Correlation between 232Th and Baxs fluxes at site MV1014-02-17JC (0.18ºS, 85.87ºW; 2.8 km) (R2=0.0007, p-value=0.59) during Heinrich events 0-8 (grey circles) (R2 =0.006, p-value=0.43), non-stadial events (white circles) (R2=0.0005, p-value=0.70), a…

Correlation between 232Th and Baxs fluxes at site MV1014-02-17JC (0.18ºS, 85.87ºW; 2.8 km) (R2=0.0007, p-value=0.59) during Heinrich events 0-8 (grey circles) (R2 =0.006, p-value=0.43), non-stadial events (white circles) (R2=0.0005, p-value=0.70), and at ODP Site 1240 (0.02°N, 86.46°W; 2.9 km) (blue diamonds) (R2=0.24, p-value< 0.01).

No evidence for equatorial Pacific dust fertilisation

Nature Geoscience v. 13, 3 (2019)

Critical to understanding the role of the Equatorial Pacific on glacial-interglacial timescales is an appreciation of the factors which determine marine productivity and carbon fluxes in the region. Our contribution presents three main findings:

  1. No evidence of millennial scale (or glacial-interglacial) dust fertilization of the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP)

  2. No evidence that dust supplies sufficient iron to stimulate productivity in the EEP

  3. No evidence of an enhanced biological pump in the EEP or attendant carbon sequestration

Co-authors: Robert Anderson, Gisela Winckler, Kassandra Costa, Frankie Pavia, Julia Gottschalk, Jenny Middleton, Elizabeth Shoenfelt and Yuxin Zhou.