Deglacial to postglacial history of Nares Strait, Northwest Greenland: a marine perspective from Kane Basin

• Published in: Climate of the Past
• Main Authors: Georgiadis, Eleanor, Giraudeau, Jacques, Martinez, Philippe, Lajeunesse, Patrick, St-Onge, Guillaume, Schmidt, Sabine, Massé, Guillaume
• Other Authors: Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Takuvik Joint International Laboratory ULAVAL-CNRS, Université Laval Québec (ULaval)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR 5805 Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux (EPOC), Centre d'Etudes Nordiques (CEN), Université Laval Québec (ULaval), Institut des Sciences de la MER de Rimouski (ISMER), Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Arctic; Baffin Bay; Buttress; Greenland; Kane; Kennedy Channel; Nares; Baffin; Ice Sheet; Iceberg*; Kane Basin; Kennedy channel; Lincoln Sea; Nares strait; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02128823; https://hal.science/hal-02128823/document; https://hal.science/hal-02128823/file/Georgiadis%20CP.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1991-2018

International audience A radiocarbon-dated marine sediment core retrieved in Kane Basin, central Nares Strait, was analysed to constrain the timing of the postglacial opening of this Arctic gateway and its Holocene evolution. This study is based on a set of sedimentological and geochemical proxies of changing sedimentary processes and sources that provide new insight into the evolution of ice sheet configuration in Nares Strait. Proglacial marine sedimentation at the core site initiated ca. 9.0 cal ka BP following the retreat of grounded ice. Varying contributions of sand and clasts suggest unstable sea ice conditions and glacial activity, which subsisted until ca. 7.5 cal ka BP under the combined influence of warm atmospheric temperatures and proglacial cooling induced by the nearby Innuitian (IIS) and Greenland (GIS) ice sheets. An interval rich in ice-rafted debris (IRD) is interpreted as the collapse of the ice saddle in Kennedy Channel ca. 8.3 cal ka BP that marks the complete opening of Nares Strait and the initial connection between the Lincoln Sea and northernmost Baffin Bay. Delivery of sediment by icebergs was strengthened between ca. 8.3 and ca. 7.5 cal ka BP following the collapse of the buttress of glacial ice in Kennedy Channel that triggered the acceleration of GIS and IIS fluxes toward Nares Strait. The destabilisation in glacial ice eventually led to the rapid retreat of the GIS in eastern Kane Basin at about 8.1 cal ka BP as evidenced by a noticeable change in sediment geochemistry in our core. The gradual decrease in carbonate inputs to Kane Basin between ∼ 8.1 and ∼ 4.1 cal ka BP reflects the late deglaciation of Wash-ington Land. The shoaling of Kane Basin can be observed in our record by the increased winnowing of lighter particles as the glacio-isostatic rebound brought the seabed closer to subsurface currents. Reduced iceberg delivery from 7.5 to 1.9 cal ka BP inferred by our dataset may be linked to the retreat of the bordering ice sheets on land that decreased their number of marine ...