Sedimentary response of Dansgaard/Oeschger events in the tropical South China Sea

The southern South China Sea, situated in the tropical western Pacific, exposed the broad Sunda shelf during the glacial time. Extensive drainage system developed at the low sea-level stand has greatly influenced the sediment supply to the abysmal South China Sea. Several well-developed turbidite layers were identified by using high-resolution X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanner major elements and laser grain size measurements at an IMAGES core MD05-2895 off the Sunda slope in the southern South China Sea. AMS C-14 dates combined with oxygen isotope and carbonate stratigraphies confirm their synchronization with all Dansgaard/Oeschger events in the past 50 kyr. The turbidite deposition was formed by rapid terrigenous discharge from the Sunda shelf and slope during the last glacial time. Such rapid sediment discharge is highly relative to heavy East Asian monsoon rains that strengthened erosion of the exposed shelf. The monsoon rains are dominant in warm seasons in Asia. Therefore, the turbidite layers in the tropical South China Sea are considered as sedimentary responses of Dansgaard/Oeschger warming events during the last glacial time, suggesting a strong teleconnection of glacial abrupt climate changes between low and high latitudes.