Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, Scotland, UK.
Science. 2014 Jun 13;344(6189):1244-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1251306.
Sediments cored along the southwestern Iberian margin during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 339 provide constraints on Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) circulation patterns from the Pliocene epoch to the present day. After the Strait of Gibraltar opened (5.33 million years ago), a limited volume of MOW entered the Atlantic. Depositional hiatuses indicate erosion by bottom currents related to higher volumes of MOW circulating into the North Atlantic, beginning in the late Pliocene. The hiatuses coincide with regional tectonic events and changes in global thermohaline circulation (THC). This suggests that MOW influenced Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), THC, and climatic shifts by contributing a component of warm, saline water to northern latitudes while in turn being influenced by plate tectonics.
在综合大洋钻探计划 339 期间，沿西南伊比利亚边缘取芯获得的沉积物为从中新世到现在的地中海外流（MOW）循环模式提供了约束。直布罗陀海峡（533 万年前）开通后，少量的 MOW 进入大西洋。沉积间断表明，与更多的 MOW 循环进入北大西洋有关的底层流侵蚀，始于上新世晚期。这些间断与区域构造事件和全球热盐环流（THC）的变化相吻合。这表明，MOW 通过向高纬度地区输送温暖、咸水的一部分来影响大西洋经向翻转环流（AMOC）、THC 和气候变化，而反过来又受到板块构造的影响。
