Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2018-3
Correlation between faunal transitions of benthic foraminifera and ballasting of particulate organic carbon by siliceous plankton during the Holocene off San-in district,southwestern Japan
We investigated the biotic response of benthic foraminifera (Rhizaria) to Holocene paleoceanographic changes in a upper bathyal environment by examining fossil benthic foraminifera younger than ~13 ka from core GH87-2-308 (316-m water depth) off San-in district, southwestern Japan. A non-metric multidimensional scaling (nm-MDS) analysis enabled the distinction of three main benthic foraminiferal assemblages and two faunal transitions. The phase 1 to 2 transition at 11.3 ka was characterized by a rapid decrease in species diversity followed by its gradual recovery and a shift toward present-day fauna. The phase 2 to 3 transition at ~7 ka was characterized by continuation of the shift toward present-day fauna as the Tsushima Warm Current developed and approached its present-day form. The nm-MDS axis 1 was negatively correlated with the radiolarian accumulation rate at this site and with the radiolarian and diatom accumulation rates of neighbor core D-GC-6, suggesting that benthic foraminifera responded to ballasting of particulate organic carbon (POC) with siliceous plankton skeletons. Furthermore, a decrease in the benthic foraminiferal accumulation rate during late phase 2 (~9–7 ka), when warm-water planktonic foraminifera were common, can be attributed to a decreased food supply from the surface ocean because of reduced paleoproductivity beneath a warmer, more stratified surface ocean, possibly accompanied by enhanced remineralization of POC, in response to strengthening of the Tsushima Warm Current. Thus, the benthic foraminifera at upper bathyal depth off San-in district appear to have responded to surface oceanographic changes, suggesting coupling of surface and bottom biota.
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