Hydrological and temperature change in Arctic Siberia during the intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation

Abstract

The Pliocene epoch represents an analog for future climate, with atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and continental configurations similar to present. Although the presence of multiple positive feedbacks in polar regions leads to amplified climatic changes, conditions in the Pliocene terrestrial Arctic are poorly characterized. High latitude sedimentary records indicate that dramatic glacial advance and decay occurred in the Pliocene Arctic, with attendant effects on global sea-level. Understanding these deposits and their implications for Earth's future requires developing a sense of climatic evolution across the Pliocene–Pleistocene transition and during the intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (iNHG) ∼2.7 million yr ago (Ma). Here we reconstruct Arctic terrestrial environmental change from 2.82–2.41 Ma (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) G10–95) using the distribution of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) and the isotopic composition of plant leaf waxes (δDwax) in a sedimentary archive from Lake El'gygytgyn, Northeast Russia. Our records reveal changes in proxy behavior across this interval that we attribute to changing boundary conditions, including sea level, sea ice, vegetation and pCO2 during different MISs. We find that brGDGT temperatures and δDwax are decoupled for most of the record, although both show an increasing range of glacial–interglacial variability following iNHG. δDwax is stable from MIS G10–G4 despite changes in vegetation and temperature, suggesting different sources or pathways for moisture to Lake El'gygytgyn during the Late Pliocene.