Abstract
Abstract. Nick Shackleton's research on piston cores from the Iberian margin highlighted the importance of this region for providing high-fidelity records of millennial-scale climate variability, and for correlating climate events from the marine environment to polar ice cores and European terrestrial sequences. During the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 339, we sought to extend the Iberian margin sediment record by drilling with the D/V JOIDES Resolution. Five holes were cored at Site U1385 using the advanced piston corer (APC) system to a maximum depth of ~155.9 m below sea floor (m b.s.f.). Immediately after the expedition, cores from all holes were analyzed by core scanning X-ray fluorescence (XRF) at 1 cm spatial resolution. Ca/Ti data were used to accurately correlate from hole-to-hole and construct a composite spliced section, containing no gaps or disturbed intervals to 166.5 m composite depth (mcd). A low-resolution (20 cm sample spacing) oxygen isotope record confirms that Site U1385 contains a continuous record of hemipelagic sedimentation from the Holocene to 1.43 Ma (Marine Isotope Stage 46). The sediment profile at Site U1385 extends across the middle Pleistocene transition (MPT) with sedimentation rates averaging ~10 cm kyr−1. Strong precession cycles in colour and elemental XRF signals provide a powerful tool for developing an orbitally tuned reference timescale. Site U1385 is likely to become an important type section for marine–ice–terrestrial core correlations and the study of orbital- and millennial-scale climate variability.
Highlights
Few marine sediment cores have played such a pivotal role in paleoclimate research as those from the southwestern Iberian margin (Fig. 1; hereafter referred to as the “Shackleton sites”)
The site is located on a spur, the Promonotorio dos Principes de Avis, along the continental slope of the southwestern Iberian margin, which is elevated above the abyssal plain and influence of turbidites
If we assume the correlation between rapid temperature changes on the Iberian margin and over Greenland has held for older glacial periods, a long millennially resolved record from Site U1385 might serve as a marine sediment proxy record for the Greenland ice core beyond the age of the oldest undisturbed ice (∼ 124 ka)
Summary
Few marine sediment cores have played such a pivotal role in paleoclimate research as those from the southwestern Iberian margin (Fig. 1; hereafter referred to as the “Shackleton sites”). Nick Shackleton’s original interest in the Iberian margin was to correlate marine sediment cores with European pollen stratigraphies, but the unexpected correlation of core MD95-2042 to the polar ice cores proved to be an exceptional windfall. Shackleton et al (2000, 2004) showed that the planktic oxygen isotopic record could be correlated precisely to temperature variations (i.e. δ18O) in Greenland ice cores, especially during MIS3 (Fig. 2). Obtaining a long sediment record from the Iberian margin (Abrantes et al, 2010). APL-763 was approved for drilling and scheduled as part of the IODP Expedition 339, whose main purpose was to study the history of Mediterranean Outflow Water (see Hernández-Molina et al, this issue)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
