Detailed Japan Sea paleoceanography during the last 25 kyr: constraints from AMS dating and δ18O of planktonic foraminifera

We have reconstructed paleoceanographic changes in the Japan Sea for the period from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present, using expanded paleoclimate proxy records from two cores, together with previously published results from three others. A suite of new Accelerated Mass Spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates provides chronologies that differ from earlier age models and suggest correlation between conditions in the Japan Sea, changes in the North Pacific, and global sea level and climate changes. We present evidence that reduced salinity of the Japan Sea surface water during the late Pleistocene was due primarily to the increased importance of the precipitation–evaporation balance at a time when lowered sea level had reduced water exchange with the Pacific to a few percent of the present value.