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Published July 16, 2017 | Published + Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Indonesian Throughflow drove Australian climate from humid Pliocene to arid Pleistocene

Abstract

Late Miocene to mid-Pleistocene sedimentary proxy records reveal that northwest Australia underwent an abrupt transition from dry to humid climate conditions at 5.5 million years (Ma), likely receiving year-round rainfall, but after ~3.3 Ma, climate shifted toward an increasingly seasonal precipitation regime. The progressive constriction of the Indonesian Throughflow likely decreased continental humidity and transferred control of northwest Australian climate from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, leading to drier conditions punctuated by monsoonal precipitation. The northwest dust pathway and fully established seasonal and orbitally controlled precipitation were in place by ~2.4 Ma, well after the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. The transition from humid to arid conditions was driven by changes in Pacific and Indian Ocean circulation and regional atmospheric moisture transport, influenced by the emerging Maritime Continent. We conclude that the Maritime Continent is the switchboard modulating teleconnections between tropical and high-latitude climate systems.

Additional Information

© 2017 American Geophysical Union. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Received 8 FEB 2017; Accepted 19 JUN 2017; Accepted article online 22 JUN 2017; Published online 7 JUL 2017. This research used samples and data provided by the International Ocean Discovery Program. We thank the JRSO staff and the SIEM Offshore crew for their invaluable assistance and skill during the Expedition. We gratefully acknowledge the drilling proposal proponents and B. Wygal and N. McGee for graphic assistance. All data generated during IODP Expedition 356 are publicly accessible via the IODP-JOIDES Resolution Science Operator website (www.iodp.tamu.edu). We acknowledge financial support by the United States Science Support Program (to B.C., I.S.C., K.B., C.M.M., and C.S.F., National Science Foundation prime award OCE-1450528), the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (to W.R.), the Swedish Research Council (VR grants 2011-4866 and 2016-04434 to J.H.), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Projects VL 96/1-1 to D.D.V. and GR 3528/3-1 to J.G.), and the Australian Research Council (award to S.J.G.). Author Contributions: B.C. coordinated the writing effort; W.R. and J.H. were the primary co-authors and drafted most figures. D.D.V., J.H. and J.G. developed the age model. I.C. generated SST data. L.R. generated XRD data. W.R., J.H., W.R., D.D.V., G.A., L.R., J.G., I.C., T.I., K.B., C.M.M., S.G., and C.F. contributed to discussions and edited drafts. All co-authors were participants on IODP Expedition 356 and participated in generating the data published herein and shipboard data analysis.

Attached Files

Published - 99d2281be907a0d161678bbb42b70eb1739597160517ab50743c6cb3d534f74c.pdf

Supplemental Material - grl56113-sup-0001-Text_S01.pdf

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grl56113-sup-0001-Text_S01.pdf
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Additional details

Created:
August 21, 2023
Modified:
October 26, 2023