Sediment properties of IODP Holes 303-U1302A and 303-U1305C

Episodes of ice-sheet disintegration and meltwater release over glacial-interglacial cycles are recorded by discrete layers of detrital sediment in the Labrador Sea. The most prominent layers reflect the release of iceberg armadas associated with cold Heinrich events, but the detrital sediment carri...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nicholl, Joseph A L, Hodell, David A, Naafs, Bernhard David A, Hillaire-Marcel, Claude, Channell, James E T, Romero, Oscar E
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2012
Subjects:
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program / International Ocean Discovery Program
IODP
Hudson Bay
Greenland
Hudson
Hudson Strait
Ice Sheet
Labrador Sea
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.796238
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.796238
Description
Summary:Episodes of ice-sheet disintegration and meltwater release over glacial-interglacial cycles are recorded by discrete layers of detrital sediment in the Labrador Sea. The most prominent layers reflect the release of iceberg armadas associated with cold Heinrich events, but the detrital sediment carried by glacial outburst floods from the melting Laurentide Ice Sheet is also preserved. Here we report an extensive layer of red detrital material in the Labrador Sea that was deposited during the early last interglacial period. We trace the layer through sediment cores collected along the Labrador and Greenland margins of the Labrador Sea. Biomarker data, Ca/Sr ratios and d18O measurements link the carbonate contained in the red layer to the Palaeozoic bedrock of the Hudson Bay. We conclude that the debris was carried to the Labrador Sea during a glacial outburst flood through the Hudson Strait, analogous to the final Lake Agassiz outburst flood about 8,400 years ago, probably around the time of a last interglacial cold event in the North Atlantic. We suggest that outburst floods associated with the final collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet may have been pervasive features during the early stages of Late Quaternary interglacial periods.

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