Coupling of thermocline depth and strength of the Indian summer monsoon during deglaciation
Abstract
We investigated the variations in thermocline depth using the difference in δ18Oc values between the two species of planktonic foraminifera, surface dwelling Globigerinoides ruber (s.s.) and thermocline dwelling Neogloboqudrina dutertrei, covering a time span of 9-23 kyr from the sediment core SK218/1 from the western Bay of Bengal (BoB). Here we show that during the strong phase of the Indian summer monsoon (12-9 kyr), a strong stratification leads to a shallow mixed layer and thermocline depth in the BoB as evident from higher Δ δ18O between the mixed layer and thermocline dwelling planktonic foraminifera species. Thus, a strong coupling between the Indian summer monsoon and thermocline depth in the BoB prevailed at a millennial time scale.
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