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North Atlantic Ice Sheet Fluctuations 10,000–70,000 Yr Ago as Inferred from Deposits on the Reykjanes Ridge, Southeast of Greenland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Klas S. Lackschewitz ,
Karl-Heinz Baumann ,
Bettina Gehrke ,
Hans-Joachim Wallrabe-Adams ,
Jörn Thiede ,
Georges Bonani ,
Rudolf Endler ,
Helmut Erlenkeuser  and
Jan Heinemeier
Klas S. Lackschewitz
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, University of Kiel, Olshausenstraße 40, 24098, Kiel, Germany
Karl-Heinz Baumann
Affiliation:
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstraße 1-3, D-24148, Kiel, Germany
Bettina Gehrke
Affiliation:
FB Geosciences, University of Bremen, Postfach 330440, D-28334, Bremen, Germany
Hans-Joachim Wallrabe-Adams
Affiliation:
Brandensteinstrasse 29, 30519, Hannover, Germany
Jörn Thiede
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute, Postfach 120161, 27515, Bremerhaven, Germany
Georges Bonani
Affiliation:
ETH Zürich, Institut für Mittelenergiephysik, Hönggerberg, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
Rudolf Endler
Affiliation:
Institute for Baltic Research, Seestraße 15, D-18119, Warnemünde, Germany
Helmut Erlenkeuser
Affiliation:
Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research, University of Kiel, Max-Eyth-Str. 11, D-24098, Kiel, Germany
Jan Heinemeier
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics and Astronomy, AMS14C Dating Laboratory, University of Aarhus, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
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Abstract

Marine records from the Reykjanes Ridge indicate ice sheet variations and abrupt climate changes. One of these records, ice-rafted detritus (IRD), serves as a proxy for iceberg discharges that probably indicates ice sheet fluctuations. The IRD records suggest that iceberg discharge 68,000–10,000 yr B.P. happened more frequently than the 7000- to 10,000-yr spacing of the Heinrich events. An IRD peak 67,000 to 63,000 yr B.P. further suggests that the Middle Weichselian glaciation started about 12,000 yr earlier in the North Atlantic than in the Norwegian Sea. Several later IRD events, in contrast, correlate with Norwegian Sea IRD-rich layers and imply coeval ice sheet advances in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. Coccoliths in a core from the Reykjanes Ridge show distinct peaks in species that record occasional inflow of warm surface water during the last glaciation, as previously reported from the eastern Labrador Sea. High abundances of coccoliths, together with a decrease of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sin. and relatively low δ18O values, imply enhanced advection of the North Atlantic Current 69,000–67,000 yr B.P., 56,000–54,000 yr B.P., 35,000–33,000 yr B.P., and 26,000–23,000 yr B.P. This advection provided a regional moisture source for extension of ice sheets onto the shelf. In contrast, most of the IRD events are characterized by cold polar surface water masses indicating rapid variations in ocean surface conditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , March 1998 , pp. 171 - 182
Copyright
University of Washington

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