High‐Arctic climate conditions for the last 7000 years inferred from multi‐proxy analysis of the Bliss Lake record,North Greenland

The Arctic is more vulnerable to climate change than are mid latitudes. Therefore, palaeolimnological studies from the High Arctic are important in providing insights into the dynamics of the climate system. Here we present a multi‐proxy study from one of the world's northernmost lakes: Bliss Lake, Peary Land, Greenland. The early Holocene (10 850–10 480 cal. a BP) is characterized by increased erosion and gradually more marine conditions. Full marine conditions developed from 10 480 cal. a BP until the lake was isolated at 7220 cal. a BP. From its marine isolation at 7220 cal. a BP Bliss Lake becomes a lacustrine environment. Evidence from geochemical proxies (δ¹³C and total organic carbon) suggests that warmer conditions prevailed between 7220 and 6500 cal. a BP, corresponding to the Holocene thermal maximum, and from 3300 until 910 cal. a BP. From 850 to 500 cal. a BP colder climate conditions persisted. The transition from warmer to colder climate conditions taking place around 850 cal. a BP may be associated with the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The complex diagenetic history of discontinuities in shallow‐marine carbonate rocks: New insights from high‐resolution ion microprobe investigation of δ18O and δ13C of early cements

Sedimentary gaps are a major obstacle in the reconstruction of a carbonate platform's history. In order to improve the understanding of the early diagenesis and the succession of events occurring during the formation of discontinuity surfaces in limestones, secondary ion mass spectrometry was used for the first time to measure the δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C signatures of 11 early cement and fabric stages in several discontinuity surfaces from the Jurassic carbonate platform of the Paris Basin, France. Pendant cements show a high variability in δ ¹⁸O, which was impossible to detect by the less precise microdrilling method. The morphology of a given cement can be produced in various environments, and dogtooth cements especially can precipitate in marine phreatic and meteoric phreatic to vadose environments. Marine dogtooth cements and micritic microbially induced fabrics precipitated directly as low‐magnesium calcite in marine waters, as attested to by the preservation of their initial δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C signals. Five discontinuity types are recognized based on high‐resolution geochemical analyses, and their palaeoenvironmental history can be reconstructed. Two exposure surfaces with non‐ferroan pendant or meniscus cements formed in the oxidizing vadose zone. A hardground displays marine fibrous cements and non‐ferroan dogtooth cements that formed in a subtidal environment in oxidizing water. Two composite surfaces have undergone both marine and subaerial lithification. Composite surface 1 displays non‐luminescent ferroan dogtooth cements that precipitated in reduced conditions in seawater, followed by brown‐luminescent dogtooth cements characteristic of a meteoric phreatic environment. Composite surface 2 exhibits microbially induced fabrics that formed in marine water with abundant organic matter. The latter discontinuity, initially formed in a subtidal environment, was subsequently exposed to meteoric conditions, as evidenced by ferroan geopetal cements. A high‐resolution ion microprobe study is essential to precisely document the successive diagenetic environments that have affected carbonate rocks and discontinuities with a polygenic and intricate history.