Central Arctic surface ocean environment during the past 80,000 years

Abstract

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope and sedimentological‐paleontological investigations supported by accelerator mass spectrometry 14C datings were carried out on cores from north of 85°N in the eastern central Arctic Ocean. Significant changes in accumulation rates, provenance of ice‐rafted debris (IRD), and planktic productivity over the past 80,000 years are documented. During peak glacials, i.e., oxygen isotope stages 4 and 2, the Arctic Ocean was covered by sea ice with decreased seasonal variation, limiting planktic productivity and bulk sedimentation rates. In early stage 3 and during Termination I, major deglaciations of the circum‐Arctic regions caused lowered salinities and poor oxygenation of central Arctic surface waters. A meltwater spike and an associated IRD peak dated to ∼14–12 14C ka can be traced over the southern Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. This event was associated with the early and rapid deglaciation of the marine‐based Barents Sea Ice Sheet. A separate Termination Ib meltwater event is most conspicuous in the central Arctic and is associated with characteristic dolomitic carbonate IRD. This lithology suggests an origin of glacial ice from northern Canada and northern Greenland where lower Paleozoic platform carbonates crop extensively out.