Climatically Modulated Dust Inputs from New Zealand to the Southwest Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean Over the Last 410 kyr

Eolian mineral dust is an active agent in the global climate system. It affects planetary albedo and can influence marine biological productivity and ocean-atmosphere carbon dynamics. This makes the understanding of the global dust cycle crucial for constraining the dust/climate relationship, which requires long-term dust emission records for all major dust sources. Despite their importance, the sources of atmospheric dust deposited in the Southern Ocean remain poorly constrained. Eolian dust in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean is generally assumed to originate from Australia, with minor contributions from New Zealand. Here, we present a high-resolution elemental record of terrestrial inputs for the past similar to 410 kyr from marine sediment core PS75/100-4 recovered from east of South Island, New Zealand. Sediment grain size is slightly finer than that of loess deposits from South Island, New Zealand, and is coarser than that of marine sediments in the Tasman Sea to the west of New Zealand, which indicates that the dust originated mainly from New Zealand and not only from Australia. Core PS75/100-4 records lithogenic mass accumulation rates ranging from similar to 0.01 to 0.69 g/cm(2)/kyr (similar to 0.20 g/cm(2)/kyr average), with variations over a factor of similar to 3-4 over glacial versus interglacial timescales for the past 410 kyr. Our geochemical data correlate well with the Southern Ocean and Antarctic eolian dust records and suggest a westerly wind-supplied dust signal from New Zealand. Our findings, therefore, suggest that New Zealand should be considered an important long-term regional dust source in global dust cycle models.

Automated summary

The study of marine sediment core PS75/100-4 from the east of South Island, New Zealand, reveals that the main source of eolian dust in the region for the past 410 kyr is New Zealand rather than Australia. This suggests that New Zealand should be considered an important long-term regional dust source in global dust cycle models.