Testing the alkenone D/H ratio as a paleo indicator of sea surface salinity in a coastal ocean margin (Mozambique Channel)

Reconstructing past ocean salinity is important for assessing paleoceanographic change and therefore past climatic dynamics. Commonly, sea water salinity reconstruction is based on planktonic foraminifera oxygen isotope values combined with sea surface temperature reconstruction. However, the approach relies on multiple proxies, resulting in rather large uncertainty and, consequently, relatively low accuracy of salinity estimates. An alternative tool for past ocean salinity reconstruction is the hydrogen isotope composition of long chain (C-37) alkenones (delta D-alkenone). Here, we have applied delta D-alkenone to a 39 ka sedimentary record from the Eastern South African continental shelf in the Mozambique Channel, close to the Zambezi River mouth. Despite changes in global seawater delta D related to glacial - interglacial ice volume effects, no clear changes were observed in the delta D-alkenone record throughout the entire 39 ka. The BIT index record from the same core, which provides information on relative contributions of soil organic matter (OM) vs. marine input, indicates high soil OM input during the glacial and low input during the Holocene. This suggests a more pronounced freshwater influence at the core location during the glacial, resulting in alkenones depleted in D during that time, thereby explaining the lack of a clear glacial-interglacial alkenone delta D shift. The correlation between the BIT index and delta D-alkenone during the glacial period suggests that increased continental runoff potentially changed the growth conditions of the alkenone-producing haptophytes, promoting coastal haptophyte species with generally more enriched delta D-alkenone values. We therefore suggest that the application of delta D-alkenone for reconstructing past salinity in coastal settings may be complicated by changes in the alkenone-producing haptophyte community. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.