New data from the 40 year old Dye3 core

Author(s):  
Thomas Blunier ◽  
Janani Venkatesh ◽  
David Aaron Soestmeyer ◽  
Jesper Baldtzer Liisberg ◽  
Rachael Rhodes ◽  
...  

<p>The Dye3 core was drilled at Dye3 (65°11’N, 43°50’W) in 1979 – 1981. The core has been analyzed for numerous components over the last decades. We measured remaining sections, the Younger Dryas and a larger portion of the last glacial, in a continuous flow setup in fall 2019. Here we focus on gas measurements. We measured methane, δ<sup>15</sup>N, δ<sup>40</sup>Ar, and the elemental ratio of Ar and N<sub>2</sub>. We present the continuous flow setup for measuring those components in parallel and first results with a focus on the exact timing of changes in methane and δ<sup>15</sup>N and δ<sup>40</sup>Ar at the Younger Dryas and Dansgaard-Oeschger transitions. </p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (38) ◽  
pp. 23408-23417
Author(s):  
Hai Cheng ◽  
Haiwei Zhang ◽  
Christoph Spötl ◽  
Jonathan Baker ◽  
Ashish Sinha ◽  
...  

The Younger Dryas (YD), arguably the most widely studied millennial-scale extreme climate event, was characterized by diverse hydroclimate shifts globally and severe cooling at high northern latitudes that abruptly punctuated the warming trend from the last glacial to the present interglacial. To date, a precise understanding of its trigger, propagation, and termination remains elusive. Here, we present speleothem oxygen-isotope data that, in concert with other proxy records, allow us to quantify the timing of the YD onset and termination at an unprecedented subcentennial temporal precision across the North Atlantic, Asian Monsoon-Westerlies, and South American Monsoon regions. Our analysis suggests that the onsets of YD in the North Atlantic (12,870 ± 30 B.P.) and the Asian Monsoon-Westerlies region are essentially synchronous within a few decades and lead the onset in Antarctica, implying a north-to-south climate signal propagation via both atmospheric (decadal-time scale) and oceanic (centennial-time scale) processes, similar to the Dansgaard–Oeschger events during the last glacial period. In contrast, the YD termination may have started first in Antarctica at ∼11,900 B.P., or perhaps even earlier in the western tropical Pacific, followed by the North Atlantic between ∼11,700 ± 40 and 11,610 ± 40 B.P. These observations suggest that the initial YD termination might have originated in the Southern Hemisphere and/or the tropical Pacific, indicating a Southern Hemisphere/tropics to North Atlantic–Asian Monsoon-Westerlies directionality of climatic recovery.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Kadereit ◽  
Nora Pfaffner ◽  
Sebastian Kreutzer ◽  
Tianhao Wang ◽  
Sophie Cornu ◽  
...  

<p>Loess-palaeosol sequences are most important archives for reconstructing terrestrial palaeoenvironments. However, in the European Mediterranean, these archives are surprisingly scarcely investigated. In southern France, respective sediment-soil archives were last investigated in more detail in the middle of the last century, when major construction works in the region provided access to numerous loess exposures. However, this was before the breakthrough of luminescence-dating as a major chronometric method for the Later Pleistocene. Thus, the loess was poorly dated. Later, Mediterranean loess archives attracted fewer researchers than their central-European counterparts. Reasons for this may be that, compared to the loess belt of temperate Europe, Mediterranean loess deposits are often reworked and mixed with slope deposits. Moreover, palaeosols that developed during climate ameliorations of the last glacial period seem to reflect less pronounced temperature and humidity shifts than those in temperate regions. The most prominent palaeosol developed within the last-glacial loess in the Rhône Valley is a brown palaeosol with large carbonate concretions at its base. However, it is usually severely truncated.</p><p>We allocated joint research efforts from groups in Germany and France to track last-glacial sedimentation and climate shifts in loess-palaeosol sections along the Rhône Valley, south of the confluence of the River Saone at Lyon. Thereby, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating serves as a vital tool for establishing chronometries for the loess-palaeosol sections in southern France, with first results from the Rhône Valley in Bosq et al. (2018, 2020). We summarize results from two sites that are regarded as key sections for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction along the Rhône Valley as evaluated from inspections during fieldwork, complemented by several smaller sections. Our presentation focusses on challenges met with OSL dating attempts of these Mediterranean archives and first achievements in backing the stratigraphies established by sediment-soil analyses in the field and laboratory by chronometric data.</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>Bosq, M., Bertran, P., Degeai, J.-P., Kreutzer, S., Queffelec, A., Moine, O., Morin, E., 2018. Last Glacial aeolian landforms and deposits in the Rhône Valley (SE France): Spatial distribution and grain-size characterization. Geomorphology 318, 1–20. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.06.010</p><p>Bosq, M., Kreutzer, S., Bertran, P., Degeai, J.-P., Dugas, P., Kadereit, A., Lanos, P., Moine, O., Pfaffner, N., Queffelec, A., Sauer, D., 2020. Chronostratigraphy of two Late Pleistocene loess-palaeosol sequences in the Rhône Valley (southeast France). Quaternary Science Reviews 245, 106473. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106473</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Søby Özdemir ◽  
Henrieka Detlef ◽  
Linda Lambertucci ◽  
Christof Pearce

<p>Little is known about climate and ocean conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum in Baffin Bay, Greenland. This is partly due to the dissolution of biogenic carbonates in the central Baffin Bay, preventing reliable <sup>14</sup>C-chronologies. We present the results from a transect of gravity cores retrieved during the 2019 BIOS cruise on the HDMS Lauge Koch in the northern Baffin Bay. Core LK19-ST8-14G has been analyzed for grain size variations, sea-ice biomarkers, XRF, and color spectrophotometry. A preliminary chronology based on radiocarbon dates from foraminifera show that the bottom of the core is approximately 35.000 cal. years BP while the top sediments are of Late Holocene age. The sediment archive thus covers the full extent of the LGM and the last deglaciation. High-resolution photography and CT scans allowed the identification of distinctly different lithofacies in the sediment archive. The lower sections of the core are characterized by laminated mud with no IRD and absence of microfossils indicating a sub ice-shelf environment during the glacial period. The laminated sequence is interrupted by several coarser, detrital-carbonate (DC) rich layers which are interpreted as episodes of glacial retreat or ice-shelf collapse. The youngest of these DC layers immediately precedes the Holocene, which is represented by approximately 40 cm of bioturbated sediments with some IRD. This interpretation is supported by the concentrations of HBIs and sterols throughout the core, which indicate near perennial ice cover in the glacial northern Baffin Bay and more open water conditions during the Holocene.</p>


The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 1535-1544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence M Dyke ◽  
Anna LC Hughes ◽  
Camilla S Andresen ◽  
Tavi Murray ◽  
John F Hiemstra ◽  
...  

Large marine-terminating glaciers around the margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet have retreated, accelerated and thinned over the last two decades. Relatively little is known about the longer term behaviour of the Greenland Ice Sheet, yet this information is valuable for assessing the significance of modern changes. We address this by reporting 11 new beryllium-10 (10Be) exposure ages from previously uninvestigated coastal areas across southeast Greenland. The new ages are combined with existing data from the region to assess the timing of glacier retreat after the Last Glacial Maximum. The results show that deglaciation occurred first in the north of the region (~68°N) and progressed southwards. This north–south progression is attributed to the influence of the warm Irminger Current on the ice margin. Areas in the south of the region were isolated from the warm waters by the shallow bathymetry of the continental shelf. This demonstrates that oceanographic forcing paced the deglaciation of southeast Greenland through the Younger Dryas and early Holocene. In most areas of southeast Greenland bedrock ages are systematically older than their counterpart boulder samples; this offset is likely the result of inherited 10Be content in bedrock surfaces. This suggests that subglacial erosion during the last glacial cycle was insufficient to completely remove pre-existing 10Be content. Alternatively, this pattern may be the signature of a substantial retreat and advance cycle prior to final Holocene deglaciation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Boyes ◽  
Lorna Linch ◽  
Danni Pearce

<p>The glacial history of the Kola Peninsula, northwest Arctic Russia, during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition (LGIT; c. 18-10 ka) is poorly understood, with some researchers suggesting that the region was glaciated by the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS; e.g. Hughes et al., 2016), and others suggesting that it was glaciated by an independent Ponoy Ice Cap (e.g. Astakhov et al., 2016). Furthermore, it is unclear if and where there was a periodic ice standstill during the Younger Dryas (c. 12.9-11.7 ka) cold stadial. This is the largest sector of Fennoscandia where glaciation is poorly constrained, which stems from low resolution geomorphological mapping, a lack of sedimentary analyses, and limited dating of glacial landforms and deposits on the Kola Peninsula.</p><p>Initial interpretations of geomorphological mapping and sedimentological analyses are presented. High resolution geomorphological mapping has, so far, demonstrated that the Kola Peninsula was glaciated by the FIS, which flowed from the Scandinavian mountains in the west and across the shield terrain of the Kola Peninsula, and not an independent Ponoy Ice Cap, as indicated by the west-east orientation of glacial lineations (e.g. drumlins, crag and tails, mega-scale glacial lineations), moraines, and meltwater channels. Up to four ice streams located in the western Kola Peninsula and the White Sea demonstrated in the glacial lineation record have also been identified. Furthermore, the Younger Dryas margin is proposed to be aligned north-south across the Kola Peninsula, flowing around the Khibiny Mountains, and forming an ice lobe in the White Sea, which is demonstrated by the moraine and meltwater landform assemblage. Moraines and lateral meltwater channels also suggest the Monche-tundra Mountains were exposed as nunataks, and that there were independent cirque and valley glaciers in the Lovozero and Khibiny Mountains at the periphery of the FIS during the Younger Dryas. In addition, glaciotectonised sediments identified in sedimentary analyses indicates the FIS underwent sustained readvances during retreat. This research will provide crucial empirical data for validating numerical model simulations of the FIS, which in turn will further our understanding of (de)glacial dynamics in other Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine regions.</p><p> </p><p>Astakhov, V., Shkatova, V., Zastrozhnov, A. and Chuyko, M. (2016). Glaciomorphological map of the Russian Federation. <em>Quaternary International, 420</em>, pp.4-14.</p><p>Hughes, A.L., Gyllencreutz, R., Lohne, Ø.S., Mangerud, J. and Svendsen, J.I. (2016). The last Eurasian ice sheets - a chronological database and time-slice reconstruction, DATED-1. <em>Boreas, 45</em>(1), pp.1-45.</p>


2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
HELEN KIRKUP ◽  
MARTIN MELLES ◽  
DAMIAN B. GORE

Analyses on a sediment core collected from the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica are used to demonstrate that climatic conditions in this region prior to the Last Glacial Maximum were similar to those during the Holocene and that the area was overrun by ice at some stage between 26 kyr BP and the onset of biogenic sedimentation 11 kyr BP. The 10.9 m long core was taken from a marine inlet (epishelf lake) on Peterson Island and is predominantly a sapropel of Holocene age. Material in the lower part of the core includes a till layer lain down during the last glacial in the region and below this till is material which has been dated to 26 kyr BP. Geochemical analyses conducted on the core demonstrate similarities between the Holocene sequence and the preglacial material. The Holocene sequence shows enhanced biogenic production and periods of open water around 4 kyr BP, suggesting a climatic optimum around that time. A subsequent decline in conditions, probably a colder climate with greater extent of sea ice, is evident from 1 kyr BP to the present. The data support results from ice core studies on nearby Law Dome, which suggest there was a period of warming around 11.5 to 9 kyr BP, that recent summer temperatures are low relative to a few centuries ago, and that increasing winter temperatures are the main contributing factor to a recent overall warming in the region.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Therre ◽  
Jens Fohlmeister ◽  
Dominik Fleitmann ◽  
Albert Matter ◽  
Stephen J. Burns ◽  
...  

Abstract. In this study, the dead carbon fraction (DCF) variations in stalagmite M1-5 from Socotra Island in the western Arabian Sea were investigated through a new set of high-precision U-series and radiocarbon (14C) dates. The data reveal an extreme case of very high and also climate dependent DCF values. For M1-5 an average DCF of 56.2 ± 3.4 % is observed between 27 and 18 kyr BP. Such high DCF values indicate a high influence of aged soil organic matter (SOM) and nearly completely closed system carbonate dissolution conditions. Towards the end of the last glacial period decreasing Mg/Ca ratios suggest an increase in precipitation which caused a marked change in the soil carbon cycling as indicated by sharply decreasing DCF. This is in contrast to the relation of soil infiltration and reservoir age observed in stalagmites from temperate zones. For Socotra Island, which is influenced by the East African–Indian monsoon, we propose that more humid conditions and enhanced net-infiltration after the LGM led to denser vegetation and thus lowered the DCF by increased 14CO2 input into the soil zone. The onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) is represented in the record by the end of DCF decrease with a sudden change to much higher and extremely variable reservoir ages. Our study highlights the dramatic variability of soil carbon cycling processes and vegetation feedback on Socotra Island manifested in stalagmite reservoir ages on both long-term trends and sub-centennial timescales, thus providing evidence for climate influence on stalagmite radiocarbon. This is of particular importance for studies focussing on 14C calibration and atmospheric reconstruction through stalagmites which relies on largely climate independent soil carbon cycling above the cave.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1959-1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Douville ◽  
M. Paterne ◽  
G. Cabioch ◽  
P. Louvat ◽  
J. Gaillardet ◽  
...  

Abstract. The "δ11B-pH" technique was applied to modern and ancient Porites from the sub-equatorial Pacific areas (Tahiti and Marquesas) spanning a time interval from 0 to 20 720 calendar years to determine the amplitude of pH changes between the Last Glacial Period and the Holocene. Boron isotopes were measured by Multi-Collector-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) with an external reproducibility of 0.25‰, allowing a precision of ±0.025 pH-units. The boron concentration [B] and isotopic composition of modern samples indicate that the temperature strongly controls the partition coefficient KD for different aragonite species. Modern coral δ11B values and the reconstructed sea surface pH values for different Pacific areas match the measured pH expressed on the Sea Water Scale and confirm the calculation parameters that were previously determined by laboratory calibration exercises. Most ancient sea surface pH reconstructions near Marquesas are higher than modern values. These values range between 8.20 and 8.26 for the Holocene and reached 8.31 at the end of the last glacial period (20.7 kyr BP). At the end of the Younger Dryas (11.50±0.1 kyr BP), the central sub-equatorial Pacific experienced a dramatic drop of up to 0.2 pH-units from the average pH of 8.2 before and after this short event. Using the CO2SYS program, we recalculated the aqueous pCO2 to be 400±24 ppmV at around 11.5 kyr BP for corals at Marquesas and ~500 ppmV near Tahiti where it was assumed that pCO2 in the atmosphere was 250 ppmV. Throughout the Holocene, the difference in pCO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere at Marquesas (ΔpCO2) indicates that the surface waters behave as a moderate CO2 sink (−67 to −11 ppmV) during El Niño-like conditions. In contrast, during the last glacial/interglacial transition, this area was a moderate source of CO2 (−9 to 56 ppmV) for the atmosphere, highlighting predominant La Niña-like conditions. Such conditions were particularly pronounced at the end of the Younger Dryas with a large amount of CO2 released with ΔpCO2 of +140 ppmV. This last finding provides further evidence of the marked changes to the water mass pH and temperature properties in the equatorial Pacific at the Younger Dryas- Holocene transition and the strong impact of oceanic dynamic on the atmospheric CO2 content.


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