis as recorded by haptophyte biomarkers (alkenones) and the boron isotope composition (δ11B) of foraminifer shells. Here we present alkenone and δ11B-based pCO2 reconstructions generated from the same samples from the Plio-Pleistocene at ODP Site 999 across a glacial-interglacial cycle. We find a muted response to pCO2 in the alkenone record compared to contemporaneous ice core and δ11B records, suggesting caution in the interpretation of alkenone-based records at low pCO2 levels. This is possibly caused by the physiology of CO2 uptake in the haptophytes. Our new understanding resolves some of the inconsistencies between the proxies and highlights that caution may be required when interpreting alkenone-based reconstructions of pCO2

A record of Neogene seawater δ11B reconstructed from paired δ11B analyses on benthic and planktic foraminifera

The work was supported by NERC grants NE/I006176/1 (Gavin L. Foster and Caroline H. Lear), NE/H006273/1 (Gavin L. Foster), NE/I006168/1 and NE/K014137/1 and a Royal Society Research Merit Award (Paul A. Wilson), a NERC Independent Research Fellowship NE/K00901X/1 (Mathis P. Hain) and a NERC studentship (Rosanna Greenop).The boron isotope composition (δ11B) of foraminiferal calcite reflects the pH and the boron isotope composition of the seawater the foraminifer grew in. For pH reconstructions, the δ11B of seawater must therefore be known, but information on this parameter is limited. Here we reconstruct Neogene seawater δ11B based on the δ11B difference between paired measurements of planktic and benthic foraminifera and an estimate of the coeval water column pH gradient from their δ13C values. Carbon cycle model simulations underscore that the ΔpH-Δδ13C relationship is relatively insensitive to ocean and carbon cycle changes, validating our approach. Our reconstructions suggest that δ11Bsw was ∼37.5‰ during the early and middle Miocene (roughly 23-12 Ma) and rapidly increased during the late Miocene (between 12 and 5 Ma) towards the modern value of 39.61 ‰. Strikingly, this pattern is similar to the evolution of the seawater isotope composition of Mg, Li and Ca, suggesting a common forcing mechanism. Based on the observed direction of change, we hypothesize that an increase in secondary mineral formation during continental weathering affected the isotope composition of riverine input to the ocean since 14 Ma.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Causes of ice age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition

During the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; 1,200–800 kya), Earth’s orbitally paced ice age cycles intensified, lengthened from ~40,000 (~40 ky) to ~100 ky, and became distinctly asymmetrical. Testing hypotheses that implicate changing atmospheric CO2 levels as a driver of the MPT has proven difficult with available observations. Here, we use orbitally resolved, boron isotope CO2 data to show that the glacial to interglacial CO2 difference increased from ~43 to ~75 μatm across the MPT, mainly because of lower glacial CO2 levels. Through carbon cycle modeling, we attribute this decline primarily to the initiation of substantive dust-borne iron fertilization of the Southern Ocean during peak glacial stages. We also observe a twofold steepening of the relationship between sea level and CO2-related climate forcing that is suggestive of a change in the dynamics that govern ice sheet stability, such as that expected from the removal of subglacial regolith or interhemispheric ice sheet phase-locking. We argue that neither ice sheet dynamics nor CO2 change in isolation can explain the MPT. Instead, we infer that the MPT was initiated by a change in ice sheet dynamics and that longer and deeper post-MPT ice ages were sustained by carbon cycle feedbacks related to dust fertilization of the Southern Ocean as a consequence of larger ice sheets.Research was supported by National Environmental Research Council (NERC) Studentship NE/I528626/1 (to T.B.C.); NERC Grant NE/P011381/1 (to T.B.C., M.P.H., G.L.F., E.J.R., and P.A.W.); NERC Fellowships NE/K00901X/1 (to M.P.H.), NE/I006346/1 (to G.L.F. and R.D.P), and NE/H006273/1 (to R.D.P.); Royal Society Wolfson Awards (to G.L.F. and P.A.W.); Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship FL1201000050 (to E.J.R.); Swiss National Science Foundation Grant PP00P2-144811 (to S.L.J.); ETH Research Grant ETH-04 11-1 (to S.L.J.); European Research Council Consolidator Grant (ERC CoG) Grant 617462 (to H.P.); and NERC UK IODP Grant NE/F00141X/1 (to P.A.W.)

Swift: A modern highly-parallel gravity and smoothed particle hydrodynamics solver for astrophysical and cosmological applications

Numerical simulations have become one of the key tools used by theorists in all the fields of astrophysics and cosmology. The development of modern tools that target the largest existing computing systems and exploit state-of-the-art numerical methods and algorithms is thus crucial. In this paper, we introduce the fully open-source highly-parallel, versatile, and modular coupled hydrodynamics, gravity, cosmology, and galaxy-formation code Swift. The software package exploits hybrid shared- and distributed-memory task-based parallelism, asynchronous communications, and domain-decomposition algorithms based on balancing the workload, rather than the data, to efficiently exploit modern high-performance computing cluster architectures. Gravity is solved for using a fast-multipole-method, optionally coupled to a particle mesh solver in Fourier space to handle periodic volumes. For gas evolution, multiple modern flavours of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics are implemented. Swiftalso evolves neutrinos using a state-of-the-art particle-based method. Two complementary networks of sub-grid models for galaxy formation as well as extensions to simulate planetary physics are also released as part of the code. An extensive set of output options, including snapshots, light-cones, power spectra, and a coupling to structure finders are also included. We describe the overall code architecture, summarise the consistency and accuracy tests that were performed, and demonstrate the excellent weak-scaling performance of the code using a representative cosmological hydrodynamical problem with ≈300 billion particles. The code is released to the community alongside extensive documentation for both users and developers, a large selection of example test problems, and a suite of tools to aid in the analysis of large simulations run with Swift

Swift: A modern highly-parallel gravity and smoothed particle hydrodynamics solver for astrophysical and cosmological applications

Numerical simulations have become one of the key tools used by theorists in all the fields of astrophysics and cosmology. The development of modern tools that target the largest existing computing systems and exploit state-of-the-art numerical methods and algorithms is thus crucial. In this paper, we introduce the fully open-source highly-parallel, versatile, and modular coupled hydrodynamics, gravity, cosmology, and galaxy-formation code Swift. The software package exploits hybrid task-based parallelism, asynchronous communications, and domain-decomposition algorithms based on balancing the workload, rather than the data, to efficiently exploit modern high-performance computing cluster architectures. Gravity is solved for using a fast-multipole-method, optionally coupled to a particle mesh solver in Fourier space to handle periodic volumes. For gas evolution, multiple modern flavours of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics are implemented. Swift also evolves neutrinos using a state-of-the-art particle-based method. Two complementary networks of sub-grid models for galaxy formation as well as extensions to simulate planetary physics are also released as part of the code. An extensive set of output options, including snapshots, light-cones, power spectra, and a coupling to structure finders are also included. We describe the overall code architecture, summarize the consistency and accuracy tests that were performed, and demonstrate the excellent weak-scaling performance of the code using a representative cosmological hydrodynamical problem with $\approx$$300$ billion particles. The code is released to the community alongside extensive documentation for both users and developers, a large selection of example test problems, and a suite of tools to aid in the analysis of large simulations run with Swift.Comment: 39 pages, 18 figures, submitted to MNRAS. Code, documentation, and examples available at www.swiftsim.co

Agronomic Management of Indigenous Mycorrhizas

Many of the advantages conferred to plants by arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) are associated to the ability of AM plants to explore a greater volume of soil through the extraradical mycelium. Sieverding (1991) estimates that for each centimetre of colonized root there is an increase of 15 cm3 on the volume of soil explored, this value can increase to 200 cm3 depending on the circumstances. Due to the enhancement of the volume of soil explored and the ability of the extraradical mycelium to absorb and translocate nutrients to the plant, one of the most obvious and important advantages resulting from mycorrhization is the uptake of nutrients. Among of which the ones that have immobilized forms in soil, such as P, assume particular significance. Besides this, many other benefits are recognized for AM plants (Gupta et al, 2000): water stress alleviation (Augé, 2004; Cho et al, 2006), protection from root pathogens (Graham, 2001), tolerance to toxic heavy metals and phytoremediation (Audet and Charest, 2006; Göhre and Paszkowski, 2006), tolerance to adverse conditions such as very high or low temperature, high salinity (Sannazzaro et al, 2006), high or low pH (Yano and Takaki, 2005) or better performance during transplantation shock (Subhan et al, 1998). The extraradical hyphae also stabilize soil aggregates by both enmeshing soil particles (Miller e Jastrow, 1992) and producing a glycoprotein, golmalin, which may act as a glue-like substance to adhere soil particles together (Wright and Upadhyaya, 1998). Despite the ubiquous distribution of mycorrhizal fungi (Smith and Read, 2000) and only a relative specificity between host plants and fungal isolates (McGonigle and Fitter, 1990), the obligate nature of the symbiosis implies the establishment of a plant propagation system, either under greenhouse conditions or in vitro laboratory propagation. These techniques result in high inoculum production costs, which still remains a serious problem since they are not competitive with production costs of phosphorus fertilizer. Even if farmers understand the significance of sustainable agricultural systems, the reduction of phosphorus inputs by using AM fungal inocula alone cannot be justified except, perhaps, in the case of high value crops (Saioto and Marumoto, 2002). Nurseries, high income horticulture farmers and no-agricultural application such as rehabilitation of degraded or devegetated landscapes are examples of areas where the use of commercial inoculum is current. Another serious problem is quality of commercial available products concerning guarantee of phatogene free content, storage conditions, most effective application methods and what types to use. Besides the information provided by suppliers about its inoculum can be deceiving, as from the usually referred total counts, only a fraction may be effective for a particular plant or in specific soil conditions. Gianinazzi and Vosátka (2004) assume that progress should be made towards registration procedures that stimulate the development of the mycorrhizal industry. Some on-farm inoculum production and application methods have been studied, allowing farmers to produce locally adapted isolates and generate a taxonomically diverse inoculum (Mohandas et al, 2004; Douds et al, 2005). However the inocula produced this way are not readily processed for mechanical application to the fields, being an obstacle to the utilization in large scale agriculture, especially row crops, moreover it would represent an additional mechanical operation with the corresponding economic and soil compaction costs. It is well recognized that inoculation of AM fungi has a potential significance in not only sustainable crop production, but also environmental conservation. However, the status quo of inoculation is far from practical technology that can be widely used in the field. Together a further basic understanding of the biology and diversity of AM fungi is needed (Abbott at al, 1995; Saito and Marumoto, 2002). Advances in ecology during the past decade have led to a much more detailed understanding of the potential negative consequences of species introductions and the potential for negative ecological consequences of invasions by mycorrhizal fungi is poorly understood. Schwartz et al, (2006) recommend that a careful assessment documenting the need for inoculation, and the likelihood of success, should be conducted prior to inoculation because inoculations are not universally beneficial. Agricultural practices such as crop rotation, tillage, weed control and fertilizer apllication all produce changes in the chemical, physical and biological soil variables and affect the ecological niches available for occupancy by the soil biota, influencing in different ways the symbiosis performance and consequently the inoculum development, shaping changes and upset balance of native populations. The molecular biology tools developed in the latest years have been very important for our perception of these changes, ensuing awareness of management choice implications in AM development. In this context, for extensive farming systems and regarding environmental and economic costs, the identification of agronomic management practices that allow controlled manipulation of the fungal community and capitalization of AM mutualistic effect making use of local inoculum, seem to be a wise option for mycorrhiza promotion and development of sustainable crop production

Geochemical response of the mid-depth Northeast Atlantic Ocean to freshwater input during Heinrich events 1 to 4

PublishedArticleHeinrich events are intervals of rapid iceberg-sourced freshwater release to the high latitude North Atlantic Ocean that punctuate late Pleistocene glacials. Delivery of fresh water to the main North Atlantic sites of deep water formation during Heinrich events may result in major disruption to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), however, the simple concept of an AMOC shutdown in response to each freshwater input has recently been shown to be overly simplistic. Here we present a new multi-proxy dataset spanning the last 41,000 years that resolves four Heinrich events at a classic mid-depth North Atlantic drill site, employing four independent geochemical tracers of water mass properties: boron/calcium, carbon and oxygen isotopes in foraminiferal calcite and neodymium isotopes in multiple substrates. We also report rare earth element distributions to investigate the fidelity by which neodymium isotopes record changes in water mass distribution in the northeast North Atlantic. Our data reveal distinct geochemical signatures for each Heinrich event, suggesting that the sites of fresh water delivery and/or rates of input played at least as important a role as the stage of the glacial cycle in which the fresh water was released. At no time during the last 41 kyr was the mid-depth northeast North Atlantic dominantly ventilated by southern-sourced water. Instead, we document persistent ventilation by Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water (GNAIW), albeit with variable properties signifying changes in supply from multiple contributing northern sources.This research used samples provided by the Integrated Ocean Drilling (Discovery) Program IODP, which is sponsored by the US National Science Foundation and participating countries under management of Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. We thank Walter Hale and Alex Wülbers for help with sampling, Kirsty Crocket for providing additional samples and Matt Cooper, Andy Milton, Mike Bolshaw and Dave Spanner for analytical support. Heiko Pälike, David Thornalley and Rachel Mills are thanked for productive discussions and comments on earlier versions of this work. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback, which greatly improved the manuscript. Funding for this project was provided by NERC studentships to A.J.C. (grant NE/D005728/2) and T.B.C. (NE/I528626/1), with additional funding support from a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and NERC grants NE/F00141X/1 and NE/I006168/1 to P.A.W. and NE/D00876X/2 to G.L.F