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Continental Shelf Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/csr

Western South Atlantic seasonal variability recorded in a mid-deglacial

bivalve from the outer Uruguayan continental shelf
André Klicpera a, b, h, Alvar Carranza c, *, Cristiano M. Chiessi d, Paula Franco-Fraguas e,
Till J.J. Hanebuth f, Hildegard Westphal a, b, g
a
Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany
b
Department of Geosciences, MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
c
Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental, Centro Universitario Regional Este (CURE), Universidad de la República, Maldonado, Uruguay
d
School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
e
Ciencia y Tecnología Marina (CINCYTEMA), Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
f
Department of Marine Science, Coastal Carolina University (CCU), Conway, SC, USA
g
Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
h
Área Biodiversidad y Conservación, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Montevideo, Uruguay

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The oceanographic dynamics on the continental shelf off southeastern South America are primarily controlled by
Retrotapes exalbidus the southward-flowing warm Brazil Current, converging with the northward-directed cold Malvinas (Falkland)
Brazil-Malvinas Confluence Current, and interacting with the continental discharge of the Plata River. The seasonally reversing regional wind
Subtropical shelf front
field together with the seasonal cycle of riverine discharge, determines which of these three components provides
Río de la plata estuary
Deglacial
the dominant forcing. The Uruguayan shelf is thus located in a transitional zone that extends from the region
influenced by the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence (BMC) in the open ocean to the Subtropical Shelf Front (STSF) on
the continental shelf. Understanding how the resulting oceanic seasonal variability responded to different cli­
matic boundary conditions may shed light on its future behavior. This study presents the first reconstruction of
mid-deglacial seasonal hydrographic variability on the continental shelf off southeastern South America in
seasonal resolution based on stable oxygen and carbon isotopes (δ18O, δ13C) from a thick-walled shell of a long-
living bivalve. The mid-deglacial (14.3 cal ka BP; Bølling-Allerød interstadial) Retrotapes exalbidus bivalve shows
a mean δ18O of 3.27 ± 0.42‰ (2.50 ± 0.42‰ when corrected for changes in global ice volume) and a seasonal
δ18O amplitude of 1.69‰ for raw isotopic excursions. Moreover, the δ13C exhibits abrupt negative peaks coin­
cident with more negative δ18O values that indicate seasons of elevated freshwater discharge. Finally, the growth
rate of the bivalve suggests that the specimen was closer to the metabolically optimum than modern individual of
this species from southern South America. Combining biogeographic and ecologic information with these iso­
topic data, the results point to colder waters and a slightly lower mid-deglacial seasonal amplitude in temper­
ature compared with modern conditions at this shelf site. Because of the northward-displaced Plata River mouth
during deglacial times, negative δ13C peaks are expected to reflect an influence of non-point freshwater sources
in the form of small fluvial distributaries along the paleo-coast. Most of this signal may, however, be driven by
seasonal metabolic effects associated with low ambient water temperatures related to a shallow-water envi­
ronment located closer to the respective paleo-coastline due to the low sea level at those times.

1. Introduction zone, the Brazil-Malvinas (Falkland) Confluence (BMC), formed by the

convergence of the Malvinas (Falkland) Current (MC) and the Brazil
The southeastern South American (SESA) continental shelf offshore Current (BC) (Olson et al., 1988; Lumpkin and Garzoli, 2011); (b) the
northeastern Argentina and Uruguay (Fig. 1) is of particular interest for vast Plata River estuary (RdlP), which supplies freshwater from the
oceanographic studies because it hosts: (a) a major oceanic confluence second largest drainage system in South America (Piola et al., 2005;

* Corresponding author..
E-mail address: alvardoc@fcien.edu.uy (A. Carranza).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2023.105014
Received 1 February 2023; Received in revised form 25 April 2023; Accepted 7 May 2023