History of Ice-Rafting in the Arctic Ocean During Glacial Maxima Through Marine Isotope Stage 6 ...

• Main Author: Cofield, Shannon M.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: Old Dominion University Libraries 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; East Siberian Sea; Svalbard; Beaufort Sea; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25777/j3j5-ag82; https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_etds/190/

Numerous studies attempted to reconstruct Arctic paleoclimate, specifically ice mass timing and locations, during glacial maxima. While some regions, like the Barents-Svalbard Ice Sheet (BSIS) are well-studied, they may benefit from a high-resolution paleo proxy. Other regions are highly contested, such as the East Siberian Sea or the presence of a central Arctic Ocean ice mass. This research uses an Fe-grain provenance method to (1) define how the BSIS behaved during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2, 4, and 6, and when it retreated; (2) determine the presence and ages of Shelf Ice Masses (SIMs) in the Beaufort Sea and East Siberian Sea, or if these SIMs broke up during MIS 2, 4, and 6; and (3) identify whether large ice masses existed in the central Arctic Ocean that might have reduced or prevented ice-rafting during MIS 2, 4, and 6. This study uses elemental compositions of sand-sized Fe-grains within ice rafted debris (IRD) from the deep-sea marine sediment core HLY0503-JPC22 as a proxy for ice transport from ...