Late-Holocene Atlantic bottom-water variability in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, reconstructed from foraminifera faunas

A high-resolution record of late-Holocene subsurface water-mass characteristics in outer Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, is presented based on benthic foraminifera faunas from core PO 243–451 collected from a water depth of 304 m. Strati” cation with Atlantic water masses present in the lower part o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Holocene
Main Authors: Lassen, Susanne J., Kuijpers, Antoon, Kunzendorf, Helmar, Hoffmann-Wieck, Gerd, Mikkelsen, Naja, Konradi, Peter
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 2004
Subjects:
Paleontology
Earth-Surface Processes
Ecology
Archeology
Global and Planetary Change
Greenland
Igaliku
Igaliku Fjord
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0959683604hl699rp
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0959683604hl699rp
Description
Summary:A high-resolution record of late-Holocene subsurface water-mass characteristics in outer Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, is presented based on benthic foraminifera faunas from core PO 243–451 collected from a water depth of 304 m. Strati” cation with Atlantic water masses present in the lower part of the water-column is suggested to have prevailed during the last 3200 cal. years, except for a period referred to as the‘Mediaeval Warm Period’ (MWP). During the MWP (c. ad 885–1235) the outer part of Igaliku Fjord experienced enhanced vertical mixing and a high hydrodynamic energy level which we ascribe to increasing wind stress through this period, corresponding to the period of the Norse settlement. The transition from the MWP to the‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) shows a two-step pattern with a short climatic amelioration around AD 1520 before maximum cooling occurred. The intensified wind stress and the overall environmental change are suggested to have contributed to the loss of the Norse settlement in Greenland. Periods with strong stratification and marked in uence of Atlantic subsurface water masses around 2.6, 1.3 ka BP and during the LIA are correlated to North Atlantic Holocene ice-rafting events reported by Bond et al. (1997).

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