Proceedings of Celebrating the Monsoon Conference

24-28 July 2007, IISc, Bangalore, India

SWITCH IN MONSOON PATTERN FROM WINTER DOMINATED TO

SUMMER DOMINATED AT ~1.2 MA: DSDP SITE 219, LEG 23
M. Sundar Raj, Soma De, K. Mohan and Anil K. Gupta
Department of Geology & Geophysics,
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur – 721 302.
West Bengal, India
(m.sundarraj@yahoo.com , somade_iitkgp@yahoo.co.in , geoha_k@yahoo.co.in , anilg@gg.iitkgp.ernet.in )

ABSTRACT: We analyzed 71 samples from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 219 to understand
switches in the Indian monsoons. The site is a well known upwelling region where both Southwest
and Northeast monsoon winds drive changes in the surface and deep water column. To reconstruct
changes in the behaviour of two monsoons, we generated a 2.5 Ma record of deep-sea benthic
foraminifera from Site 219. The most dominant benthic foraminifera are Bulimina aculeata,
Cassidulina carinata, Epistominella exigua and Uvigerina proboscidea. From the relative
abundances of these species it can be observed that there was a major switches in the Indian
summer and winter monsoons at ~ 1.2 Ma.
1. INTRODUCTION
The Indian Ocean monsoon system plays a pivotal role in affecting large parts of the Asian
climate and more specifically the inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. Indian monsoon system is
characterized by the summer or southwest monsoon and winter or northeast monsoons that affect
Asian and African regions between 30ºN and 20ºS latitude (Gupta and Melice, 2003). While, larger
amount of precipitation are expected during summer monsoon, the winter monsoon is relatively dry
and supports lesser biological productivity (leading to lesser food availability) in the Northern
Indian Ocean (Gupta and Anderson, 2005). Distinct fauna flourish in the deep waters of the Ocean
and accumulation of their remnants in the sediment layers over millions of years can be used in
understanding the history of monsoon over geological time. During the summer monsoon, stresses
are southwesterly over the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, whereas, during winter the monsoon
winds are directed away from the Asian continent, causing northeasterly wind stresses over the area
(Schott and McCreary, 2001).

2. LOCATION
In the present study, samples from Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 219, drilled during
Leg 23 on the crest of the Laccadive-Chagos Ridge (9º 01.75’N, 72º 52.67’E; water depth 1764 m)
near an upwelling zone (e.g. Boersma and Mikkelsen, 1990) of the north western India ocean
(South eastern Arabian Sea) were analyzed.

3. DISCUSSION
Last 2.5 million year monsoonal record was reconstructed using proxies of abundant deep sea
benthic foraminifera like Uvigerina proboscidea, Cassidulina carinata, Epistominella exigua and
Bulimina aculeata. U. proboscidea varies in abundance from 1.21 -37.41%, C. carinata from 0.35-
18.82%, E. exigua from 0 -18.65%, B. aculeata from 0 – 12.81% (Fig.1). Periods of abundance of
U. proboscidea are inferred to represent times of high surface productivity and blooms in high
productivity regions of the Indian Ocean (Gupta and Thomas, 1999; Almogi-Labin et al., 2000).
Epistominella exigua is an epibenthic, cosmopolitan abyssal species which feeds opportunistically
on phytodetritus deposited seasonally on the seafloor (Ohkushi et al; 2000). Loubere and Fariduddin
(1999) suggested that this species is most abundant at highly seasonal food fluxes that occur more
than once a year. Cassidulina is a cosmopolitan taxon that has been reported from a variety of
environments (Quale and Van Weering, 1995). Alve and Berhnhard (1995) observed rich
populations of Cassidulina laevigata (a species that resemble C. carinata) in the upper 0.5 cm of
sediments in an experimental mesocosm. Bulimina aculeata is an infaunal detritus feeder (Jian et.al,
1999) and controlled by changes in organic carbon flux to the sea floor (Sarnthein and Altenbach,
1995). It also dominates species assemblages characterized by high seasonal production leading to
large pulse of phytodetritus deposited in short span of time (Mackensen et.al., 1993, 1995).
4. CONCLUSIONS
Uvigerina proboscidea and E .exigua show opposite trends, whereas E. exigua and B.
aculeata show parallel trends (Figure1). A shift in benthic fauna is observed at ~1.2 Ma marked by
a major decrease in U. proboscidea percentages and an increase in B. aculeate population (Figure
1). Epistominella exigua and C. carinata, the two opportunistic species, do not show any match
with the above species. The shift in benthic fauna appears to be related to a switch in the Indian
monsoon system from winter-monsoon dominated to summer-monsoon dominated.

Figure 1. Changeover in the intensity of the Indian monsoon during late Pliocene to Recent as shown by
change in abundance of benthic foraminifer a) Bulimina aculeata b) Cassidulina carinata c) Epistominella
exigua and d) Uvigerina proboscidea (Dark gray bar indicating dominance of Northeast monsoon; Light gray
bar indicating the changeover period).
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