Last glacial ice-rafted debris off southwestern Europe:The role of the British-Irish Ice Sheet

Ice-rafted debris (IRD) seeded into the ocean from Northern Hemisphere ice sheets is found in ocean cores along the southwestern European margin through the last glacial period. It is known that the origin of this IRD, especially off Iberia, can vary between North America and western Europe during s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: Bigg, Grant R., Levine, Richard C., Clark, Chris D., Greenwood, Sarah L., Haflidason, Haflidi, Hughes, Anna L.C., Nygård, Atlé, Sejrup, Hans Petter
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
British-Irish Ice Sheet
Climate model
Iberian margin
Ice-rafted debris
Iceberg model
Polar Front
Ice Sheet
Sea ice
Online Access:https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/3a53a534-68f4-4507-8b92-8b291e6c1292
https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1345
Description
Summary:Ice-rafted debris (IRD) seeded into the ocean from Northern Hemisphere ice sheets is found in ocean cores along the southwestern European margin through the last glacial period. It is known that the origin of this IRD, especially off Iberia, can vary between North America and western Europe during short-lived episodes of greatly enhanced iceberg flux, known as Heinrich events, although in most Heinrich events the IRD has a North American source. During the longer times of much lower IRD fluxes between Heinrich events, use of an intermediate complexity climate model, coupled to an iceberg dynamic and thermodynamic model, shows that background levels of IRD most likely originate from western Europe, particularly the British-Irish Ice Sheet. Combining modelling with palaeoceanographic evidence supports reconstructions of a short-lived, but substantial, Celtic and Irish Sea Ice Stream around 23-ka.

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