Late Miocene Onset of Tasman Leakage and Southern Hemisphere Supergyre Ushers in Near-Modern Circulation

• This study provides a Miocene-to-recent history of Tasman Leakage (TL), driving surface-to-intermediate waters from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean. TL, in addition to Indonesian ThroughFlow (ITF), constitutes an important part of the Southern Hemisphere Supergyre. Here, we employ deep-sea benthic delta C-13 timeseries from the southwestern Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans to identify the history of Tasman Leakage. The delta C-13 results combined with sedimentary evidence show that an inter-ocean connection south of Australia existed from 7 Ma onward. A southward shift in Westerlies combined with a northward movement of Australia created the oceanic corridor necessary for Tasman Leakage (between Australia and the sub-Antarctic Front) at this time. Furthermore, changes in the northern limb of the Supergyre (ITF) are evident in the sedimentary record on Broken Ridge from similar to 3 to 2 Ma when Banda Sea intermediate waters started originating from the North Pacific.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Multidisciplinär geovetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geosciences, Multidisciplinary (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Tasman Leakage

ITF

late Miocene

Australia

intermediate water

Southern Hemisphere Supergyre

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)