Late Miocene and Pliocene dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs and terrestrial palynomorphs from ODP Hole 642B, Vøring Plateau, Norwegian Sea

• Main Authors: De Schepper, Stijn, Beck, Kristina Marie, Mangerud, Gunn, Schreck, Michael, Matthiessen, Jens
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2015
• Subjects: 104-642B; Achomosphaera andalousiensis andalousiensis; Achomosphaera andalousiensis suttonensis; Acritarcha; error; Acritarcha indeterminata; Acritarcha per unit mass; Acritarch sp.; Acritarch spp.; AGE; maximum/old; minimum/young; Amiculosphaera umbraculum; Ataxiodinium choane; Ataxiodinium confusum; Ataxiodinium sp.; Ataxiodinium spp.; Ataxiodinium zevenboomii; Barssidinium graminosum; Barssidinium pliocenicum; Barssidinium sp.; Batiacasphaera hirsuta; Batiacasphaera micropapillata complex; Batiacasphaera minuta; Batiacasphaera sphaerica; Batiacasphaera spp.; Bitectatodinium? serratum; Bitectatodinium raedwaldii; Bitectatodinium sp.; Bitectatodinium spp.; Bitectatodinium tepikiense; Botryococcus; Brigantedinium spp.; Cerebrocysta? namocensis; Cerebrocysta poulsenii; Corrudinium? labradori; Corrudinium devernaliae; Corrudinium harlandii; Counting; palynology; Cristadinium diminutivum; Cyclopsiella granosa; Cymatiosphaera? aegirii; Cymatiosphaera? fensomei; Cymatiosphaera? icenorum; Cymatiosphaera? invaginata; Bering Strait; Greenland; Nordic Seas; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic; Norwegian Sea
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.846838; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.846838

The globally warm climate of the early Pliocene gradually cooled from 4 million years ago, synchronous with decreasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In contrast, palaeoceanographic records indicate that the Nordic Seas cooled during the earliest Pliocene, before global cooling. However, a lack of knowledge regarding the precise timing of Nordic Seas cooling has limited our understanding of the governing mechanisms. Here, using marine palynology, we show that cooling in the Nordic Seas was coincident with the first trans-Arctic migration of cool-water Pacific mollusks around 4.5 million years ago, and followed by the development of a modern-like Nordic Seas surface circulation. Nordic Seas cooling precedes global cooling by 500,000 years; as such, we propose that reconfiguration of the Bering Strait and Central American Seaway triggered the development of a modern circulation in the Nordic Seas, which is essential for North Atlantic Deep Water formation and a precursor for more widespread Greenland glaciation in the late Pliocene.