Abyssal Manganese Nodule Recording of Global Cooling and Tibetan Plateau Uplift Impacts on Asian Aridification

The impact of central Asian aridification on the low latitude North Pacific Ocean since the late Miocene remains unclear. To address this question, we systematically studied an abyssal manganese nodule from the northwestern Pacific Ocean, which is expected to be sensitive to eolian dust sourced from central Asia. Geochemical variations and the fossilized remains of magnetotactic bacteria within the studied nodule manifest two prominent Asian aridification events at similar to 8-7 Ma and 3.6-0 Ma. These results suggest that central Asian aridification impacted both primary productivity and abyssal microbial activity in the NW Pacific Ocean via eolian dust inputs. In contrast to the Pliocene aridification event, the late Miocene event was associated with a primary productivity bloom that is not evident in coeval global primary productivity records, which indicates that the similar to 8-7 Asian aridification event was likely due to NE Tibetan Plateau uplift rather than to global cooling.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of central Asian aridification on the low latitude North Pacific Ocean based on the analysis of an abyssal manganese nodule. The results reveal two prominent aridification events at approximately 8-7 million years ago and 3.6-0 million years ago, which affected primary productivity and abyssal microbial activity in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The late Miocene event is suggested to be associated with the uplift of the Northeast Tibetan Plateau rather than global cooling.