The relationship of Heinrich events and their European precursors over the past 60 ka BP: a multi-proxy ice-rafted debris provenance study in the North East Atlantic

High resolution, multi-proxy records of ice-rafted debris (IRD) flux and provenance in the NE Atlantic detail the development, variability and decline of marine margins of the last glacial circum-North Atlantic ice sheets. Coupled lithological identification, Sr and Nd isotopic composition and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of individual hornblende grains reduce ambiguity as to IRD potential source region, allowing clear differentiation between Laurentide (LIS), Icelandic and British (BIS) ice sheet sources (the Icelandic and BIS are collectively referred to as the NW European ice sheet, NWEIS). A step-wise increase in the flux of IRD to the core site at ∼26.5 ka BP documents BIS advance and glaciation of Ireland. Millennial-scale variability of the BIS at a ∼2 ka periodicity is inferred through clusters of pulsed IRD fluxes throughout the late glacial (26.5–10 ka BP). Combination of these European IRD events and the ∼7 ka periodicity of LIS instability is thought to account for quasi-synchronicity of the NWEIS and LIS IRD pulses at Heinrich event (H) 2 and H1, previously suggested to represent the possible involvement of the NWEIS in the initiation of H events. Furthermore, the lack of extensive NWEIS marine margin is inferred prior to H3 (31.5 ka BP), such that no ‘European precursor’ event is associated with either H5 or H4. This suggests that ‘precursor events’ were not directly implicated in the collapse of the LIS, and the persistent instabilities of the BIS that are clustered at a 2 ka periodicity are incompatible with the concept that both H events and their ‘precursors’ are independent responses to a common underlying trigger.     

Evidence from Ar/Ar Ages of Individual Hornblende Grains for Varying Laurentide Sources of Iceberg Discharges 22,000 to 10,500 yr B.P.

The abundance and lithic content of ice rafted detritus in glacial North Atlantic sediment cores vary abruptly on millennial time scales that have been correlated to Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles in the Greenland ice cores. There is growing evidence that various ice sheet outlets contributed increased iceberg fluxes at multiple discrete intervals, and the relative timing of iceberg discharges from different sources is important for understanding interactions between oceans and ice sheets. We present a provenance study based on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates of individual hornblende grains from 20 samples taken at 600 to 700 yr spacing between 10,500 and 22,000 yr B.P., from Orphan Knoll core EW9303-GGC31. Heinrich layers are characterized by a dominant Paleoproterozoic hornblende provenance consistent with published studies. A change in provenance between Heinrich events H2 and H1 indicates contributions of iceberg calving from the Newfoundland and southern Labrador margins. Between H1 and the Younger Dryas interval, Paleoproterozoic ice rafted grains remained dominant. The dominance of Baffin Island (or Greenland?) sources to the ice rafted detritus is ascribed to the retreat of the southern Laurentide ice sheet at about the time of H1—a retreat that isolated Newfoundland and southern Labrador ice from the shelf-slope boundary.     

Sediment sources of northern Québec and Labrador glacial deposits and the northeastern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during ice-rafting events of the last glacial cycle

Provenance studies of anomalously high-flux layers of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) in North Atlantic sediments of the last glacial cycle show evidence for massive iceberg discharges coming from the Hudson Strait region of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). Although these so-called Heinrich events (H events) are commonly thought to be associated with abrupt drawdown of the LIS interior, uncertainties remain regarding the sector(s) of this multi-domed ice sheet that conveyed ice through Hudson Strait. In Northern Québec and Labrador (NQL), large-scale patterns of glacial lineations indicate massive ice flows towards Ungava Bay and Hudson Strait that could reflect the participation of the Labrador–Québec ice dome in H events. Here we evaluate this hypothesis by constraining the source of NQL glacial deposits, which provide an estimate of the provenance characteristics of IRD originating from this sector. Specifically, we use ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of detrital hornblende grains in 25 till samples distributed along a latitudinal transect (lat. 58°) extending east and west of Ungava Bay. The data show that tills located west and southwest of the Ungava Bay region are largely dominated by hornblende grains with Archean ages (>2.6 Ga), while tills located east of Ungava Bay are characterized by grains with early Paleoproterozoic ages (2.0–1.8 Ga), although most samples contain a few Archean-age grains. IRD derived from the NQL region should thus be characterized by a large proportion of Archean-age detrital grains, which contrasts significantly with the predominant Paleoproterozoic ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages (1.8–1.6 Ga) typically reported for the dominant age population of hornblende grains in H layers. Comparisons with IRD through the last glacial cycle from a western North Atlantic core off Newfoundland do not show evidence for any prominent ice-rafted event with the provenance characteristics of NQL glacial deposits, thereby suggesting that significant ice-calving event(s) from the Labrador–Québec sector may have been limited throughout that interval. Although these results tend to point towards a relative stability of this ice dome during H events, our study also indicates that further provenance work is required on IRD proximal to the Hudson Strait mouth in order to constrain with a greater confidence the sector(s) of the LIS that fed ice into Hudson Strait during H events. Alternatively, these results and other paleogeographic considerations tend to support models suggesting that part of the Ungava Bay glacial lineations could be associated with a Late-Glacial ice flow across Hudson Strait.     

Glaciation and deglaciation of the SW Lake District,England: implications of cosmogenic 36Cl exposure dating

Exposure dating using cosmogenic ³⁶Cl demonstrates that the summit plateau of Scafell Pike (978 m) in the SW Lake District escaped erosion by glacier ice during the last glacial maximum (LGM; c. 26–21 kyr) and probably throughout the Devensian Glacial Stage (MIS 5d-2). Exposure ages obtained for ice-moulded bedrock on an adjacent col at 750–765 m confirm over-riding and erosion of bedrock by warm-based glacier ice during the LGM. The contrast between the two sites is interpreted in terms of preservation of tors, frost-shattered outcrops and blockfields on terrain above 840–870 m under cold-based ice. An exposure age of 17.3 ± 1.1 kyr for the col at 750–765 m suggests that substantial downwastage of the last ice sheet had occurred by c. 17 kyr, consistent with deglacial exposure ages obtained for other high-level sites in the British Isles. An exposure age of 12.5 ± 0.8 kyr obtained for a glacially transported rockfall boulder within the limits of later corrie glaciation confirms that the final episode of local glaciation in the Lake District occurred during the Loch Lomond Stade (c. 12.9–11.7 kyr). This research also demonstrated the difficulties of obtaining reliable exposure ages from rhyolite and andesite bedrock that has proved resistant to glacial abrasion.     

Radiocarbon constraints on readvances of the British–Irish Ice Sheet in the northern Irish Sea Basin during the last deglaciation

Moraines deposited by the Dundalk Bay ice lobe record two readvances of the Irish Ice Sheet into the northern Irish Sea Basin during the last deglaciation. These readvances overrode and incorporated fossiliferous marine muds from the floor of Dundalk Bay. AMS ¹⁴C dates from monospecific microfaunas obtained from these muds indicate that the earlier (Clogher Head) readvance occurred sometime between 15.0 and 14.2 ¹⁴C ka BP, thus identifying a previously unrecognized ice-margin fluctuation in the Irish Sea Basin that is correlative with a readvance in northwest Ireland. The younger readvance occurred after 14.2 ¹⁴C ka BP and is equivalent to the Killard Point readvance identified elsewhere in the Irish Sea Basin. These readvances occurred during the Oldest Dryas cold interval and bracket Heinrich event 1. Raised marine muds that were deposited between ice readvances require that a substantial ice sheet remained on Ireland throughout much of the last deglaciation, with attendant isostatic depression of at least 110 m.     

Revision of the NW Laurentide Ice Sheet: implications for paleoclimate,the northeast extremity of Beringia,and Arctic Ocean sedimentation

For the past half-century, reconstructions of North American ice cover during the Last Glacial Maximum have shown ice-free land distal to the Laurentide Ice Sheet, primarily on Melville and Banks islands in the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Both islands reputedly preserve at the surface multiple Laurentide till sheets, together with associated marine and lacustrine deposits, recording as many as three pre-Late Wisconsinan glaciations. The northwest corner of Banks Island was purportedly never glaciated and is trimmed by the oldest and most extensive glaciation (Banks Glaciation) considered to be of Matuyama age (>780 ka BP). Inside the limit of Banks Glaciation, younger till sheets are ascribed to the Thomsen Glaciation (pre-Sangamonian) and the Amundsen Glaciation (Early Wisconsinan Stade). The view that the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago remained largely ice-free during the Late Wisconsinan is reinforced by a recent report of two woolly mammoth fragments collected on Banks and Melville islands, both dated to ～22 ka BP. These dates imply that these islands constitute the northeast extremity of Beringia.A fundamental revision of this model is now warranted based on widespread fieldwork across the adjacent coastlines of Banks and Melville islands, including new dating of glacial and marine landforms and sediments. On Dundas Peninsula, southern Melville Island, AMS ¹⁴C dates on ice-transported marine molluscs within the most extensive Laurentide till yield ages of 25–49 ka BP. These dates require that Late Wisconsinan ice advanced northwestward from Visount Melville Sound, excavating fauna spanning Marine Isotope Stage 3. Laurentide ice that crossed Dundas Peninsula (300 m asl) coalesced with Melville Island ice occupying Liddon Gulf. Coalescent Laurentide and Melville ice continued to advance westward through M'Clure Strait depositing granite erratics at ≥235 m asl that require grounded ice in M'Clure Strait, as do streamlined bedforms on the channel floor. Deglaciation is recorded by widespread meltwater channels that show both the initial separation of Laurentide and Melvile ice, and the successive retreat of Laurentide ice southward across Dundas Peninsula into Viscount Melville Sound. Sedimentation from these channels deposited deltas marking deglacial marine limit. Forty dates on shells collected from associated glaciomarine rhythmites record near-synchronous ice retreat from M'Clure Strait and Dundas Peninsula to north-central Victoria Island ～11.5 ka BP. Along the adjacent coast of Banks Island, deglacial shorelines also record the retreat of Laurentide ice both eastward through M'Clure Strait and southward into the island's interior. The elevation and age (～11.5 ka BP) of deglacial marine limit there is fully compatible with the record of ice retreat on Melville Island. The last retreat of ice from Mercy Bay (northern Banks Island), previously assigned to northward retreat into M'Clure Strait during the Early Wisconsinan, is contradicted by geomorphic evidence for southward retreat into the island's interior during the Late Wisconsinan. This revision of the pattern and age of ice retreat across northern Banks Island results in a significant simplification of the previous Quaternary model. Our observations support the amalgamation of multiple till sheets – previously assigned to at least three pre-Late Wisconsinan glaciations – into the Late Wisconsinan. This revision also removes their formally named marine transgressions and proglacial lakes for which evidence is lacking. Erratics were also widely observed armouring meltwater channels originating on the previously proposed never-glaciated landscape. An extensive Late Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet across the western Canadian Arctic is compatible with similar evidence for extensive Laurentide ice entering the Richardson Mountains (Yukon) farther south and with the Innuitian Ice Sheet to the north. Widespread Late Wisconsinan ice, in a region previously thought to be too arid to sustain it, has important implications for paleoclimate, ice sheet modelling, Arctic Ocean ice and sediment delivery, and clarifying the northeast limit of Beringia.     

Late Quaternary seismic stratigraphy and geological development of the south Vøring margin,Norwegian Sea

High-resolution seismic data and sediment cores show that an up to 280 m thick sedimentary sequence has been deposited on the south Vøring margin, off mid-Norway, the last ca 250 ka. The sedimentary succession has been divided into six seismic units, dominated by hemipelagic sediments. Five wedge-shaped massive sequences, of marine isotope stages 8, 6 and 2, interfinger the hemipelagic deposits on the upper slope. The wedge-shaped sequences represent glacigenic debris flows that have been fed by till transported to the shelf edge by grounded ice sheets during maximum glaciations. The hemipelagic units show well-defined depocentres, of various thicknesses, on the upper continental slope. Seismic facies interpretation indicates that the sediment distribution locally has been controlled by currents. Commonly, the hemipelagic units are characterised by parallel and continuous reflectors. However, the second youngest unit identified, deposited between 15.7 and 15.0 ¹⁴C ka BP, is acoustic transparent. We suggest that this unit has been sourced by along-slope transported meltwater plume deposits, released during the initial stage of the last deglaciation of the Norwegian Channel. The hemipelagic sedimentation rates have varied considerably throughout the studied time period. Until ca 21 ¹⁴C ka BP the rates did not exceed 1.4 m/kyr, whereas during the Last Glacial Maximum the rates increased and reached values of about 36 m/kyr before decreasing again at ca 15 ¹⁴C ka BP. Observation of iceberg scourings, of MIS 8 age, about 800 m below the present day sea level, suggest that the south Vøring margin has subsided by a rate of 1.2 m/kyr in the Late Quaternary.     

AMS 14C dating of deglacial events in the Irish Sea Basin and other sectors of the British–Irish ice sheet

Sedimentary sequences deposited by the decaying marine margin of the British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) record isostatic depression and successive ice sheet retreat towards centres of ice dispersion. Radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) of in situ marine microfaunas that are commonly associated with these sequences constrain the timing of glacial and sea level fluctuations during the last deglaciation, enabling us to evaluate the dynamics of the BIIS and its response to North Atlantic climate change. Here we use our radiocarbon-dated stratigraphy to define six major glacial and sea level events since the Last Glacial Maximum. (1) Initial deglaciation may have occurred ⩾18.3 kyr ¹⁴C BP along the northwestern Irish coast, in agreement with a deglacial age of ∼22 ³⁶Cl kyr BP for southwestern Ireland. Ice retreated to inland centres and areas of transverse moraine began to form across the north Irish lowlands. (2) Channels cut into glaciomarine deglacial sediments along the western Irish Sea coast are graded to below present sea level, identifying a fall of relative sea level (RSL) in response to isostatic emergence of the coast. (3) Marine mud that rapidly infilled these channels records an abrupt rise in global sea level of 10–15 m ∼16.7 ¹⁴C kyr BP that flooded the Irish Sea coast and may have triggered deglaciation of a marine-based margin in Donegal Bay. (4) Intertidal boulder pavements in Dundalk Bay indicate that RSL ∼15.0 ¹⁴C kyr BP was similar to present. (5) A major readvance of all sectors of the BIIS occurred between 14 and 15 kyr ¹⁴C BP which overprinted subglacial transverse moraines and delivered a substantial sediment flux to tidewater ice sheet margins. This event, the Killard Point Stadial, indicates that the BIIS participated in Heinrich event 1. (6) Subsequent deposition of marine muds on drumlins 12.7 ¹⁴C kyr BP indicates isostatic depression and attendant high RSL resulting from the Killard Point readvance. These events identify a dynamic BIIS during the last deglaciation, as well as significant changes in RSL that reflect a combination of isostatic loading and eustatic changes in global sea level.     

Compositional variability of ice‐rafted debris in Heinrich layers 1 and 2 on the northwest European continental slope identified by environmental magnetic analyses

The composition of ice‐rafted debris (IRD) within a sediment core from the European continental slope (core OMEX‐2K; 49° 5′ N, 13° 26′ W) has been examined using environmental magnetic analyses. The data demonstrate compositional variability of the IRD within Heinrich layers 2 (H2) and 1 (H1) and these differences are most readily explained by changes in the contribution of different IRD sources to the core site. Some IRD within the main Heinrich layers show magnetic signatures that are similar to IRD derived from the Laurentide ice sheet found in cores from within the main North Atlantic IRD‐belt. In contrast, other IRD‐rich layers, both prior to and within the main Heinrich layers, demonstrate different magnetic behaviour, suggesting a contribution from a non‐Laurentide sourced IRD, most likely derived from ice streams discharging from northeast Atlantic ice sheets such as the British and Fennoscandian ice sheets. These data are consistent with published compositional data from the same core and, given the rapid, highly sensitive and non‐destructive nature of the method, suggest that environmental magnetic analysis has considerable potential for characterising IRD materials within Heinrich layers for the purposes of defining provenance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet dynamics in Arctic Canada inferred from young erratics perched on ancient tors

A long-standing debate regarding the reconstruction of former ice sheets revolves around the use of relative weathering of landscapes, i.e., the assumption that highly weathered landscapes have not been recently glaciated. New cosmogenic isotope measurements from upland bedrock surfaces and erratics along the northeastern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) shed light on this debate. ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al concentrations from three perched erratics, yielding cosmogenic exposure ages of 17–11 ka, are much lower than those measured in two unmodified, highly weathered tors upon which they lie, which yield cosmogenic exposure ages of >60 ka. These findings suggest that non-erosive ice covered weathered upland surfaces along the northeastern margin of the LIS during the last glacial maximum. These data challenge the use of relative weathering to define the margins of Pleistocene ice sheets. The juxtaposition of non-erosive ice over upland plateaus and erosive ice in adjacent fiords requires strong gradients in basal thermal regimes, suggestive of an ice-stream mode of glaciation.     

Radiocarbon deglaciation chronology of the Thunder Bay,Ontario area and implications for ice sheet retreat patterns

The sensitivity of ice sheets to climate change influences the return of meltwater to the oceans. Here we track the Laurentide Ice Sheet along a ～400 km long transect spanning about 6000 yr of retreat during the major climate oscillations of the lateglacial. Thunder Bay, Ontario is near a major topographic drainage divide, thus terrestrial ablation processes are the primary forcers of ice margin recession in the study area. During deglaciation three major moraine sets were produced, and have been assigned minimum ages of 13.9 ± 0.2, 12.3 ± 0.2–12.1 ± 0.1, and 11.2 ± 0.2 cal ka BP from south to north. These define a slow retreat (～10–50 m/a) prior to major climate oscillations which was then followed by a factor of ～2 increase during the Bölling–Alleröd, and an additional increase during the early Holocene. When compared to retreat rates in other terrestrial settings of the ice sheet, nearly identical patterns emerge. However this becomes problematic because a key control on retreat rates is the surface slope of the ice sheet and this should vary considerably over areas of so-called hard and soft beds. Further these ice margin reconstructions would not allow meltwater sourced in the Hudson Basin to drain into the Atlantic basin until after Younger Dryas time.     

40Ar/39Ar ages and 40Ar* concentrations of fine-grained sediment fractions from North Atlantic Heinrich layers

New K/Ar ages based on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar incremental heating of <2- and 2–20-μm size fractions of the well-characterized, carbonate-bearing Heinrich layers of core V28-82 in the eastern North Atlantic are 846–1049 Ma, overlapping with conventional K/Ar ages from the same Heinrich layers on the Dreizack seamounts of 844–1074 Ma. This agreement suggests the equivalence of the methods in fine-grained terrigenous sediments. Additionally, Heinrich layer H2 yielded a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar-based K/Ar age of 970±4 from Orphan Knoll in the southern Labrador Sea, within the range found in eastern North Atlantic Heinrich layers. Thus, the K/Ar data are robust in their indication of a dominant Labrador Sea ice-rafted source to even the finest sediment fraction in the eastern North Atlantic during the massive detrital carbonate-bearing Heinrich events of the last glacial cycle (H1, H2, H4, H5). Close correspondence of the radiogenic argon concentration (⁴⁰Ar*) from the de-carbonated <63-μm fractions from V28-82 with the <2- and 2–16-μm fractions from the Driezack seamounts demonstrates that this measurement is a rapid and reliable method for correlating these layers within their belt of distribution.A ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar-based K/Ar age of 433±5 million years for H11 in V28-82 is within the range of published data from background sediments in the eastern North Atlantic, and is consistent with published results across this interval in the Driezack seamounts. In contrast, the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar-based K/Ar age of H11 in the western Atlantic core EW9303-JPC37 is 614±5 million years. A brick red sample from approximately the interval of H3 of core EW9303-GGC40 yielded a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar-based K/Ar age of 567±1 million years, comparable to the published range of 523–543 Ma from the 2–16-μm fractions from that interval on the Dreizack seamounts. Both JPC37 and GGC40 are located in the path of the North Atlantic Drift. The older ages from western samples of H3 and H11 may result from dilution of a Hudson Strait source or an elevated age from southeastern Laurentide sources.     

Calibration of GA1550 biotite standard for K/Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating

The mineral separate GA1550 biotite has become an international standard for K/Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating studies, although it was prepared as an intralaboratory standard at ANU to monitor tracer depletion from a gas pipette. It is one of a small number of samples that has been calibrated against ³⁸Ar tracers, some of which had been mixed with known amounts of atmospheric argon, so that a so-called primary calibration has been performed. By measuring GA1550 biotite against additional tracers from the same batch we have determined the radiogenic argon content of this sample as 1.342 (± 0.007) × 10^? 9 mol/g, and together with the measured K content of 7.645 (± 0.050) weight percent, we derive a best estimate for the K/Ar age as 98.5 ± 0.5 Ma, where the error is derived from averaging the ages determined relative to the ³⁸Ar tracer.     

Major changes in ice stream dynamics during deglaciation of the north-western margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

Victoria Island lies at the north-western limit of the former North American (Laurentide) Ice Sheet in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and displays numerous cross-cutting glacial lineations. Previous work suggests that several ice streams operated in this region during the last (Wisconsinan) glaciation and played a major role in ice sheet dynamics and the delivery of icebergs into the Arctic Ocean. This paper produces the first detailed synthesis of their behaviour from the Last Glacial Maximum through to deglaciation (～21–9.5 cal ka BP) based on new mapping and a previously published radiocarbon-constrained ice sheet margin chronology. Over 70 discrete ice flow events (flow-sets) are ‘fitted’ to the ice margin configuration to allow identification of several ice streams ranging in size from large and long-lived (thousands of years) to much smaller and short-lived (hundreds of years). The reconstruction depicts major ice streams in M'Clure Strait and Amundsen Gulf which underwent relatively rapid retreat from the continental shelf edge at some time between ～15.2 and 14.1 cal ka BP: a period which encompasses climatic warming and rapid sea level rise (meltwater pulse-1a). Following this, overall retreat was slower and the ice streams exhibited asynchronous behaviour. The Amundsen Gulf Ice Stream continued to operate during ice margin retreat, whereas the M'Clure Strait Ice Stream ceased operating and was replaced by an ice divide within ～1000 years. This ice divide was subsequently obliterated by another short-lived phase of ice streaming in M'Clintock Channel ～13 cal ka BP. The timing of this large ice discharge event coincides with the onset of the Younger Dryas. Subsequently, a minor ice divide developed once again in M'Clintock Channel, before final deglaciation of the island shortly after 9.5 cal ka BP. It is concluded that large ice streams at the NW margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, equivalent in size to the Hudson Strait Ice Stream, underwent major changes during deglaciation, resulting in punctuated delivery of icebergs into the Arctic Ocean. Published radiocarbon dates constrain this punctuated delivery, as far as is possible within the limits imposed by their precision, and we note their coincidence with pulses of meltwater delivery inferred from numerical modelling and ocean sediment cores.     

Fluid inclusion geochemistry and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology constraints on the genesis of the Jianchaling Au deposit,China

The giant Jianchaling gold deposit is located in the Shaanxi Province, China. The mineralization is hosted by WNW-trending faults in the Mianxian-Lueyang-Yangpingguan (MLY) area. The mineralization can be divided into three stages based on mineralogical assemblages and crosscutting relationships of mineralized quartz veins. These stages, from early to late, are characterized by the mineral assemblage of: (1) quartz – coarse-grained pyrite – pyrrhotite – pentlandite – dolomite; (2) quartz – pyrite – gold – sphalerite – galena – carbonate – arsenopyrite – fuchsite; and (3) dolomite – calcite – quartz – fine-grained pyrite – realgar – orpiment.Three types of fluid inclusions have been recognized in this study based on petrographic and microthermometric measurements, including pure CO₂ and/or CH₄ (PC-type), NaCl-H₂O (W-type), and NaCl-CO₂-H₂O (C-type) fluid inclusions. These fluid inclusion types are present in quartz from the Stage 1 and 2 assemblages, whereas the Stage 3 quartz only contains W-type fluid inclusions. The Stage 2 assemblage is associated with the mineralization at the Jianchaling deposit. Fluid inclusions of Stage 1 quartz homogenize mainly between 250° and 360 °C, with salinities up to 15.6 wt.% NaCl equiv., whereas the Stage 3 dolomite with homogenization temperatures of 160° – 220 °C and salinities of 1.1–7.4 wt.% NaCl equiv. This indicates that the ore fluid system evolved from CO₂-rich, probably metamorphic hydrothermal to CO₂-poor, meteoric fluid. All three types of fluid inclusions can be observed in the Stage 2 quartz, suggesting that this heterogeneous association was trapped from a boiling fluid system. These inclusions homogenized at temperatures of 200°–250 °C and salinities of 1.2–12.4 wt.% NaCl equiv. The estimated trapping pressures of the fluid inclusions are between 117 and 354 MPa in Stage 1, suggesting an alternating lithostatic–hydrostatic fluid system, which was controlled by a fault-valve at the depth of ~ 12 km.Two fuchsite samples collected from the Stage 2 polymetallic-quartz veins yielded well-defined ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar isotopic plateau ages of 197 ± 2 and 194 ± 2 Ma, and ³⁹Ar/³⁶Ar-⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar normal isochrones of 198 ± 2 and 199 ± 2 Ma. This indicates that the mineralization at Jianchaling is Early Jurassic (ca. 198 Ma) in age. We propose that Jianchaling is an orogenic gold deposit, and formed during continental collision related to the northward subduction of the Mian-Lue oceanic plate during the Early Jurassic. We also conclude that the beginning of the continental collision between the Yangtze and the North China Cratons took place around 200 Ma.     

Age and composition of Antarctic sub-glacial bedrock reflected by detrital zircons,erratics, and recycled microfossils in the Ellsworth Land–Antarctic Peninsula–Weddell Sea–Dronning Maud Land sector (240°E–0°–015°E)

The age and composition of the 14 × 10⁶ km² of Antarctica's surface obscured by ice is unknown except for some dated detrital minerals and erratics. In remedy, we present four new analyses (U–Pb age, T_DM^C, εHf, and rock type) of detrital zircons from Neogene turbidites as proxies of Antarctic bedrock, and review published proxies: detrital hornblendes analysed for Ar–Ar age and bulk Sm–Nd isotopes; Pb isotope compositions of detrital K-feldspars; erratics and dropstones that reflect age and composition; and recycled microfossils that reflect age and facies. This work deals with the 240°E–0°–015°E sector, and complements Veevers and Saeed's (2011) analysis of the 70°E–240°E sector. Each sample is located in its ice-drainage basin for backtracking to the potential provenance. Gaps in age between sample and upslope exposure are specifically attributable to the provenance. The major provenance of detritus west of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is West Antarctica, and of detritus east of the AP East Antarctica. We confirm that the Central Antarctic provenance about a core of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains (GSM) and the Vostok Subglacial Highlands (VSH) contains a basement that includes igneous (mafic granitoids) and metamorphic rocks with peak U–Pb ages of 0.65–0.50, 1.20–0.9, 2.1–1.9, 2.8–2.6, and 3.35–3.30 Ga, T_DM^C of 3.6–1.3 Ga, and mainly negative εHf. The potential provenance of zircons of 650–500 Ma age with T_DM^C ages of 1.55 Ga, and of zircons of 1200–900 Ma age with positive εHf lies beneath the ice in East Antarctica south and southeast of Dronning Maud Land within the Antarctic part of the East African–Antarctic Orogen. Zircons with the additional ages of 1.7–1.4 Ga, 2.1–1.9 Ga, and 3.35–3.00 Ga have a potential provenance in the GSM.     

Growth,dynamics and deglaciation of the last British–Irish ice sheet: the deep-sea ice-rafted detritus record

The evolution and dynamics of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) have hitherto largely been reconstructed from onshore and shallow marine glacial geological and geomorphological data. This reconstruction has been problematic because these sequences and data are spatially and temporally incomplete and fragmentary. In order to enhance BIIS reconstruction, we present a compilation of new and previously published ice-rafted detritus (IRD) flux and concentration data from high-resolution sediment cores recovered from the NE Atlantic deep-sea continental slope adjacent to the last BIIS. These cores are situated adjacent to the full latitudinal extent of the last BIIS and cover Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 2 and 3. Age models are based on radiocarbon dating and graphical tuning of abundances of the polar planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral (% Nps) to the Greenland GISP2 ice core record. Multiple IRD fingerprinting techniques indicate that, at the selected locations, most IRD are sourced from adjacent BIIS ice streams except in the centre of Heinrich (H) layers in which IRD shows a prominent Laurentide Ice Sheet provenance. IRD flux data are interpreted with reference to a conceptual model explaining the relations between flux, North Atlantic hydrography and ice dynamics. Both positive and rapid negative mass balance can cause increases, and prominent peaks, in IRD flux. First-order interpretation of the IRD record indicates the timing of the presence of the BIIS with an actively calving marine margin. The records show a coherent latitudinal, but partly phased, signal during MIS 3 and 2. Published data indicate that the last BIIS initiated during the MIS 5/4 cooling transition; renewed growth just before H5 (46 ka) was succeeded by very strong millennial-scale variability apparently corresponding with Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) cycles closely coupled to millennial-scale climate variability in the North Atlantic region involving latitudinal migration of the North Atlantic Polar Front. This indicates that the previously defined “precursor events” are not uniquely associated with H events but are part of the millennial-scale variability. Major growth of the ice sheet occurred after 29 ka with the Barra Ice Stream attaining a shelf-edge position and generating turbiditic flows on the Barra–Donegal Fan at ～27 ka. The ice sheet reached its maximum extent at H2 (24 ka), earlier than interpreted in previous studies. Rapid retreat, initially characterised by peak IRD flux, during Greenland Interstadial 2 (23 ka) was followed by readvance between 22 and 16 ka. Readvance during H1 was only characterised by BIIS ice streams draining central dome(s) of the ice sheet, and was followed by rapid deglaciation and ice exhaustion. The evidence for a calving margin and IRD supply from the BIIS during Greenland Stadial 1 (Younger Dryas event) is equivocal. The timing of the initiation, maximum extent, deglacial and readvance phases of the BIIS interpreted from the IRD flux record is strongly supported by recent independent data from both the Irish Sea and North Sea sectors of the ice sheet.     

Evidence for Late Pleistocene ice stream activity in the Witch Ground Basin,central North Sea,from 3D seismic reflection data

Buried submarine landforms mapped on 3D reflection seismic data sets provide the first glacial geomorphic evidence for glacial occupation of the central North Sea by two palaeo-ice-streams, between 58–59°N and 0–1°E. Streamlined subglacial bedforms (mega-scale glacial lineations) and iceberg plough marks, within the top 80 m of the Quaternary sequence, record the presence and subsequent break-up of fast-flowing grounded ice sheets in the region during the late Pleistocene. The lengths of individual mega-scale glacial lineations vary from ∼5 to ∼20 km and the distance between lineations typically ranges from 100 to 1000 m. The lineations incise to a depth of 10–12 m, with trough widths of ∼100 m. The most extensive and best-preserved set of lineations, is attributed to the action of a late Weichselian ice stream which either drained the NE sector of the British–Irish ice sheet or was sourced from the SW within the Fennoscandian ice sheet. The 30–50 km wide palaeo ice-stream is imaged along its flow direction for 90 km, trending NW–SE. An older set of less well-preserved lineations is interpreted as an earlier Weichselian or Saalian ice-stream, and records ice flow in an SW–NE orientation. Cored sedimentary records, tied to 3D seismic observations, support grounded ice sheet coverage in the central North Sea during the last glaciation and indicate that ice flowed over a muddy substrate that is interpreted as a deformation till. The identification of a late Weichselian ice stream in the Witch Ground area of the North Sea basin provides independent geomorphic evidence in support of ice-sheet reconstructions that favour complete ice coverage of the North Sea between Scotland and Norway during the Last Glacial Maximum.     

Astronomical time-scale for physical property records from Quaternary sediments of the northern North Atlantic

Deep sea sediment cores taken between 50° and 75°N in the North Atlantic, in water depths varying between 1340 and 3850 m, were examined to provide an astronomically calibrated late Quaternary time-scale based on physical property records. Magnetic susceptibility and gamma ray attenuation porosity evaluator (GRAPE) density changes of these cores revealed significant responses to orbital forcing in the eccentricity (100 kyr), obliquity (41 kyr) and precessional (23, 19 kyr) bands. At 75°N (Greenland Sea), a response to obliquity forcing was weak despite the fact that it should become more pronounced in sediments at high latitudes. Application of bandpass filtering at the obliquity period (41 kyr), however, showed that variance at this period did exist in the magnetic susceptibility record, but at a very low power. At 50°N stacked curves of magnetic susceptibility correlated strongly with the SPECMAP curve for the past 500 ka. Since about 65 ka, dropstone layers are recorded in both magnetic susceptibility and GRAPE data of Rockall Plateau sediments. Although Rockall Plateau sediments show peaks in physical properties that correlate with Heinrich events (H₁, H₂, H₄, H₅, H₆), such a relationship was not readily observed in Norwegian-Greenland Sea records. Heinrich events at Rockall Plateau sites indicate a northward flow of icebergs in the eastern North Atlantic. This flow pattern and the presence of Heinrich events during the past 65 ka raise the questions of whether similar events occurred before this time period, and to what kind of ice sheet dynamics and climatic-oceanographic conditions favoured major iceberg surges from the Laurentide ice sheet to the North Atlantic at 50°N.     

40Ar/39Ar age pattern associated with differential uplift along the Eastern Highlands shear zone,Cape Breton Island,Canadian Appalachians

The Eastern Highlands shear zone in Cape Breton Island is a crustal scale thrust. It is characterized by an amphibolite-facies deformation zone ∼5 km wide formed deep in the crust that is overprinted by a greenschist-facies mylonite zone ∼1 km wide that formed at a more shallow level. Hornblende ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages on the hanging wall decrease towards the centre of the shear zone. In the older zone (over 7.8 km from the centre), the ages are between ∼565 and ∼545 Ma; in the younger zone (within 4.5 km of the centre), they are between ∼425 and ∼415 Ma; and in the transitional zone in between, they decrease abruptly from ∼545 to ∼425 Ma. Pressures of crystallization of plutons in the hanging wall, based on the Al-in-hornblende barometer and corresponding to depth of emplacement, increase towards the centre of the shear zone and indicate a differential uplift of up to ∼28 km associated with movement along the shear zone. The age pattern is interpreted to have resulted from the differential uplift. The pressure data show that rocks exposed in the younger zone were buried deep in the crust and did not cool through the hornblende Ar blocking temperature (∼500°C) until differential uplift occurred. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages in the zone (∼425–415 Ma) thus date shear zone movement or the last stage of it. In contrast, rocks in the older zone were more shallowly buried before differential uplift and cooled through the blocking temperature soon after the emplacement of ∼565–555 Ma plutons in the area, long before shear zone movement. The transitional zone corresponds to the Ar partial retention zone before differential uplift. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age pattern thus reflects a Neoproterozoic to Silurian cooling profile that was exposed as a result of differential uplift related to movement along the shear zone. A similar K–Ar age pattern has been reported for the Alpine fault in New Zealand. It is suggested that such isotopic age patterns can be used to help constrain the ages, kinematics, displacements and depth of penetration of shear zones.