Varying sediment sources (Hudson Strait, Cumberland Sound, Baffin Bay) to the NW Labrador Sea slope between and during Heinrich events 0 to 4

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Andrews, J. T., Barber, D. C., Jennings, A. E., Eberl, D. D., Maclean, B., Kirby, M. E., Stoner, J. S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley-blackwell 2012
• Subjects: Baffin Bay; detrital carbonate (DC-) events; Heinrich events; Labrador Sea; Laurentide Ice Sheet; Baffin Island; Buff; Cumberland Sound; Hudson; Hudson Strait; Baffin; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00265/37644/35823.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.2535; https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00265/37644/

Core HU97048-007PC was recovered from the continental Labrador Sea slope at a water depth of 945?m, 250?km seaward from the mouth of Cumberland Sound, and 400?km north of Hudson Strait. Cumberland Sound is a structural trough partly floored by Cretaceous mudstones and Paleozoic carbonates. The record extends from similar to 10 to 58?ka. On-board logging revealed a complex series of lithofacies, including buff-colored detrital carbonate-rich sediments [Heinrich (H)-events] frequently bracketed by black facies. We investigate the provenance of these facies using quantitative X-ray diffraction on drill-core samples from Paleozoic and Cretaceous bedrock from the SE Baffin Island Shelf, and on the?<?2-mm sediment fraction in a transect of five cores from Cumberland Sound to the NW Labrador Sea. A sediment unmixing program was used to discriminate between sediment sources, which included dolomite-rich sediments from Baffin Bay, calcite-rich sediments from Hudson Strait and discrete sources from Cumberland Sound. Results indicated that the bulk of the sediment was derived from Cumberland Sound, but Baffin Bay contributed to sediments coeval with H-0 (Younger Dryas), whereas Hudson Strait was the source during H-events 14. Contributions from the Cretaceous outcrops within Cumberland Sound bracket H-events, thus both leading and lagging Hudson Strait-sourced H-events.