Articles | Volume 21, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2541-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2541-2025
Research article
 | 
05 Dec 2025
Research article |  | 05 Dec 2025

Photic zone niche partitioning, stratification, and carbon cycling in the tropical Indian Ocean during the Piacenzian

Deborah N. Tangunan, Ian R. Hall, Luc Beaufort, Melissa A. Berke, Alexandra Nederbragt, and Paul R. Bown

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Cited articles

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Andersson, C., Warnke, D. A., Channell, J. E. T., Stoner, J., and Jansen, E.: The mid-Pliocene (4.3–2.6 Ma) benthic stable isotope record of the Southern Ocean: ODP Sites 1092 and 704, Meteor Rise, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 182, 165–181, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0031-0182(01)00494-1, 2002. 
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We investigated sediments from the tropical Indian Ocean to study water column structure and carbon cycling during the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period, about 3 million years ago, when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were similar to today. Our findings reveal persistent upper ocean stratification and niche separation among plankton groups, which limited nutrient mixing and carbon export to the deep ocean. These results highlight how ocean layering can influence climate feedback in a warmer world.
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