Abstract

A key constraint in attempts to reconstruct the patterns and rates of the ocean's thermohaline circulation during the last glacial period is the difference between the 14 C to C ratio in surface and deep water. While imperfect, it is our best index of past deep‐sea ventilation rates. In this paper we review published ventilation rate estimates based on the measured radiocarbon age difference between coexisting benthic and planktic foraminifera from glacial‐age Pacific sediments. We also present new results from a series of eastern equatorial Pacific sediment cores. The conclusion is that the scatter in these results is so large that the apparent 14 C age of glacial deep Pacific water could lie anywhere between double and half today's. Further, it is not clear what is responsible for the wide scatter in the radiocarbon results.

Keywords

GeologyGlacial periodRadiocarbon datingOceanographyThermohaline circulationBenthic zoneDeep seaForaminiferaPeriod (music)Last Glacial MaximumPaleontology

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Year
2004
Type
article
Volume
19
Issue
2
Citations
51
Access
Closed

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Wallace S. Broecker, Elizabeth Clark, Irka Hajdas et al. (2004). Glacial ventilation rates for the deep Pacific Ocean. Paleoceanography , 19 (2) . https://doi.org/10.1029/2003pa000974

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DOI
10.1029/2003pa000974