Age determination and stable isotope record of planktonic foraminifera from sediments of the Baffin Shelf

Stable isotopic values on planktonic foraminifera in a suite of cores from basins across the SE Baffin Shelf are used to extract a record of meltwater events during Termination I deglaciation. Resolution and Hatton basins lie on the SE Baffin Shelf at water depths > 500 m, seaward of major conduits for ice drainage from the eastern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). Accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dates are used to constrain our chronology of events in ten cores. In Resolution Basin, three cores have 14C AMS dates on foraminifera of > 20 ka at their bases; whereas Hatton Basin cores terminate in sediments < 13 kyr. Sedimentation rates varied between 0.1 to 4.5 m/ka. Stable oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios were obtained on 146 samples of the planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (Ehrenberg) sinistral, from seven of the ten cores. No evidence was found to indicate that test morphology or size affected delta18O. Between 7 and 13.5 ka the surface water on the shelf was on average 1 per mil lower than the open ocean signal. Significant temporal variations were found in both delta18O and delta13C. Evidence for significant low delta18O events occurred between 13 and 8 ka. The delta13C record from the planktonic foraminifera suggests a threefold division of events between 13 and 7 ka, with positive values between 10.8 and 13.0 ka, negative values between 9 and 10.8 ka, and positive values from 7 to 9 ka. The delta18O data suggest the presence of meltwater on the shelf some 3,000 years prior to the first late glacial dates on terrestrial deglaciation (at circa 10.4 ka). "Hudson Strait must be the real key to the importance of the calving process during deglaciation, because it is potentially the largest marine outlet for the Laurentide Ice Sheet and because it leads into the very center of the ice sheet.....the rates of calving through Hudson Strait during the period of initial ?18O rise unfortunately are unknown." W. F. Ruddiman (1987, p. 151)

Age determination of sediment core MD07-3088

The Southern Ocean plays a prominent role in the Earth's climate and carbon cycle. Changes in the Southern Ocean circulation may have regulated the release of CO2 to the atmosphere from a deep-ocean reservoir during the last deglaciation. However, the path and exact timing of this deglacial CO2 release are still under debate. Here we present measurements of deglacial surface reservoir 14C age changes in the eastern Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, obtained by 14C dating of tephra deposited over the marine and terrestrial regions. These results, along with records of foraminifera benthic-planktic 14C age and d13C difference, provide evidence for three periods of enhanced upwelling in the Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation, supporting the hypothesis that Southern Ocean upwelling contributed to the deglacial rise in atmospheric CO2. These independently dated marine records suggest synchronous changes in the Southern Ocean circulation and Antarctic climate during the last deglaciation.

Age determination and foraminiferal faunas in sediment core MD99-2275

A high-resolution study of palaeoceanographic changes off North Iceland during the time period 8600-5200 cal year BP is based on benthic and planktonic foraminiferal assemblages. The core material (MD99-2275) was obtained from about 440 m water depth on the eastern part of the North Icelandic shelf. Changes in the faunal composition are interpreted to be mainly caused by variations in the strength of the relatively warm, high-salinity Irminger Current and the cold East Icelandic Current, which have been shown to be linked to the climatic changes in the North Atlantic region. Environmental proxies at that site are particularly sensitive to palaeoceanographic changes due to its position close to the marine Polar Front. Benthic assemblages show that relatively cold conditions prevailed at the base of the record. An increase in the influence of Atlantic water masses at the sea floor is seen at around 8400 cal year BP, whereas the surface waters were relatively warm already at 8600 cal year BP. The warming was interrupted by a cold event at around 8100-8000 cal year BP, registered both in the bottom and surface waters and correlated with the so-called 8.2 kyr cooling event. Both the benthic and the planktonic faunal compositions indicate that the Irminger Current had maximum influence in the area between 8000 and about 7300 cal year BP, followed by a gradually decreasing influence through the remaining part of the studied time interval. It is suggested that the contribution of Atlantic water masses from the east and north-east to the Arctic Surface waters off North Iceland increased after around 7000 cal year BP, and that this was further intensified after 6200 cal year BP. At present, the Arctic Surface Water north of Iceland consists of Polar waters, intermittently with direct influence from the East Greenland Current, mixed with Atlantic waters derived from the eastern part of the Nordic Seas. A comparison of the mean values of selected environmental proxies in the interval 8600-5200 cal year BP with the upper part of the same core shows that the water masses north of Iceland were considerably warmer during the Holocene thermal maximum than during the last 2000 cal year. In general, results from core MD99-2275 are in accordance with other marine records from the North Icelandic shelf and the northern North Atlantic region, although a detailed comparison on a centennial time scale is hampered by problems with spatial as well as temporal changes in the marine reservoir ages in the region.

Age determination of sediment cores from the Skagerrak

Paleoceanographic and paleoenvironmental interpretations based on foraminifera, sedimentary data, radiocarbon dates, and stable isotope measurements were derived from two sections in the Skagerrak: a 115-m-thick Holocene marine section drilled onshore at Skagen near the northernmost tip of Jutland, Denmark, and a 9-m piston core from the Skagerrak, north of Skagen. The foraminiferal data show that arctic-subarctic environments in the deep Skagerrak-Kattegat area were succeeded by boreal conditions at 9.6 ka. This was a result of northward migration of the Atlantic polar front and inflow of warm Atlantic water into the area through the Norwegian Channel. A gradual warming of the water masses after 9.6 ka is indicated by the data. Rare foraminifera and high sedimentation rates are found between approximately 8.6 ka and 7.6 ka at both core locations. The modern foraminiferal assemblages of the area were fully established at 7.6 ka indicating that the modern circulation pattern in the Skagerrak-Kattegat after the opening of the English Channel and the Danish Straits was not established before this date. At 5.5 ka a sudden change to coarser sediments (higher-energy environments) and the appearance of the foraminifer Eoeponidella laesoeensis is recorded in the Skagen core. This indicates a rapid change in the hydrography reflecting altered meteorological and hydrographic conditions in the Skagerrak-Kattegat, including a strengthening of the Jutland Current and increased inflow of North Sea water into the Kattegat. The event is interpreted as a response to cooling at the end of the Holocene climatic optimum in late Atlantic time and possibly reflects a rapid cooling event of North Atlantic surface water masses.

Age of bottom sediments and minerals from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

Application of nuclear geochronology methods in study of recent sedimentation processes, in paleoceanology, tectonics, geomorphology, and other problems associated with accumulation of sedimentary material in oceans and seas are under consideration in the book. A comparative analysis of dating results obtained by biostratigraphy, paleomagnetic and nuclear geochronology methods is given.

Ar and U-Th-Pb age determinations for minerals from ODP Holes of ODP Legs 173 and 210

We report U-Pb and 39Ar-40Ar measurements on plutonic rocks recovered from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Legs 173 and 210. Drilling revealed continental crust (Sites 1067 and 1069) and exhumed mantle (Sites 1070 and 1068) along the Iberia margin and exhumed mantle (Site 1277) on the conjugate Newfoundland margin. Our data record a complex igneous and thermal history related to the transition from rifting to seafloor spreading. The results show that the rift-to-drift transition is marked by a stuttering start of MORB-type magmatic activity. Subsequent to initial alkaline magmatism, localized mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORB) magmatism was again replaced by basin-wide alkaline events, caused by a low degree of decompression melting due to tectonic delocalization of deformation. Such "off-axis" magmatism might be a common process in (ultra-) slow oceanic spreading systems, where "magmatic" and "tectonic" spreading varies in both space and time.

Age determination and model of sediment core RAPiD-15-4P

Greenland ice core records indicate that the last deglaciation (~7-21 ka) was punctuated by numerous abrupt climate reversals involving temperature changes of up to 5°C-10°C within decades. However, the cause behind many of these events is uncertain. A likely candidate may have been the input of deglacial meltwater, from the Laurentide ice sheet (LIS), to the high-latitude North Atlantic, which disrupted ocean circulation and triggered cooling. Yet the direct evidence of meltwater input for many of these events has so far remained undetected. In this study, we use the geochemistry (paired Mg/Ca-d18O) of planktonic foraminifera from a sediment core south of Iceland to reconstruct the input of freshwater to the northern North Atlantic during abrupt deglacial climate change. Our record can be placed on the same timescale as ice cores and therefore provides a direct comparison between the timing of freshwater input and climate variability. Meltwater events coincide with the onset of numerous cold intervals, including the Older Dryas (14.0 ka), two events during the Allerød (at ~13.1 and 13.6 ka), the Younger Dryas (12.9 ka), and the 8.2 ka event, supporting a causal link between these abrupt climate changes and meltwater input. During the Bølling-Allerød warm interval, we find that periods of warming are associated with an increased meltwater flux to the northern North Atlantic, which in turn induces abrupt cooling, a cessation in meltwater input, and eventual climate recovery. This implies that feedback between climate and meltwater input produced a highly variable climate. A comparison to published data sets suggests that this feedback likely included fluctuations in the southern margin of the LIS causing rerouting of LIS meltwater between southern and eastern drainage outlets, as proposed by Clark et al. (2001, doi:10.1126/science.1062517).