Ventilation of the Glacial Deep Pacific Ocean

Abstract
Measurements of the age difference between coexisting benthic and planktic foraminifera from western equatorial Pacific deep-sea cores suggest that during peak glacial time the radiocarbon age of water at 2-kilometers depth was no greater than that of today. These results make unlikely suggestions that a slowdown in deep-ocean ventilation was responsible for a sizable fraction of the increase of the ratio of carbon-14 ( 14 C) to carbon in the atmosphere and surface ocean during glacial time. Comparison of 14 C ages for coexisting wood and planktic foraminifera from the same site suggests that the atmosphere to surface ocean 14 C to C ratio difference was not substantially different from today's.
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