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Abstract The most common age constraint for the diatomaceous sediments is biostratigraphy of siliceous microfossils. Although biostratigraphy is a powerful tool to establish stratigraphy and correlate with sedimentary sequences in other sites, biostratigraphy generally includes uncertainties difficult to evaluate. In this study, we measured zircon U–Pb ages of eight tuff beds intercalated with diatomaceous mudstone of the Nakayama Formation on Sado Island in Central Japan and integrated the U–Pb ages with diatom and radiolarian biostratigraphy, whose ages and errors were re-evaluated by this study, to establish an age model precisely representing the sedimentary age. Two tuff beds in the upper and middle part of the formation offered zircon U–Pb ages of 6.7 ± 0.2 Ma and 10.87 ± 0.07 Ma, which are consistent with biostratigraphy, and provided a good example of effective integration of zircon U–Pb ages with the biostratigraphy. On the other hand, zircon U–Pb ages of the other six tuff beds in the lower part are around 12 Ma and not distinguishable from each other. In addition, older zircon grains in the 6 tuff beds are assembled in the interval from 30 to 20 Ma, which is consistent with the age of the volcanic basement rocks forming most part of Sado Island. Similarities in chemical compositions of glass shards and age distributions of zircon grains indicate that the volcaniclastic components in the tuff beds should originate from single or associated magmatic activities.

Abstract The Late Miocene global cooling (LMGC; approximately 7.9–5.8 Ma) was associated with remarkable changes in monsoon dynamics, biogenic bloom in the global oceans, and the rise of modern ecosystems at the expense of old biota. However, the possible linkage between the environmental changes and ecosystem shifts during the LMGC is still debated. In this paper, we show the high-resolution changes in the fluxes of selected radiolarian species, suggesting a drastic reorganization in the paleoceanography and ecosystem in the Japan Sea during the LMGC. The endemic radiolarian Cycladophora nakasekoi dominated the Japan Sea until 7.4 Ma when the Japan Sea sediment changed from dark radiolarian-rich sediment to organic-poor diatom ooze. Changes in the fluxes of C. nakasekoi and Tricolocapsa papillosa, the latter related to changes in the Pacific central water (PCW), show 100, 200, and ~ 500 ka cycles with their high flux mostly within the darker sediment intervals during the low-eccentricity period until 7.4 Ma, suggesting that orbitally paced PCW inflow might have been the major nutrient source into the Japan Sea. At about 7.4 Ma, these species decreased at the expense of increased Larcopyle weddellium, a radiolarian related to the North Pacific intermediate water (NPIW), and Cycladophora sphaeris, a subarctic radiolarian species, implying a decrease in PCW inflow and an increase in the inflow of NPIW and subarctic shallow water. Such a change would have been related to the LMGC-induced weakening in the Pacific Meridional overturning circulation and the southward shift of the subarctic front due to intensified East Asian winter monsoon. Such a drastic reorganization in the hydrography in the Japan Sea probably caused changes in nutrient provenance from the PCW to the NPIW and resulted in faunal turnover, marked by the disappearance of the old regional and endemic faunal components, such as C. nakasekoi.

Rock and sediment samples were collected from petit-spots in the northwestern Pacific. The sampling was conducted using deep-submergence vehicle (DSV) Shinkai 6500 and its mother ship, research vessel (RV) Yokosuka during YK20-14S and YK21-07S cruises. The collected rock samples are basalt and peperite. Some of the basalts include small mantle xenoliths (∼3 cm in diameter). The dataset of rock and sediment samples from the petit-spots located on >130 Ma northwestern Pacific plate are presented herein. The peperites are a reaction product between petit-spot magma and wet sediment, and the mantle xenoliths are fragmented mantle materials transported by the petit-spot magmas. Therefore, the petit-spot samples are of significant importance to elucidate modification process of the surface condition by petit-spot magma and to characterize the deep lithospheric mantle. The dataset presented herein provides in a sense a unique insight into the whole Pacific plate just before its subduction beneath the Japan arc.

Abstract The East China Sea (ECS) is a shallow marginal sea that is sensitive to glacio-eustatic sea-level changes and is influenced by warm oligotrophic water of the Kuroshio Current (KC), the nutrient-rich Taiwan Warm Current, and freshwater discharges from rivers in southern China during the East Asian summer monsoon season. In this area, local paleoceanographic changes for times prior to 40 ka remain poorly studied because of high sediment accumulation rates on the seafloor. During Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 346, long sediment cores representing the last 400 kyr were retrieved from the northern part of the ECS (Site U1429). In these cores, radiolarians are abundant and well-preserved, thus using the ecological properties of radiolarians, we analyzed how glacio-eustatic sea-level variations have influenced the paleoceanography of the ECS over the last 400 kyr, with a focus on changes in water properties at intermediate depths. Additionally, the summer sea surface temperature (SST) and intermediate water temperature at about 500 m were quantified by means of data on selected radiolarian species. The KC influenced the shallow water at Site U1429 during each interglacial period over the last 400 kyr (marine isotope stages [MISs] 1, 5, 7, 9, and 11), causing a high summer SST (about 27 °C), although inflow of the KC into the ECS was probably delayed until after the sea-level maximum of interglacial MIS 1 and MIS 5. During this lag time, ECS shelf water was the dominant influence on the system. During glacial periods (MISs 2–4, 6, and 10), our data suggest that coastal conditions prevailed, probably because of a sea-level drop of more than 90 m. At these times, the summer SST was colder, ca. 20 °C. Changes in the relative abundance of Cycladophora davisiana indicate that the most significant changes in the bottom water occurred during MIS 6, when the bottom water likely became poorer in oxygen. An increase in the shallow-water primary productivity during MIS 7 and MIS 6 was probably the key factor causing the oxygen-poor conditions.

Abstract High-resolution studies of sedimentary sequences have reconstructed paleoceanographic changes in the Atlantic and southern and equatorial Pacific Oceans during the Late Miocene and Pliocene, but comparable analyses are lacking for the North Pacific Ocean. However, continuous samples of hemipelagic sequences covering this time interval were obtained at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program sites U1425 and U1430 in the Japan Sea during expedition 346. Because the paleoceanography of the Japan Sea was sensitive to glacio-eustatic sea-level changes, changes in the sediment record are manifested as cyclic lithological changes. By using a gamma ray attenuation (GRA) density, which reflects biogenic silica content, as an indicator of sea-level changes, we developed an independent orbitally tuned chronology at each site to construct high-resolution, high-precision age models for the time span of 11.8 to 1.45 Ma. First, the 405-kyr-filtered GRA profile at each site was tuned to 405-kyr-filtered orbital eccentricity. Then, using the 405-kyr-tuned age model, the 100-kyr-filtered GRA profile was tuned to short-eccentricity cycles to adjust the 405-kyr-tuned age models. We used the resulting age models to revise the time intervals of previously published lithological units and paleoceanographic stages for the Japan Sea. Our profiles based on physical properties are a good match to the oxygen isotope record, except for 6.6–3.6 Ma, a time interval with small-amplitude fluctuations in the oxygen isotope record.

Abstract Previous studies showed that the evolution of the Japan Sea paleoceanography since the Miocene has been influenced by the regional tectonism (e.g., opening/closing of the connecting seaways) and regional/global climate. In the Japan Sea, Expedition 346 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) retrieved core sediments dating back to the Miocene at two sites (U1425 and U1430). In this study, we reconstruct shallow-to-deep-water hydrography of the Japan Sea during the Mio-Pliocene based on radiolarian assemblages at Sites U1425 and U1430 considering the local tectonism and changes in global/regional climate. Our data suggest that glacioeustatic sea-level changes have probably had an influence on the local paleoceanography between 9.5 and 7.0 Ma. Indeed, warm water probably flowed from the North Pacific into the Japan Sea when sea level was high via shallow central and eastern seaways. In addition, the sill depth of the northern seaway was probably close to 1000 m between 9.5 and 7.8 Ma and had probably allowed inflow of oxygen minimum zone water from the North Pacific to the Japan Sea when sea level was high. In contrast, our data imply that Cycladophora nakasekoi, an endemic species to the Japan Sea, dominated between 9.5 and 7.3 Ma when sea level was low. Our data also suggest a progressive shoaling of the sill for the period since 7.8 Ma and that global climatic events such as such the late Miocene cooling (7.5–5.5 Ma) and the early Pliocene warmth have had a sustained influence on the Japan Sea. During the mid-Pliocene, a deep cooling of the subsurface to intermediate water of the Japan Sea likely occurred because species related to subarctic subsurface to intermediate waters were dominant between 5 and 3.8 Ma. The Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (ca. 3.0–2.7 Ma) and Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1.2–0.8 Ma) have both likely intensified the cooling of the Japan Sea.