Multiproxy characterization and budgeting of terrigenous end‐members at the NW African continental margin

Abstract

Grain‐size, terrigenous element and rock magnetic remanence data of Quaternary marine sediments retrieved at the NW African continental margin off Gambia (gravity core GeoB 13602–1, 13°32.71′N, 17°50.96′W) were jointly analyzed by end‐member (EM) unmixing methods to distinguish and budget past terrigenous fluxes. We compare and cross‐validate the identified single‐parameter EM systems and develop a numerical strategy to calculate associated multiparameter EM properties. One aeolian and two fluvial EMs were found. The aeolian EM is much coarser than the fluvial EMs and is associated with a lower goethite/hematite ratio, a higher relative concentration of magnetite and lower Al/Si and Fe/K ratios. Accumulation rates and grain sizes of the fluvial sediment appear to be primarily constrained by shore distance (i.e., sea level fluctuations) and to a lesser extent by changes in hinterland precipitation. High dust fluxes occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during Heinrich Stadials (HS) while the fluvial input remained unchanged. Our approach reveals that the LGM dust fluxes were ∼7 times higher than today's. However, by far the highest dust accumulation occurred during HS 1 (∼300 g m−2 yr −1), when dust fluxes were ∼80 fold higher than today. Such numbers have not yet been reported for NW Africa, and emphasize strikingly different environmental conditions during HSs. They suggest that deflation rate and areal extent of HSs dust sources were much larger due to retreating vegetation covers. Beyond its regional and temporal scope, this study develops new, in principle, generally applicable strategies for multimethod end‐member interpretation, validation and flux budgeting calibration.