HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1556799
This article is part of the Research TopicBiogeochemical Cycling and Depositional Processes of Critical Metals in the Deep Sea and Their Constraints on Global ChangesView all 9 articles
Giant Diatom Blooms Driven by Deep Water Upwelling Since Late MIS3? Evidence from the Rim of the Mariana Trench
Provisionally accepted
- Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, China
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Laminated Diatom Mats (LDMs) in the low-latitude Western Pacific provide key insights into global climate and carbon cycling. While Ethmodiscus rex (E. rex) LDMs research has advanced, two critical aspects remain to be elucidated: (1) the precise chronology of LDMs formation, and (2) its relationship with oceanic circulation patterns and associated nutrient flux variations. In this study, we employed AMS ¹⁴C dating coupled with carbonate content variations to constrain the formation age of LDMs, complemented by comprehensive geochemical and clay mineral analyses of core E20, we found: (1) Diatom blooms occurred mainly from Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to early Holocene; (2) Sediments are mostly volcanic, with increased material in E. rex layers suggesting stronger deep currents transported volcanic debris; (3) Blooms weren't solely caused by Asian dust-derived nutrients. We propose deep current intensification and topographic upwelling drove diatom growth, highlighting deep ocean processes' role in surface productivity and LDMs formation. This advances understanding of their climate and carbon cycle significance.
Keywords: Last glacial period, Western Pacific, Mariana trench, Laminated diatom mats, Ethmodiscus rex
Received: 07 Jan 2025; Accepted: 24 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Xu, Li, Ye, Ge, Bian, Han, Zhang and Cheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dong Xu, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, China
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