Southernmost evidence of large European Ice Sheet-derived freshwater discharges during the Heinrich Stadials of the Last Glacial Period (Galician Interior Basin, Northwest Iberian Continental Margin)

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Plaza-Morlote, M, Rey, Daniel, Santos, J.F., Ribeiro, Sara Monteiro, Heslop, David, Bernabeu, A, Mohamed, K.J., Rubio, B, Martíns, Virgínia A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier
• Subjects: neodymium and strontium isotopes; magnetic properties; Heinrich Stadials; ice rafted detritus; meltwater; Last Glacial Period; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/248224; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.10.020; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/248224/3/01_Plaza-Morlote_Southernmost_evidence_of_large_2017.pdf.jpg

Reconstruction of circum-Atlantic ice-sheet motion and instabilities is crucial to understanding the mechanisms that triggered and/or enhanced abrupt climate changes. Using enviromagnetic and geochemical data, we provide a continuous and well-dated record of the evolution of glacial/interglacial sedimentation on the Northwest Iberian Margin during the last glacial period, covering the last six Heinrich Stadials. The record shows European sediments that were related to meltwater pre-events during the initial stages of HS1, HS2, and HS4 that corroborate the Channel River depositional history. The record also includes IRD from the Laurentide Ice Sheet and the European Ice Sheet during the final stages of these stadials, i.e., Heinrich Events. Therefore, this study provides insight into one of the potential forcing mechanisms for Heinrich Events and, by inference, for Heinrich Stadials. This work was supported by Spanish projects CGL2010-16688 and CGL2015-66681-R from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, and EM2012/142 and GRC2014/023 from Xunta de Galicia. M. Plaza-Morlote was financed by the predoctoral program of the University of Vigo, Spain. K.J. Mohamed was funded by ED481C 2014/2 grant of the Xunta de Galicia, Spain. D. Heslop was supported by Australian Research Council grant DP160100805