Bh. Li et al., Carbonate dissolution and deep-water paleoceanography of the South China Sea since the Middle Pleistocene, CHIN SCI B, 46(22), 2001, pp. 1908-1912
Based on the data of oxygen isotope, micropaleontology and paleomagnetism,
we set up the detailed chronology of Core 17957-2 from the southern South C
hina Sea and discuss the change of carbonate dissolution over the last 800
ka. Down-core variation of carbonate content records the "Pacific-type" cyc
le of higher glacial values and lower interglacial values, though the core
lies above the modern lysocline. Carbonate dissolution indices indicate tha
t several severe dissolution of CaCO3 happened during the transition from i
nterglacial to glacial stages. Spectral analyses of these indices show that
the carbonate dissolution periodicities are mainly made up of 500 ka and 1
00 ka. Compared with the cycles of carbonate dissolution of the Indian Ocea
n, the long-term (500-ka) periodicity reflects the characteristic of the de
ep-water circulation of the oceans.