Source, timing, frequency and flux of ice-rafted detritus to the Northeast Atlantic margin, 30-12 ka: testing the Heinrich precursor hypothesis

Haapaniemi, Anna I.; Scourse, James D.; Peck, Victoria L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7948-6853; Kennedy, Hilary; Kennedy, Paul; Hemming, Sidney R.; Furze, Mark F. A.; Pienkowski, Anna J.; Austin, William E. N.; Walden, John; Wadsworth, Emilie; Hall, Ian R.. 2010 Source, timing, frequency and flux of ice-rafted detritus to the Northeast Atlantic margin, 30-12 ka: testing the Heinrich precursor hypothesis. Boreas, 39 (3). 576-591. 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2010.00141.x

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Abstract/Summary

Increased fluxes of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) from European ice sheets have been documented some 1000-1500 years before the arrival of Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS)-sourced IRD during Heinrich (H) events. These early fluxes have become known as 'precursor events', and it has been suggested that they have mechanistic significance in the propagation of H events. Here we present a re-analysis of one of the main cores used to generate the precursor concept, OMEX-2K from the Goban Spur covering the last 30 ka, in order to identify whether the British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) IRD fluxes occur only as precursors before H layers. IRD characterization and planktonic foraminiferal delta 18O measurements constrained by a new age model have enabled the generation of a continuous record of IRD sources, timing, frequency and flux, and of local contemporary hydrographic conditions. The evidence indicates that BIIS IRD precursors are not uniquely, or mechanistically, linked to H events, but are part of the pervasive millennial-scale cyclicity. Our results support an LIS source for the IRD comprising H layers, but the ambient glacial sections are dominated by assemblages typical of the Irish Sea Ice Stream. Light isotope excursions associated with H events are interpreted as resulting from the melting of the BIIS, with ice-sheet destabilization attributed to eustatic jumps generated by LIS discharge during H events. This positive-feedback mechanism probably caused similar responses in all circum-Atlantic ice-sheet margins, and the resulting gross freshwater flux contributed to the perturbation of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation during H events.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1111/j.1502-3885.2010.00141.x
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Polar Science for Planet Earth (2009 - ) > Chemistry and Past Climate
ISSN:	0300-9483
NORA Subject Terms:	Glaciology
Date made live:	21 Sep 2010 09:01 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/10823

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