THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM TO HOLOCENE ENVIRONMENT CHANGES IN THE SOUTHERN OKINAWA TROUGH

Presented here are the oxygen and carbon isotope records of two epipel agic planktonic foraminiferal species, Globigerinoides sacculifer and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, from a sediment core which was collected f rom the southern Okinawa Trough. These isotope records provide an oppo rtunity to understand the paleoceanographic evolution of the Okinawa T rough since the last deglaciation. The Younger Dryas cooling event in the Okinawa Trough is reported for the first time in this paper. These data also record meltwater spikes during the Younger Dryas interval a nd the entry of the Kuroshio Current into the Okinawa Trough. The oxyg en isotope sequence also records the warm and/or humid climate conditi ons around east Asia at about 5.6 ka and the evolution of the Kuroshio Current during the late Holocene. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.