School of Earth Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemIncreased fluvial runoff terminated inorganic aragonite precipitation on the Northwest Shelf of Australia during the early Holocene(NATURE PORTFOLIO, 2019-12-04)Inorganic precipitation of aragonite is a common process within tropical carbonate environments. Across the Northwest Shelf of Australia (NWS) such precipitates were abundant in the late Pleistocene, whereas present-day sedimentation is dominated by calcitic bioclasts. This study presents sedimentological and geochemical analyses of core data retrieved from the upper 13 meters of IODP Site U1461 that provide a high-resolution sedimentary record of the last ~15 thousand years. Sediments that formed from 15 to 10.1 ka BP are aragonitic and characterised by small needles (<5 µm) and ooids. XRF elemental proxy data indicate that these sediments developed under arid conditions in which high marine alkalinity favoured carbonate precipitation. A pronounced change of XRF-proxy values around 10.1 ka BP indicates a transition to a more humid climate and elevated fluvial runoff. This climatic change coincides with a shelf-wide cessation of inorganic aragonite production and a switch to carbonate sedimentation dominated by skeletal calcite. High ocean water alkalinity due to an arid climate and low fluvial runoff therefore seems to be a prerequisite for the formation of shallow water aragonite-rich sediments on the NWS. These conditions are not necessarily synchronous to interglacial periods, but are linked to the regional hydrological cycle.
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ItemLong-lived transcontinental sediment transport pathways of East Gondwana(GEOLOGICAL SOC AMER, INC, 2019-06)
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ItemTiming and pacing of Indonesian Throughflow restriction and its connection to Late Pliocene climate shifts(American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2019-04-01)The Pliocene was characterized by a gradual shift of global climate toward cooler and drier conditions. This shift fundamentally reorganized Earth's climate from the Miocene state toward conditions similar to the present. During the Pliocene, the progressive restriction of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is suggested to have enhanced this shift toward stronger meridional thermal gradients. Reduced ITF, caused by the northward movement of Australia and uplift of Indonesia, impeded global thermohaline circulation, also contributing to late Pliocene Northern Hemisphere cooling via atmospheric and oceanographic teleconnections. Here we present an orbitally tuned high-resolution sediment geochemistry, calcareous nannofossil, and X-ray fluorescence record between 3.65 and 2.97 Ma from the northwest shelf of Australia within the Leeuwin Current. International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1463 provides a record of local surface water conditions and Australian climate in relation to changing ITF connectivity. Modern analogue-based interpretations of nannofossil assemblages indicate that ITF configuration culminated ~3.54 Ma. A decrease in warm, oligotrophic taxa such as Umbilicosphaera sibogae, with a shift from Gephyrocapsa sp. to Reticulofenestra sp., and an increase of mesotrophic taxa (e.g., Umbilicosphaera jafari and Helicosphaera spp.) suggest that tropical Pacific ITF sources were replaced by cooler, fresher, northern Pacific waters. This initial tectonic reorganization enhanced the Indian Oceans sensitivity to orbitally forced cooling in the southern high latitudes culminating in the M2 glacial event (~3.3 Ma). After 3.3 Ma the restructured ITF established the boundary conditions for the inception of the Sahul-Indian Ocean Bjerknes mechanism and increased the response to glacio-eustatic variability.
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ItemFinding Dry Spells in Ocean Sediments(OCEANOGRAPHY SOC, 2019-03)
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ItemAustralian Summer Monsoon variability in the past 14,000 years revealed by IODP Expedition 356 sediments(SpringerOpen, 2019-02-13)The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 356 Site U1461 cored a Miocene to Holocene sedimentary sequence in the upper bathyal carbonate offshore northwestern Australia (NWA). The siliciclastic component of these strata is primarily derived from the Australian continent. Radiocarbon dating on macrofossils and planktonic foraminifera shows that the upper 14 m section at Site U1461 preserves Holocene sediments, recording regional climate variability. K/Ca ratios determined by X-ray fluorescence elemental analyses and %K determined by shipboard natural gamma ray analysis are interpreted as indicators of riverine run-off from the Australian continent. We document the consequences of the variability of the Australian Summer Monsoon (ASM) on the continental shelf of NWA. We report an increase in terrigenous input due to a riverine run-off after 11.5 ka, which reaches a maximum at ~ 8.5 ka. This maximum is the result of the enhanced ASM-derived precipitation in response to the southern migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). A decrease in riverine run-off due to a weakening of precipitation in the NWA region after 8.5 ka was caused by the northern migration of the ITCZ. We conclude that the ITCZ reached its southernmost position at 8.5 ka and enhanced precipitation in the NWA region. This Holocene record shows that even during interglacial periods, monsoonal variability was primarily controlled by the position of the ITCZ. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
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ItemIdentification of the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in coastal strata in the Otway Basin, Victoria, Australia(GEOLOGICAL SOC PUBL HOUSE, 2018-02-13)Abstract. Detailed, stratigraphically well-constrained environmental reconstructions are available for Paleocene and Eocene strata at a range of sites in the southwest Pacific Ocean (New Zealand and East Tasman Plateau; ETP) and Integrated Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1356 in the south of the Australo-Antarctic Gulf (AAG). These reconstructions have revealed a large discrepancy between temperature proxy data and climate models in this region, suggesting a crucial error in model, proxy data or both. To resolve the origin of this discrepancy, detailed reconstructions are needed from both sides of the Tasmanian Gateway. Paleocene–Eocene sedimentary archives from the west of the Tasmanian Gateway have unfortunately remained scarce (only IODP Site U1356), and no well-dated successions are available for the northern sector of the AAG. Here we present new stratigraphic data for upper Paleocene and lower Eocene strata from the Otway Basin, southeast Australia, on the (north)west side of the Tasmanian Gateway. We analyzed sediments recovered from exploration drilling (Latrobe-1 drill core) and outcrop sampling (Point Margaret) and performed high-resolution carbon isotope geochemistry of bulk organic matter and dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) and pollen biostratigraphy on sediments from the regional lithostratigraphic units, including the Pebble Point Formation, Pember Mudstone and Dilwyn Formation. Pollen and dinocyst assemblages are assigned to previously established Australian pollen and dinocyst zonations and tied to available zonations for the SW Pacific. Based on our dinocyst stratigraphy and previously published planktic foraminifer biostratigraphy, the Pebble Point Formation at Point Margaret is dated to the latest Paleocene. The globally synchronous negative carbon isotope excursion that marks the Paleocene–Eocene boundary is identified within the top part of the Pember Mudstone in the Latrobe-1 borehole and at Point Margaret. However, the high abundances of the dinocyst Apectodinium prior to this negative carbon isotope excursion prohibit a direct correlation of this regional bio-event with the quasi-global Apectodinium acme at the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; 56 Ma). Therefore, the first occurrence of the pollen species Spinizonocolpites prominatus and the dinocyst species Florentinia reichartii are here designated as regional markers for the PETM. In the Latrobe-1 drill core, dinocyst biostratigraphy further indicates that the early Eocene (∼ 56–51 Ma) sediments are truncated by a ∼ 10 Myr long hiatus overlain by middle Eocene (∼ 40 Ma) strata. These sedimentary archives from southeast Australia may prove key in resolving the model–data discrepancy in this region, and the new stratigraphic data presented here allow for detailed comparisons between paleoclimate records on both sides of the Tasmanian Gateway.
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ItemProgressive Western Australian collision with Asia: implications for regional orogography, oceanography, climate and marine biota(Royal Society of Western Australia Inc., 2018-12-28)The western margin of Australia has migrated over 30° northward in the last fifty million years. As it progressed, it carried evidence of greenhouse to icehouse climate and ocean transitions in the sedimentary sequences. In the last ten million years Australia collided with the Asian plate to the north, leading to the uplift of the Indonesian archipelago and Papua New Guinea highlands and restricting the interchange between the Indian and Pacific oceans. This created the near “modern” oceanography of the region with the onset of the Indonesian Throughflow and related Leeuwin Current. It also resulted in the ongoing crustal stress along the North West Shelf causing substantial seismicity and faulting. Recent sediment coring by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and RV Sonne has yielded superb palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic archives that will uncover details of the evolution of this margin through the late Neogene to Recent. Knowledge of the past evolution of Australia’s western margin is essential if we are to better predict the consequences of ocean/climate variability for future climate change.
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ItemEast Asian Monsoon History and Paleoceanography of the Japan Sea Over the Last 460,000Years(AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2018-07)Abstract The Japan Sea is directly influenced by the Asian monsoon, a system that transports moisture and heat across southeast Asia during the boreal summer, and is a major driver of the Earth's ocean‐atmospheric circulation. Foraminiferal and facies analyses of a 460‐kyr record from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 346 Site U1427 in the Japan Sea reveal a record of nutrient flux and oxygenation that varied due to sea level and East Asian monsoon intensity. The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) was most intense during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e, MIS 7e, MIS 9e, and MIS 11c when the Tsushima Warm Current flowed into an unrestricted well‐mixed normal salinity Japan Sea, whereas East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) conditions dominated MIS 2, MIS 4, MIS 6, and MIS 8 when sea level minima restricted the Japan Sea resulting in low‐salinity and oxygen conditions in the absence of Tsushima flow. Reduced oxygen stratified, low‐salinity, and higher productivity oceanic conditions characterize Terminations TV, TIII, TII, and TI when East China Sea coastal waters breached the Tsushima Strait. Chinese loess, cave, and Lake Biwa (Japan) and U1427 proxy records suggest EASM intensification during low to high insolation transitions, whereas the strongest EAWM prevailed during lowest insolation periods or high to low insolation transitions. Ice sheet/CO2 forcing leads to the strongest EAWM events in glacials and enhanced EASM in interglacials. Mismatches between proxy patterns suggest that latitudinal and land/sea thermal contrasts played a role in East Asian monsoon variability, suggesting that a complex interplay between ice sheet dynamics, insolation, and thermal gradients controls monsoonal intensity.