Evidence for a mid-Pleistocene shift of ice-drift pattern in the Nordic seas
Corresponding Author
Jan P. Helmke
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany.Search for more papers by this authorHenning A. Bauch
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorAlain Mazaud
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Domaine du CNRS, Bat 12, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jan P. Helmke
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany.Search for more papers by this authorHenning A. Bauch
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorAlain Mazaud
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Domaine du CNRS, Bat 12, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Sediment proxy records from a continuous, 1.5 million year long deep-sea sediment core from a site in the western Norwegian Sea were used to obtain new insights into the nature of palaeoceanographic change in the northern North Atlantic (Nordic seas) during the climatic shift of the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (MPR). Red-green sediment colour and magnetic susceptibility records both reveal significant differences in their mean values when comparing the intervals older than 700 000 yr (700 ka) with those from the past 500 kyr. The timing and duration of these changes indicates that the MPR in the Nordic seas is characterised by a gradual transition lasting about 200 kyr. Together with further sedimentological evidence this suggests that the mid-Pleistocene climate shift was accompanied by a general change in ice-drift pattern. It is further proposed that prior to the onset of the major late Pleistocene glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere a significant proportion of the ice in the eastern Nordic seas originated from a southern provenance, whereas later it dominantly came from the surrounding landmasses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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