Late Younger Dryas and early Holocene palaeoenvironments in the Skagerrak, eastern North Atlantic: A multiproxy study

• Published in: Boreas
• Main Authors: Erbs-Hansen, Dorthe Reng, Knudsen , K.L., Gary, Anthony C., Jansen, Eystein, Gyllencreutz, Richard, Scao, Vincent, Lambeck, Kurt
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Keywords: benthic foraminifera; cold water; fjord; Holocene; inflow; meltwater; outflow; paleoenvironment; seafloor; stratification; water column; water depth; Younger Dryas; Atlantic Ocean; North Sea; Skagerrak; Cassidulina neoteretis; Norway; Dammed Lake; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/69704; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2011.00205.x; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/69704/5/Lambeck_-_Late_Younger_Dryas_and_early_Holocene_palaeoenvironments.pdf.jpg; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/69704/7/01_Erbs-Hansen_Late_Younger_Dryas_and_early_2011.pdf.jpg

A high-resolution study of palaeoenvironmental changes through the late Younger Dryas and early Holocene in the Skagerrak, the eastern North Atlantic, is based on multiproxy analyses of core MD99-2286 combined with palaeowater depth modelling for the area. The late Younger Dryas was characterized by a cold ice-distal benthic foraminiferal fauna. After the transition to the Preboreal (c. 11650cal. a BP) this fauna was replaced by a Cassidulina neoteretis-dominated fauna, indicating the influence of chilled Atlantic Water at the sea floor. Persisting relatively cold bottom-water conditions until c. 10300cal. a BP are presumably a result of an outflow of glacial meltwater from the Baltic area across south-central Sweden, which led to a strong stratification of the water column at MD99-2286, as also indicated by C. neoteretis. A short-term peak in the C/N ratio at c. 10200cal. a BP is suggested to indicate input of terrestrial material, which may represent the drainage of an ice-dammed lake in southern Norway, the Glomma event. After the last drainage route across south-central Sweden closed, c. 10300cal. a BP, the meltwater influence diminished, and the Skagerrak resembled a fjord with a stable inflow of waters from the North Atlantic through the Norwegian Trench and a gradual increase in boreal species. Full interglacial conditions were established at the sea floor from c. 9250cal. a BP. Subsequent warm stable conditions were interrupted by a short-term cooling around 8300-8200cal. a BP, representing the 8.2ka event.