Clim. Past, 8, 415–431, 2012 www.clim-past.net/8/415/2012/ Climate doi:10.5194/cp-8-415-2012 of the Past © Author(s) 2012. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Climatically-controlled siliceous productivity in the eastern Gulf of Guinea during the last 40 000 yr X. Crosta1, O. E. Romero2, O. Ther1, and R. R. Schneider3 1CNRS/INSU, UMR5805, EPOC, Universite´ Bordeaux 1, Talence Cedex, France 2Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR), 18100 Armilla-Granada, Spain 3Marine Klimaforschung, Institut fuer Geowissenschaften, CAU Kiel, Germany Correspondence to: X. Crosta (
[email protected]) Received: 30 June 2011 – Published in Clim. Past Discuss.: 25 July 2011 Revised: 27 January 2012 – Accepted: 30 January 2012 – Published: 7 March 2012 Abstract. Opal content and diatom assemblages were anal- 1 Introduction ysed in core GeoB4905-4 to reconstruct siliceous produc- tivity changes in the eastern Gulf of Guinea during the last A substantial part of the ocean’s primary productivity is sup- 40 000 yr. Opal and total diatom accumulation rates pre- ported by diatoms (Treguer´ et al., 1995). At the global ocean sented low values over the considered period, except dur- scale, diatom productivity primarily depends on the avail- ing the Last Glacial Maximum and between 15 000 calendar ability of dissolved silica (DSi) as diatoms need DSi to build years Before Present (15 cal. ka BP) and 5.5 cal. ka BP, the their frustule. This explains why diatoms are dominant in the so-called African Humid Period, when accumulation rates of Southern Ocean, the North Pacific, coastal zones, and low- brackish and freshwater diatoms at the core site were high- latitude upwelling systems where high stocks of DSi prevail.