North Atlantic climate impact on early late‐glacial climate oscillations in the south‐eastern Alps inferred from a multi‐proxy lake sediment record

High‐resolution multi‐proxy analyses of a sediment core section from Lake Jeserzersee (Saissersee) in the piedmont lobe of the Würmian Drau glacier (Carinthia, Austria) reveal pronounced climatic oscillations during the early late glacial (ca. 18.5–16.0k cal a BP). Diatom‐inferred epilimnetic summer water temperatures show a close correspondence with temperature reconstructions from the adjacent Lake Längsee record and, on a hemispheric scale, with fluctuations of ice‐rafted debris in the North Atlantic. This suggests that North Atlantic climate triggered summer climate variability in the Alps during the early late glacial. The expansion of pine (mainly dwarf pine) between ca. 18.5 and 18.1k cal a BP indicates warming during the so‐called ‘Längsee oscillation’. The subsequent stepwise climate deterioration between ca. 18.1 and 17.6k cal a BP culminated in a tripartite cold period between ca. 17.6 and 16.9k cal a BP with diatom‐inferred summer water temperatures 8.5–10 °C below modern values and a shift from wet to dry conditions. This period probably coincides with a major Alpine glacier advance termed the Gschnitz stadial. A warmer interval between ca. 16.9 and 16.4k cal a BP separates this cold phase from a second, shorter and less pronounced cold phase between ca. 16.4 and 16.0k cal a BP, which is thought to correlate with the Clavadel/Senders glacier advance in the Alps. The following temperature increase, coupled with wet (probably snow‐rich) conditions, caused the expansion of birch during the transition period to the late glacial interstadial. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automated counting of sand‐sized particles in marine records

Content and fluxes of ice‐transported sand‐sized and gravel‐sized, lithic particles in marine sediment cores are a common tool used to reconstruct glacial variability. Ice‐rafted debris data sets are currently acquired in several different and often time‐consuming ways, and within various grain‐size fractions. This article proposes a novel workflow using an automated method to count ice‐rafted debris to reduce analysis time and subjectivity. The described method is based on the instrument ‘Morphologi G3’ from Malvern Instruments Limited and includes all pre‐processing and post‐processing steps. This particle characterization tool is an automated microscope combined with a proprietary software package. In this study, the analysis was performed on the 150 to 1000 μ m fraction. If desired, grain counts can be carried out on the entire sand and silt fractions. However, this would result in a considerably greater turnover time. A total of 350 sediment samples from core MD99‐2283, taken on the upper continental slope at the southern part of the north‐east Atlantic margin, were counted with this automated method. In addition, a total of 161 samples were counted manually as a control on the reliability of the scanning. The comparison of automated versus manually counted biogenic and lithic material shows a convincing correlation between the two methods. The turnover time per automatically counted sample is around 20 min, the method requiring less experience and skills than manual counting. The results yield a promising, time‐saving new technique to achieve high‐resolution ice‐rafted debris counting records with acceptable error margins.     

西北冰洋冰筏碎屑指示的MIS 5以来冰盖和洋流的演化历史

通过西北冰洋楚科奇边缘地区4个柱状沉积物组成的岩芯断面,分析MIS 5以来粗颗粒（>250 μm）冰筏碎屑（IRD）的岩矿组成,确定西北冰洋不同时期IRD的来源和搬运模式,进而重建MIS 5以来欧亚冰盖和北美冰盖的消长以及北冰洋海盆中表层洋流的演化历史。研究结果显示MIS 5.5和MIS 5.1期间,波弗特环流的影响范围大于MIS 1期,而在MIS 5.4~5.2期间,波弗特环流的影响范围小于现代;MIS 4期间,岩芯中发现了大量来源于欧亚冰盖或东西伯利亚海冰盖的冰川浊积物,冰盖可能扩张到了楚科奇边缘地区南部;在同一时期,在楚科奇边缘地区南部的岩芯中IRD几乎全部为铁锰结核,可能受到了欧亚冰盖或东西伯利亚海冰盖的影响,但铁锰结核与欧亚冰盖的关系仍需进一步研究;MIS 3期间,波弗特环流的影响范围和强度略弱于现代;在末次冰盛期,研究区受到以劳伦冰盖为主要来源的冰川浊积物输入;在末次冰消期,研究区发生了一次来源于北美劳伦冰盖的冰融水排泄事件;在MIS 1期,西北冰洋主要受到波弗特环流的控制,将来源于加拿大北极富含碎屑碳酸岩的IRD带入北冰洋海盆。

     

The role of megatides and relative sea level in controlling the deglaciation of the British–Irish and Fennoscandian ice sheets

Key external forcing factors have been proposed to explain the collapse of ice sheets, including atmospheric and ocean temperatures, subglacial topography, relative sea level and tidal amplitudes. For past ice sheets it has not hitherto been possible to separate relative sea level and tidal amplitudes from the other controls to analyse their influence on deglaciation style and rate. Here we isolate the relative sea level and tidal amplitude controls on key ice stream sectors of the last British–Irish and Fennoscandian ice sheets using published glacial isostatic adjustment models, combined with a new and previously published palaeotidal models for the NE Atlantic since the Last Glacial Maximum (22 ka BP). Relative sea level and tidal amplitude data are combined into a sea surface elevation index for each ice stream sector demonstrating that these controls were potentially important drivers of deglaciation in the western British Irish Ice Sheet ice stream sectors. In contrast, the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream was characterized by falling relative sea level and small tidal amplitudes during most of the deglaciation. As these simulations provide a basis for observational field testing we propose a means of identifying the significance of sea level and tidal amplitudes in ice sheet collapse.     

Seeking a Holocene drift ice proxy: non‐clay mineral variations from the SW to N‐central Iceland shelf: trends,regime shifts,and periodicities

Quantitative X‐ray diffraction analysis of the <2 mm sediment fraction was carried out on 1257 samples (from the seafloor and 16 cores) from the Iceland shelf west of 18° W. All but one core (B997‐347PC) were from transects along troughs on the NW to N‐central shelf, an area that in modern and historic times has been affected by drift ice. The paper focuses on the non‐clay mineralogy of the sediments (excluding calcite and volcanic glass). Quartz and potassium feldspars occupy similar positions in an R‐mode principal component analysis, and oligoclase feldspar tracks quartz; these minerals are used as a proxy for ice‐rafted detritus (IRD). Accordingly, the sum of these largely foreign minerals (Q&K) (to Icelandic bedrock) is used as a proxy for drift ice. A stacked, equi‐spaced 100 a record is developed which shows both low‐frequency trends and higher‐frequency events. The detrended stacked record compares well with the flux of quartz (mg cm^?2 a^?1) at MD99‐2269 off N Iceland. The multi‐taper method indicated that there are three significant frequencies at the 95% confidence level with periods of ca. 2500, 445 and 304 a. Regime shift analysis pinpoints intervals when there was a statistically significant shift in the average Q&K weight %, and identifies four IRD‐rich events separated by intervals with lower inputs. There is some association between peaks of IRD input, less dense surface waters (from δ¹⁸O data on planktonic foraminifera) and intervals of moraine building. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evidence for a mid‐Pleistocene shift of ice‐drift pattern in the Nordic seas

Sediment proxy records from a continuous, 1.5 million year long deep‐sea sediment core from a site in the western Norwegian Sea were used to obtain new insights into the nature of palaeoceanographic change in the northern North Atlantic (Nordic seas) during the climatic shift of the Mid‐Pleistocene Revolution (MPR). Red‐green sediment colour and magnetic susceptibility records both reveal significant differences in their mean values when comparing the intervals older than 700 000 yr (700 ka) with those from the past 500 kyr. The timing and duration of these changes indicates that the MPR in the Nordic seas is characterised by a gradual transition lasting about 200 kyr. Together with further sedimentological evidence this suggests that the mid‐Pleistocene climate shift was accompanied by a general change in ice‐drift pattern. It is further proposed that prior to the onset of the major late Pleistocene glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere a significant proportion of the ice in the eastern Nordic seas originated from a southern provenance, whereas later it dominantly came from the surrounding landmasses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of the Fugloyarbanki tephra in the NGRIP ice core: a key tie‐point for marine and ice‐core sequences during the last glacial period

A visible tephra horizon in the NGRIP ice core has been identified by geochemical analysis as the Fugloyarbanki Tephra, a widespread marker horizon in marine cores from the Faroe Islands area and the northern North Atlantic. An age of 26 740 ± 390 yr b2k (1σ uncertainty) is derived for this tephra according to the new Greenland Ice Core Chronology (GICC05) based on multi‐parameter counting of annual layers. Detection of this tephra for the first time within the NGRIP ice core provides a key tie‐point between marine and ice‐core records during the transition between MIS 3 and 2. Identification of this volcanic event within the Greenland records demonstrates the future potential of using tephrochronology to precisely correlate palaeoarchives in widely separated localities that span the last glacial period, as well as providing a potential method for examining the extent of the radiocarbon marine reservoir effect at this time. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variability of Holocene temperature in the North Atlantic region

The early Holocene climate of the North Atlantic region was influenced by two boundary conditions that were fundamentally different from the present: the presence of the decaying Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and higher than present summer solar insolation. In order to assess spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene climate evolution across this region, we collated quantitative paleotemperature records at sub-millennial resolution and synthesized their temporal variability using principal components analysis (PCA). The analysis reveals considerable spatial variability, most notably in the time-transgressive expression of the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM). Most of the region, but especially areas peripheral to the Labrador Sea and hence closest to the locus of LIS disintegration, experienced maximum Holocene temperatures that lagged peak summer insolation by 1000-3000 years. Many sites from the northeastern North Atlantic sector, including the Nordic Seas and Scandinavia, either warmed in phase with maximum summer insolation (11,000-9000 years ago) or were less strongly lagged than the Baffin Bay-Labrador Sea region. These spatially complex patterns of Holocene climate development, which are defined by the PCA, resulted from the interplay between final decay of the LIS and solar insolation forcing.     

全新世和末次间冰期北大西洋底栖有孔虫氧同位素对比的探索研究

北大西洋（特别是亚极地海区）是对全球气候变化响应最敏感的区域之一,也是全球气候变化研究关注的焦点之一。地质记录和模拟研究指出末次间冰期（MIS 5e）全球地表平均温度比全新世（Holocene）高约1℃,因而可以作为未来全球变暖趋势的历史对照,但目前北大西洋水体温盐变化在这两个时期的对比研究仍然较少。底栖有孔虫氧同位素作为古气候研究常用的指标,与冰量、温度和洋流变化紧密相关。本文统计并对比了北大西洋47个深海沉积物钻孔MIS 5e和全新世的底栖有孔虫氧同位素数据,发现研究区不同深度、不同纬度的数据在这两个间冰期具有系统的差异。MIS 5e氧同位素平均值和极低值比全新世系统性偏轻0.08 ‰,反映了陆地冰量变化对整个区域的影响,且深水温度整体可能比全新世偏高。氧同位素时空分布表明北大西洋中层水（1~2 km）全新世和MIS 5e的有孔虫氧同位素差值（> 0.2 ‰）比深水（> 2 km）更显著,可能记录更大的温度变化幅度,而1.5 km之上MIS 5e氧同位素值变重（平均重约0.36 ‰）则主要响应了大洋环流的变化。此外,高纬地区（45°N以北）深水底栖有孔虫氧同位素值在MIS 5e系统性偏轻约0.12 ‰,比中低纬（0°~45°N）深水变化更显著,可能反映高纬深水变暖程度更高,与海表温度重建和模拟结果相吻合。因此,联合多钻孔的底栖有孔虫氧同位素是分辨区域古海洋变化的有效手段,在未来气候变暖中北大西洋高纬和中层海域的变化是气候模式需要重点关注的区域之一。

     

Non‐synchronous deposition of North Atlantic Ash Zone II in Greenland ice cores,and North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea sediments: an example of complex glacial‐stage tephra transport

Tephra provides regional chronostratigraphical marker horizons that can link different climate archives with highly needed accuracy and precision. The results presented in this work exemplify, however, that the intermittent storage of tephra in ice sheets and during its subsequent iceberg transport, especially during glacial stages, constitutes a potential source of serious error for the application of tephrochronology to Nordic Seas and North Atlantic sediment archives. The peak shard concentration of the rhyolitic component of the North Atlantic Ash Zone II (NAAZ‐II) tephra complex, often used to correlate marine and ice core records in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, is shown to lag the eruption event by ca. 100–400 years in some North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea cores. While still allowing for a correlation of archives on millennial timescales, this time delay in deposition is a major obstacle when addressing the lead–lag relationship on short timescales (years to centuries). A precise and accurate determination of lead–lag relationships between archives recording different parts of the climate system is crucial in order to test hypotheses about the processes leading to abrupt climate change and to evaluate results from climate models. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linkage between Seasonal Insolation Gradient in the Tropical Northern Hemisphere and the Sea Surface Salinity of the Equatorial Indian Ocean during the Last Glacial Period

Paired stable oxygen isotope and Mg/Ca analyses in calcite tests of the mixed-layer-dwelling planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber has been used to reconstruct equatorial Indian Ocean δ18O of seawater (δ18Osw) over the last ~137 thousand years. On the basis of ice-volume-corrected δ18Osw (δ18Osw–ivc), relative changes in sea surface salinity (SSS) have been estimated. The SSS estimates suggest three episodes of higher SSS (131–113 thousand years before present (kyr BP), 62–58 kyr BP, and 30–24 kyr BP) within the last glacial period as compared with the present. SSS comparison between interglacial episodes reveals that the surface seawater over the core site was significantly saltier during the penultimate interglacial than the Holocene. We suggest that the evolution of a seasonal insolation gradient between the Indian monsoon areas and the equator over the investigated time interval was instrumental in shaping the strength of the Indian winter and summer monsoons that left their imprints on the equatorial Indian Ocean SSS via freshwater input and wind-induced mixing. The study shows that the insolation difference between northern latitudes and the equator during winter affects monsoon strength in the Indian region, especially during cold intervals.     

北大西洋IODP U1313站位早更新世深海沉积物陆源组分粒度特征及其环境意义*

北大西洋地区是全球环境变化研究的热点区域。对IODP（国际综合大洋钻探计划）北大西洋306航次U1313站位深海沉积物陆源组分的粒度分析发现,陆源组分主要由黏土(粒径小于4μm)和极细粉沙(4～8μm)两个粒级构成,以黏土为主,分选性较差。通过与钙质超微化石、有孔虫等生物化石资料和同位素测年等技术相结合,重建了古气候的变化情况：(1)2.415～1.897 Ma BP,气候呈周期性波动;(2)1.897～1.640 Ma BP,气候变化相对平缓;(3)1.640～1.471 Ma BP,气候波动剧烈且频繁。粒度指标所反映的几次粗颗粒增多事件与早更新世期间数次气候变冷事件的发生时间一致。1.6 Ma BP前后粒度参数的突然变化,可能与地球轨道参数的改变有关,进一步证实地球轨道参数作为气候系统外部驱动力的重要性。     

Alkenones and coccoliths in ice‐rafted debris during the Last Glacial Maximum in the North Atlantic: implications for the use of UK37′ as a sea surface temperature proxy

The U^K₃₇′ index has proven to be a robust proxy to estimate past sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over a range of time scales, but like any other proxy, it has uncertainties. For instance, in reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the northern North Atlantic, U^K₃₇′ indicates higher temperatures than those derived from foraminiferal proxies. Here we evaluate whether such warm glacial estimates are caused by the advection of reworked alkenones in ice‐rafted debris (IRD) to deep‐sea sediments. We have quantified both coccolith assemblages and alkenones in sediments from glaciogenic debris flows in the continental margins of the northern North Atlantic, and from a deep‐sea core from the Reykjanes Ridge. Certain debris flow deposits in the North Atlantic were generated by the presence of massive ice‐sheets in the past, and their associated ice streams. Such deposits are composed of the same materials that were present in the IRD at the time they were generated. We conclude that ice rafting from some locations was a transport pathway to the deep sea floor of reworked alkenones and pre‐Quaternary coccolith species during glacial stages, but that not all of the IRD contained alkenones, even when reworked coccoliths were present. We speculate that the ratio of reworked coccoliths to alkenone concentration might be useful to infer whether significant reworked alkenone inputs from IRD did occur at a particular site in the glacial North Atlantic. We also observe that alkenones in some of the debris flows contain a colder signal than estimated for LGM sediments in the northern North Atlantic. This is also clear in the deep‐sea core studied where the warmest intervals do not correspond to the intervals with large inputs of reworked coccoliths or IRD. We conclude that any possible bias to U^K₃₇′ estimates associated with reworked alkenones is not necessarily towards higher values, and that the high SST anomalies for the LGM are unlikely to be the result of a bias caused by IRD inputs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Quaternary changes in surface water and deep water masses of the Nordic Seas and north-eastern North Atlantic: a review

Quantitative and semiquantitative proxy data based on more than 200 core-top samples and 100 deep-sea cores lead to important new insights about late Quaternary changes in paleo-oceanography, climate and microfaunal habitats in the north-eastern North Atlantic and Nordic Seas, insights resulting from a detailed investigation by the Kiel research project SFB 313/132 summarized in this paper. Planktonic foraminifera species provide reliable tracers of past sea surface temperatures and currents. The genus Beella in particular was found to trace subtropical water masses up to the far north. Benthic foraminifera species served as sensors of bottom currents and local flux rates of organic matter. New orders of time resolution are reached via stable isotope stratigraphy and accelerator mass spectrometry carbon-14 dating, allowing the identification of meltwater events lasting a few hundred years and shorter, a time range where, however, the yet unquantified role of bioturbation presents a growing problem. Based on this high-resolution stratigraphy a number of time slices (synoptic time intervals) are defined to reconstruct the incursion of Atlantic water masses, to map paleocurrent patterns within the Nordic Seas and the north-eastern North Atlantic and to test alternative circulation models — for example, for the last glacial maximum (LGM) and various meltwater episodes. These are clearly coeval with Dansgaard-Oeschger events found in Greenland ice cores, with the actual cause of the flickering climate as yet unknown. Likewise, there is ongoing controversy about the extent of past sea-ice cover and about possible changes from the present anti-estuarine to estuarine mode of deep water exchange between the North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas during the LGM. South of Iceland, however, the history of deep water renewal over the last glacial cycle covering the last 30000 years was largely deciphered.     

Stable Carbon Isotopic Composition of Black Carbon in Surface Soil as a Proxy for Reconstructing Vegetation on the Northern Slope of the Qinling Mountains

Because of the unique geographical location and important ecological effect of the Qinling Mountains,reconstruction of its vegetation and climate needs comprehensive research.We need to consider a multiple-proxy approach to gain more information on recovering the paleovegetation and climate in the Qinling Mountains.Black carbon(BC)is produced by the incomplete combustion of vegetation and fossil fuels,and is a good proxy,recording paleoenvironmental information.However,in the Qinling Mountains,what are the characteristics of the BC,and whether BC stable carbon isotope(δ~(13)C_(BC))can be used as a new proxy to study ancient vegetation,still need further study.In order to establish a sound basis for studying paleoenvironmental by BC proxy in the Qinling Mountains,we carried out systematic and detailed study on modern process of BC on the northern slope of the mountains.We analyzed stable carbon isotopes and carbon concentration of organic carbon(%SOC,δ~(13)C_(SOC))and BC(%BC,δ~(13)C_(BC)),and identified the pollen assemblages from systematically sampled surface soil.The results show that the calculated ratio of C_4 plants in the vegetation(%C_4)based on theδ~(13)C_(SOC)data reflects a similar distribution of C_4 plants in the surface vegetation and the pollen assemblage.Theδ~(13)C_(BC)values have a strong positive correlation withδ~(13)C_(SOC)values,and their difference(△~(13)C_(SOC-BC))is in the low range.These data indicate thatδ~(13)C_(BC)andδ~(13)C_(SOC)have very similar characteristics.Surface soilδ~(13)C_(BC)values can indicate surface vegetation as effectively asδ~(13)C_(SOC)values,and theδ~(13)C_(BC)proxy can be used effectively in paleovegetational research in the northern slope of Qinling Mountains.     

The variations of stable carbon isotope ratio of land plant-derived n-alkanes in deep-sea sediments from the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean during the last 250,000 years

Two piston cores, one located far from the continents (The North Pacific Ocean: ES core), and another located comparatively closer to the continents (The Bering Sea: BOW-8a core) were investigated to reconstruct environmental changes on source land areas. The results show significant contribution of terrestrial organic matter to sediments in both cores. The δ¹³C values of n-C₂₇, n-C₂₉, and n-C₃₁ alkanes in sediments from the North Pacific ES core show significant glacial to interglacial variation whereas those from the Bering Sea core do not. Variations of δ¹³C values of land plant n-alkanes are related to the environmental or vegetational changes in the source land areas. Environmental changes, especially, aridity, rainfall, and pCO₂ during glacial/interglacial transitional periods can affect vegetation, and therefore C₃ / C₄ plant ratios, resulting in δ¹³C changes in the preserved land plant biomarkers. Maximum values of δ¹³C as well as maximum average chain length values of long chain n-alkanes in the ES core occur mostly at the interglacial to glacial transition zones reflecting a time lag related to incorporation of living organic matter into soil and transportation into ocean basins via wind and/or ability of C₄ plants to adapt for a longer period before being replaced by C₃ plants when subjected to gradual climatic changes. Irregular variations with no clear glacial to interglacial trends in the BOW-8a core may result from complex mixture of aerosols from westerly winds and riverine organic matter from the Bering Sea catchments. In addition, terrestrial organic matter entering the Bering Sea could originate from multiple pathways including eolian, riverine, and ice rafted debris, and possibly be disturbed by turbidity and other local currents which can induce re-suspension and re-sedimentation causing an obliterated time relation in the Bering Sea biomarker records.