Reconstitution of sea surface temperature and salinity in the equatorial Brazilian in Late Holocene: paleoclimate inferences

Abstract

The reconstruction of environmental conditions is important for the understanding of global climate variability and essential for providing forecasts of climate change. The sea surface temperature (SST) is the most important parameter for understanding the Earth's climate dynamics and usually used as contour parameter simulation models providing more accurate climate predictions. This project proposes to investigate the variations of surface hydrographic conditions (SST and salinity) and their possible relationships with changes of the terrigenous sediments supply to the continental slope in the Brazilian equatorial margin during the Late Holocene. The hypothesis of this work assumes the existence of a relationship between changes in surface hydrological parameters and variations in continental contribution arising from changes in the position of the intertropical convergence zone in the study area during the Late Holocene. For reconstitution of the hydrographic conditions of sea surface data will be use stable isotopes of _18O and elemental ratio Mg/Ca of planktonic foraminifera shells. In order to evaluate the contribution of the terrigenous sediments to the continental slope will be use sedimentological and geochemical data, such as grain size and concentration of elements (eg: Fe, Ti, Al, Si and Ca). This proposal is linked to the project "Response to sedimentantion of Amazon deforestation, land use and climate variability" (AMADEUS), in partnership with the University of Bremen, which aims to understand the relationship between changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and tropical precipitation on millennial scale. (AU)