Palaeoclimatic changes in Kveithola, Svalbard, during the Late Pleistocene deglaciation and Holocene: Evidences from microfossil and sedimentary records

Abstract

Climate changes are reflected in the Arctic ecosystem history over different timescales. We use a multi proxy-based approach for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions, conducted on sediment cores, compared with summer insolation and Greenland ice core δ18O data in order to establish a framework for climate changes from Late Pleistocene to late Holocene. Our dataset includes the results compiled from a sediment core, collected on the middle slope of the Kveithola Trough Mouth Fan (South of Svalbard) during the CORIBAR cruise (2013). The studied core presents remarkable lithological and magnetic susceptibility similarities with cores recovered in the same area during the SVAIS (2007) and the OGS-EGLACOM cruise (2008), allowing the construction of the age model. The results indicate that during the last 14.5calkyBP advances and retreats of the Svalbard Barents Sea Ice Sheet were strictly linked to the interplay of Atlantic and Arctic water inflows to the study area. During the deglaciation, from the Last Glacial Maximum to the onset of the Holocene, the climate underwent a series of abrupt changes including the Bølling-Allerød warm interstadial and the Younger Dryas cold event. During the early Holocene, the investigated area was dominated by enhanced warm Atlantic water inflow, which was concomitant with summer insolation increase, characterizing the Holocene Thermal Maximum. Conversely, the late Holocene was governed by deteriorating climatic conditions, with predominant Arctic/Polar water inflow on the surface water masses off Western Svalbard, possibly associated with summer insolation decline due to orbital forcing.