Late Quaternary terrigenous sediment supply in the Drake Passage in response to Patagonian and Antarctic ice dynamics

• Published in: Global and Planetary Change
• Main Authors: Wu, Shuzhuang, Kuhn, Gerhard, Arz, Helge W, Lembke-Jene, Lester, Tiedemann, Ralf, Lamy, Frank, Diekmann, Bernhard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarctica; Drake Passage
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57598/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57598/1/1-s2.0-S0921818122002910-main-2.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.a7b6a535-471c-41c3-b63e-24b6c0fde892

The Drake Passage, as the narrowest passage around Antarctica, exerts significant influences on the physical, chemical, and biological interactions between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. Here, we identify terrigenous sediment sources and transport pathways in the Drake Passage region over the past 140 ka BP (thousand years before present), based on grain size, clay mineral assemblages, geochemistry and mass-specific magnetic susceptibility records. Terrigenous sediment supply in the Drake Passage is mainly derived from the southeast Pacific, southern South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. Our results provide robust evidence that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) has served as the key driver for sediment dispersal in the Drake Passage. High glacial mass accumulation rates indicate enhanced detrital input, which was closely linked to a large expansion of ice sheets in southern South America and on the Antarctic Peninsula during the glacial maximum, as significantly advanced glaciers eroded more glaciogenic sediments from the continental hinterlands into the Drake Passage. Moreover, lower glacial sea levels exposed large continental shelves, which together with weakened ACC strength likely amplified the efficiency of sediment supply and deposition in the deep ocean. In contrast, significant glaciers' shrinkage during interglacials, together with higher sea-level conditions and storage of sediment in nearby fjords reduced terrigenous sediment inputs. Furthermore, a stronger ACC may have induced winnowing effects and further lowered the mass accumulation rates. Evolution of ice sheets, sea level changes and climate related ACC dynamic have thus exerted critical influences on the terrigenous sediment supply and deposition in the Drake Passage region over the last glacial-interglacial cycle.