Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:35:52.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Persistent Late Pleistocene-Holocene Seasonal Upwelling and Varves Off the Coast of California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Roger Y. Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 USA
Eileen Hemphill-Haley
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS-999, Menlo Park, California 94025 USA
James V. Gardner
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS-999, Menlo Park, California 94025 USA

Abstract

Seasonal production of siliceous phytoplankton and a seasonal flux of terrigenous clastic material produced varved sediments along the continental slope off California during the late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene. Light-colored sediment within laminations and in sediment-trap samples was deposited during summer upwelling and contains an abundance of the diatoms Skeletonema costatum and Chaetoceros spp. resting spores. Dark-colored sediment deposited in the fall and winter contains abundant Thalassiosira pacifica, and has more terrigenous material. Distribution of diatoms in varves shows that seasonal upwelling has persisted along the California coast and has remained strongly seasonal since the late Pleistocene.

Type
Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, R.Y. Short-term sedimentation response in lakes in western United States as measured by automated sampling. Limnology and Oceanography 22 1977 423 433 Google Scholar
Baumgartner, T. Fierreira-Bartrina, V. Schrader, H. Soutar, A. A 2-year varve record of siliceous phytoplankton variability in the central Gulf of California. Marine Geology 64 1985 113 129 Google Scholar
Berger, W.H. Keir, R.S. Glacial-Holocene changes in atmospheric CO2 and the deep-sea record. Hansen, J. Takahashi, T. Climatic Processes and Climatic Sensitivity. American Geophysical Union Geophysical Monograph 29 1984 337 351 Washington, DC Google Scholar
California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Atlas Series, State of California, Marine Research Committee.Google Scholar
Donegan, D. Schrader, H. Biogenic and abiogenic components of laminated hemipelagic sediments in the central Gulf of California. Marine Geology 48 1982 215 237 Google Scholar
Drake, D.E. Cacchione, D.A. Seasonal variation in sediment transport on the Russian River shelf, California. Continental Shelf Research 4 1985 495 514 Google Scholar
Field, M.E. Drake, D.E. Cacchione, D.A. Tate, G.B. Storm sedimentation on the Pacific shelf: Lessons from the 1986 Russian River flood (abst.). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 18 1986 601 6, 1986 Annual Meeting Google Scholar
Gardner, J.V. Hemphill-Haley, E. Stronger oxygen minimum zone in late Pleistocene-Holocene off central California. Geology 14 1986 691 694 Google Scholar
Gucluer, S.M. Gross, G.G. Recent marine sediments in Saanich Inlet, a stagnant marine basin. Limnology and Oceanography 9 1964 359 376 Google Scholar
Goddard, E.N. et al. National Resource Council Rock Color Chart 1951 Reprinted by Geological Society of America,1970 Google Scholar
Hanson, H.P. Long, B. Climatology of cyclogenesis over the East China Sea. Monthly Weather Review 113 1985 697 707 Google Scholar
Huyer, A. Coastal upwelling in the California current system. Progress in Oceanography 12 1983 259 284 Google Scholar
Oeschger, H. Stauffer, B. Finkel, R. Langway, C.C. Jr. Variations of the CO2 concentrations of occluded air and anions and dust in polar ice cores. The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2: Natural Variations, Archean to Present. Sundquist, E.T. Broecker, W.S. American Geophysical Union Geophysical Monography 32 1985 132 142 Google Scholar
Pokras, E.M. Molfino, B. Oceanographic control of diatom abundances and species distributions in surface sediments of the tropical and southeast Atlantic. Marine Micropaleontology 10 1986 165 188 Google Scholar
Schuette, G. Schrader, H. Diatom taphocoenosis in the coastal upwelling area off western South America. Nova Hedwigia 64 1979 359 378 Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.D. Hall, M.A. Line, J. Shuxi, C. Carbon isotope data in core V19-30 confirm reduced carbon dioxide concentration in the ice age atmosphere. Nature (London) 306 1983 319 322 Google Scholar
Soutar, A. Crill, P.A. Sedimentation and climatic patterns in the Santa Barbara Basin during the 19th and 20th centuries. Geological Society of America Bulletin 88 1977 1161 1172 Google Scholar
Tont, S.A. Short-period climatic fluctuations: Effects on diatom biomass. Science 194 1976 942 944 Google Scholar