Ocean surface and bottom water conditions, iceberg drift and sediment transport on the North Iceland margin during MIS 3 and MIS 2
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Date | 2021-01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Author(s) | Andrews J.T.1, Smik L.2, Belt S.T.2, Sicre M.-A.3, McCave I.N.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Affiliation(s) | 1 : Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA 2 : Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK 3 : LOCEAN, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, France 4 : Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK |
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Source | Quaternary Science Reviews (0277-3791) (Elsevier BV), 2021-01 , Vol. 252 , P. 106722 (15p.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DOI | 10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106722 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Keyword(s) | Iceland Plateau, MIS 2 and 3, Sea ice biomarkers, IP25, Alkenones, Sortable silt, Sediment provenance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract | Radiocarbon dates and marine tephra suggest that the upper 10 m of core MD99-2274 off North Iceland extends from ∼0 to ∼65 ka BP. A multi-proxy sediment and biomarker study at a ∼0.5 ky resolution is used to derive a paleoclimate scenario for this area of the southwestern Nordic Seas, which during the Holocene had intermittent excursions of icebergs and a seasonal cover of drifting sea ice across the site. The sortable silt mean size (S̅S̅) suggests a bottom current (1000 m depth) flow speed maximum to minimum range of ∼8 cm/s during Marine Isotope Stages 2–3, but the data are unreliable for the Holocene. Slow-down in flow speeds may be associated with massive ice and water discharges linked to the Hudson Strait ice stream (H-events) and to melt of icebergs from Greenland in the Nordic seas where convection would have been suppressed. Five pulses of sediment with a distinct felsic component are associated with iceberg transport from E/NE Greenland. Sea ice, open water and sea surface temperature (SST) biomarker proxies (i.e. IP25, HBI III, brassicasterol and alkenones) all point towards near-perennial sea ice cover during MIS 3 and 2, rather than seasonal sea ice or open water conditions. Indeed, our biomarker and sediment data require that the seas north of Iceland experienced a nearly continuous cover of sea ice, together with icebergs calved from ice stream termini, which drifted southward. The cross-correlation of the quartz % records between MD99-2274 and the well-dated core PS2644 in Blosseville Basin indicates significant coherence in the records at a multi-millennial (∼8 ky) timescale. A transition to open ocean conditions is evident from the early Holocene onwards, albeit with the occurrence of some drift ice and icebergs. |
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