Role of glacial Arctic Ocean ice sheets in Pleistocene oxygen isotope and sea level records

Abstract

A comparison of the oxygen isotope signal in deep-sea benthic foraminifera with the record of glacio-eustatic sea level for the last 160,000 years reveals that the amplitude of the benthic δ 18O records predicts more continental ice volume than appears to be reflected in lowered sea level stands. These differences between the benthic δ 18O ice volume estimates and radiometrically-dated records of eustatic sea level are consistent with the presence of a large floating Arctic Ocean ice mass during glacial intervals. The presence of an Arctic Ocean ice sheet during glacial intervals may account for the two climatic modes observed in oxygen isotope records which span the entire Pleistocene. The early Pleistocene (1.8 to 0.9 Myr B.P.) interval is characterized by low-amplitude, high-frequency δ 18O fluctuations between glacial and interglacial periods, while the late Pleistocene (0.9 Myr B.P. to present) is characterized by large-amplitude, low-frequency δ 18O changes. These two climatic modes can be explained by the initiation of earth orbital conditions favoring the co-occurrence of glacial period Arctic Ocean ice sheets and large continental ice sheets approximately 900,000 years before present.