Pleistocene carbonate dissolution fluctuations in the eastern equatorial Pacific on glacial timescales: Evidence from ODP Hole 1241

This study presents a record of dissolution from the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) that extends to 2.1 Ma, based on sediments from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1241. A new benthic oxygen isotope record was developed in order to provide the stratigraphic framework for the Pleistocene section of the core. The isotope record extends back to 2.1 Ma, covering MIS 1-80, and has a sampling resolution of 2 kyr from 0 to 360 kyr and 5 kyr from 360 to 2100 kyr. Dissolution at ODP Site 1241 is characterized through the use of percent coarse fraction (%CF) and shell fragmentation records. These records indicate that %CF in the EEP is recording a dissolution signal dominated by the 41-kyr and 100-kyr climate cycles, and that preservation maxima lag glacial maxima by 9-14 kyr at the major orbital periods. The dissolution signals observed in the ODP Site 1241 record can be correlated across the Pacific and likely record the response to basinwide changes in carbonate chemistry. The dissolution fluctuations and delta C-13 signal observed at ODP Site 1241 are consistent with both the Shackleton (1977) and Toggweiler et al. (2006) hypotheses that explain changes in the global carbon cycle during glacial-interglacial transitions. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.