Orbital and millennial-scale environmental and hydrological changes of the central Okhotsk Sea over the last 136 kyr inferred from micropaleontological (radiolarian and benthic foraminifera), geochemical and lithological proxies and the mechanisms responsible for them

Abstract The response of benthic foraminifera (BF) and radiolarian production in the central Okhotsk Sea (OS) to orbital and millennial changes of climate and environment over the last 136 kyr have been studied on the basis of the sediment core PC-7R, with available productivity, geochemical and lithological records and a modified age model. We used the calculated accumulation rate of microfossils (AR, fluxes) of the main ecological groups and species indicative of radiolarians and of BF as quantity responses in their production, which is related to environmental and hydrological changes of the water column and surface sediment in the central OS and to global and regional climate changes. The responses of the opportunistic BF Alabaminella weddellensis and the suboxic group during the last 136 kyr were mostly related to changes in organic fluxes from the surface, sea ice cover and surface sediment oxygenation at both orbital and millennial time scales. The AR of radiolarians from the surface, dichothermal and mesopelagic groups significantly differed from the AR of BF. The AR has a maximum during the middle and late Marine Isotope Stage 5e and lower values during the earlier Holocene, while the minimum happened during cold Marine Isotope Stages 6, 4 and 2 with maximal ventilation of OS intermediate water. Production of the mesopelagic radiolarian Cycladophora davisiana in the OS was mostly related to the lateral delivery of terrigenous material and OM into the water column from the northwestern shelf and/or from the western subarctic Pacific. Due to the sensitivity of marine organisms to environmental conditions, the production of radiolarians and BF sharply changed with the extinction of Amphimelissa setosa, since Heinrich Stadial 8 is related to the termination of global environment cooling and the hydrology changes of the early last glacial.