Quaternary environments and monsoonal climate off northwest Australia: Palynological evidence from Ocean Drilling Program Site 765

Abstract

The bathyal Ocean Drilling Program Site 765 at 5725 m water depth, offshore northwest Australia at 16°S is directly under the influence of the Australian monsoon during the Austral summer and is the recipient of continental dust during the Austral winter. It is downstream of the Indonesian Throughflow, which is a major arm of the global thermohaline circulation. As such it is ideally situated to record the climate and oceanic consequences of Quaternary climate variability. Despite being over 400 km from northwest Australia, palynomorphs (pollen and spores) are relatively common in this section, sourced via aeolian (during the dry winter) and benthic transportation processes and sediment plum..