Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum thermocline reconstructions in the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Kuhnt
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 42165109

We propose to reconstruct the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) thermocline profiles of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (IPWP) region and to investigate relations with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Australian-Asian monsoon systems. Planktonic foraminiferal stable isotope and Mg/Ca analyses of surface and thermocline dwelling planktonic foraminifers as well as assemblage counts in 25 cores from ODP, R/V „Sonne“ and R/V „Marion Dufresne“ cruises will provide a comprehensive regional coverage of the IPWP that will allow three-dimensional thermocline reconstructions for three critical timeslices (Recent, early Holocene precession maximum, and LGM). Our main objectives are 1) to estimate LGM and early Holocene temperatures and salinities of sea surface and thermocline waters in the IPWP region and to compute regional maps of temperature differences between the LGM, the early Holocene and the late Holocene; 2) to improve regional temperature calibrations and reconstructions of thermocline depths in the IPWP region for the late and early Holocene and LGM and 3) to relate the vertical profiles of the upper water column within the IPWP to circulation changes (intensity and structure of the Indonesian Throughflow), state of ENSO and Australian-Asian monsoonal wind and precipitation patterns.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants