Scientists at the University of Chicago have found marine atoms estimated to be 20,000 years old in samples of sedimentary rocks extracted from the ocean floor.
Geologists and oceanographers have studied cylindrical samples of limestone deposits in the Indian Ocean archipelago 1.6 kilometers long, extracted from the seabed by research vessel JOIDES Resolution, according to Phys.org. It has been shown that the water obtained by the researchers from these deposits was more salty than normal sea water. The results of the analyzes have shown that this water is not connected to the current ocean water.
According to the researchers, these findings indicate that the already very severe seawater salinity played a more important role than at present in the global ocean currents cycle. Because the amount of fresh water in the ice layers was very large.
This discovery will help verify the theoretical models of climate after the ice age, based on indirect data obtained from coral reefs and the chemical composition of sedimentary rocks.
RT
