Variability in transport of terrigenous material on the shelves and the deep Arctic Ocean during the Holocene

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Wegner, Carolyn, Bennett, Katrina E., de Vernal, Anne, Forwick, Matthias, Fritz, Michael, Heikkilä, Maija, Lacka, Magdalena, Lantuit, Hugues, Laska, Michal, Moskalik, Mateusz, O'Regan, Matt, Pawlowska, Joanna, Prominska, Agnieszka, Rachold, Volker, Vonk, Jorien E., Werner, Kirstin
• Other Authors: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Change Research Unit (ECRU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley Blackwell 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; riverine input; coastal erosion; land-ocean interaction; Holocene; LAPTEV SEA SHELF; FLUVIAL SEDIMENT FLUX; LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM; ICE-SHEET HISTORY; RIVER DISCHARGE; ORGANIC-CARBON; KARA SEA; LATE QUATERNARY; BEAUFORT SEA; YOUNGER DRYAS; 1172 Environmental sciences; Arctic Ocean; Kara Sea; Laptev Sea; Beaufort Sea; Climate change; Ice Sheet; laptev; Polar Research; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/162044

Arctic coastal zones serve as a sensitive filter for terrigenous matter input onto the shelves via river discharge and coastal erosion. This material is further distributed across the Arctic by ocean currents and sea ice. The coastal regions are particularly vulnerable to changes related to recent climate change. We compiled a pan-Arctic review that looks into the changing Holocene sources, transport processes and sinks of terrigenous sediment in the Arctic Ocean. Existing palaeoceanographic studies demonstrate how climate warming and the disappearance of ice sheets during the early Holocene initiated eustatic sea-level rise that greatly modified the physiography of the Arctic Ocean. Sedimentation rates over the shelves and slopes were much greater during periods of rapid sea-level rise in the early and middle Holocene, as a result of the relative distance to the terrestrial sediment sources. However, estimates of suspended sediment delivery through major Arctic rivers do not indicate enhanced delivery during this time, which suggests enhanced rates of coastal erosion. The increased supply of terrigenous material to the outer shelves and deep Arctic Ocean in the early and middle Holocene might serve as analogous to forecast changes in the future Arctic. Peer reviewed