Benthic foraminifer Uvigerina proboscidea as a proxy for winter monsoon (late Pliocene

to Recent): DSDP Site 219, northwestern Indian Ocean

M. Sundar Raj*, Soma De, K. Mohan and Anil K. Gupta

Department of Geology & Geophysics
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur – 721 302
* e- mail: indiangeologist@gg.iitkgp.ernet.in

Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 219, Leg 23 located on the crest of the Laccadive-
Chagos Ridge (9º 01.75’N, 72º 52.67’E; water depth 1764 m) lies near an upwelling zone
(e.g. Boersma and Mikkelsen, 1990; Gupta and Thomas, 1999) of the southeastern Arabian
Sea. The surface water circulation in the Arabian Sea varies in response to the Indian
monsoon winds. The ocean current is driven from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal
during the southwest (or summer) monsoon and from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea
during the northeast (or winter) monsoon. The persistence of the winter monsoon winds
increases the depth of the surface mixed layer down to 125 m in the northern Arabian Sea
(Banse, 1987). Site 219 lies off the western coast of India in an upwelling zone developed
during the winter monsoon, whose intensity changed over the geological past. Uvigerina
proboscidea, a benthic foraminifer indicative of high organic carbon flux irrespective of the
dissolved oxygen content of the bottom waters, has been suggested as an indicator of
changing intensity of Indian monsoon winds (e.g. Rathburn and Corliss, 1994; Gupta and
Thomas, 2003). This species shows an inverse trend with the southwest monsoon proxies in
the Arabian Sea, suggesting its importance in reconstructing winter monsoon history at
various time scales. In the present study, it has been used to determine the periods of
strengthening and weakening of the winter monsoon in the southeastern Arabian Sea. This is
the most dominant species of benthic foraminifera at Site 219 reaching up to 37.41% of the
total population. Peak abundances of U. proboscidea have been inferred to represent times of
high surface productivity and continuous food supply and blooms in high productivity
regions of the Indian Ocean (Gupta and Thomas, 1999; Almogi-Labin et al., 2000). Our study
on late Pliocene to Recent (2.36 to 0.04 Ma) samples reveals that U. proboscidea was
abundant during the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (1.89 Ma to 1.23 Ma) (Fig.1). During
this time productivity at Site 219 was high driven by widespread monsoonal upwelling. At
~1.2 Ma the U. proboscidea population remarkably decreased, suggesting beginning of the
weak phase of the winter monsoon.
Fig. 1. Intense northeast (winter) monsoon during the late Pliocene to early
Pleistocene as indicated by Uvigerina proboscidea population.