intensification of northern hemisphere glaciations in the circum atlantic region 3 5 2 4 ma ice rafted detritus evidence abstract records of ice rafted detritus ird from ocean drilling program sites 644 and 907 in the nordic seas and deep sea drilling program sites 610 and 607 in the north atlantic ocean are used to determine the growth and history of northern hemisphere glaciations spanning the interval from 3 6 to 2 4 ma the records document that the initiation of large scale glaciation in the circum atlantic region occurred stepwise between 3 5 and 2 4 ma with greenland leading the other areas the first major pulse of ird occurs at 3 3 ma suggesting a distinct expansion of the greenland ice sheet progressive increases in ird occur from 3 0 ma with a synchronous ice sheet development between the greenland scandinavian and north american regions starting around 2 72 2 75 ma the regional records of ird correspond to major trends in the oxygen isotope record suggesting a tight connection between the record of global ice volume and evidence for expanding glaciers in the northern hemisphere it appears as if widespread ird distribution occurs when the global ice volume surpasses certain thresholds similar to the late quaternary situation

hadrosaurid edmontosaurus bonebeds from the horseshoe canyon formation horsethief member at drumheller alberta canada geology preliminary taphonomy and significance three monodominant hadrosaurid bonebeds in the horsethief member of the horseshoe canyon formation uppermost campanian in southern alberta canada are documented each bonebed is hosted by a dec

neodymium isotopes in seawater from the barents sea and fram strait arctic atlantic gateways abstract the neodymium concentration c nd and isotopic composition e nd in seawater have been determined in the water column at five sites in the barents sea fram strait area where most of the water exchange between the arctic ocean and the north atlantic takes place in the main arctic ocean inflow branch across the barents sea the concentration and isotopic composition c nd 15 5 pmol kg and e nd 10 8 are similar to those reported for the northeastern nordic seas which is consistent with this region being a source area for the arctic inflow due to the addition of nd from svalbard shelf sediments the c nd in the surface waters above 150 m in the fram strait inflow branch is higher by a factor of 2 and the e nd is shifted to lower values 11 8 in the stratified nansen basin where cold low salinity water overlies warmer atlantic water the c nd and e nd do not vary with the vertical temperature salinity structure but are essentially constant and similar to those of the atlantic inflow throughout the entire water column down to 3700 m depth which indicates that the nd is to a large extent of atlantic origin compared to the atlantic inflow water the nd in the major arctic ocean outflow the fram strait show higher c nd in the surface waters above 150 m and a higher e nd 9 8 throughout the entire water column down to 1300 m depth sources for the more radiogenic nd isotopic composition in deep water of the fram strait outflow most likely involve boundary exchange with sediments on the shelf and slope as the water passes along the canadian archipelago river water is a possible source in the surface water but it also seems likely that pacific water nd modified by interactions on the shelf is an important component in the fram strait surface outflow changes in the relative proportions of inflow of river water and flow of pacific water through the arctic ocean could thus influence the isotopic composition of nd in the north atlantic

reduced north atlantic deep water flux to the glacial southern ocean inferred from neodymium isotope ratios the global circulation of the oceans and the atmosphere transports heat around the earth broecker and denton1 suggested that changes in the global ocean circulation might have triggered or enhanced the glacial interglacial cycles but proxy data for past circulation taken from sediment cores in the south atlantic ocean have yielded conflicting interpretations of ocean circulation in glacial times 13c variations in benthic foraminifera2 3 4 5 6 support the idea of a glacial weakening or shutdown of north atlantic deep water production whereas other proxies such as cd ca ba ca and 231pa 230th ratios show little change from the last glacial maximum to the holocene epoch7 8 9 here we report neodymium isotope ratios from the dispersed fe mn oxide component of two southeast atlantic sediment cores both cores show variations that tend towards north atlantic signatures during the warm marine isotope stages 1 and 3 whereas for the full glacial stages 2 and 4 they are closer to pacific ocean signatures we conclude that the export of north atlantic deep water to the southern ocean has resembled present day conditions during the warm climate intervals but was reduced during the cold stages an increase in biological productivity may explain the various proxy data during the times of reduced north atlantic deep water export

rapid changes of glacial climate simulated in a coupled climate model abrupt changes in climate termed dansgaard oeschger and heinrich events have punctuated the last glacial period approximately 100 10 kyr ago but not the holocene the past 10 kyr here we use an intermediate complexity climate model to investigate the stability of glacial climate and we find that only one mode of atlantic ocean circulation is stable a cold mode with deep water formation in the atlantic ocean south of iceland however a warm circulation mode similar to the present day atlantic ocean is only marginally unstable and temporary transitions to this warm mode can easily be triggered this leads to abrupt warm events in the model which share many characteristics of the observed dansgaard oeschger events for a large freshwater input such as a large release of icebergs the model s deep water formation is temporarily switched off causing no strong cooling in greenland but warming in antarctica as is observed for heinrich events our stability analysis provides an explanation why glacial climate is much more variable than holocene climate

weathering versus circulation controlled changes in radiogenic isotope tracer composition of the labrador sea and north atlantic deep water geological reconstructions and general circulation models suggest that the onset of both northern hemisphere glaciation 2 7 myr ago and convection of labrador sea water lsw were caused by the closure of the panama gateway 4 5 myr ago time series data that have been obtained from studies of ferromanganese crusts from the northwestern atlantic suggest that radiogenic isotopes of intermediate ocean residence time pb and nd can serve as suitable tracers to reconstruct these events however it has been unclear until now as to whether the changes that have been observed in isotope composition at this time are the result of increased thermohaline circulation or due to the effects of increased glacial weathering in this paper we adopt a box model approach to demonstrate that the shifts in radiogenic isotope compositions are unlikely to be due to changes in convection in lsw but can be explained in terms of increases of erosion levels due to the glaciation of greenland and canada furthermore we provide experimental evidence for the incongruent release of a labile fraction of strongly radiogenic pb and nonradiogenic nd from continental detritus eroding into the labrador sea this can be attributed to the glacial weathering of old continents and accounts for the paradox that one of the areas of the world most deficient in radiogenic pb should provide such a rich supply of radiogenic pb to the oceans an important general conclusion is that the compositions of radiogenic isotopes in seawater are not always a reflection of their continental sources perhaps more importantly the transition from chemical weathering to mechanical erosion is likely to result in significant variations in radiogenic tracers in seawater

a new approach to the nd residence time in the ocean the role of atmospheric inputs concentrations of rare earth elements ree and nd isotopic ratios were analyzed for seawater filtered suspension and sediment trap samples collected in the tropical atlantic ocean eumeli program eutrophic mesotrophic and oligotrophic sites 20 n 18 21 w this is the first ree nd dataset on solution and different sized particles collected at the same site we present direct evidence of the nd isotopic exchange between particulate lithogenic fraction and seawater without significant mass transfer this exchange is probably one of the main factors that simultaneously constrains the nd concentration and isotopic ratio budget we propose a new approach to estimate the residence time of nd in the ocean nd based on isotopic exchange 200 yr nd 1000 yr the exchange requires a partial dissolution of lithogenic nd we estimate that the fraction of soluble nd proportion in atmospheric dust is of the order of 20 based on the isotopic ratios we suggest that the partial dissolution of atmospheric fallout is probably one of the main ree sources of the ocean

pathways and modification of the upper and intermediate waters of the arctic ocean 1 the purpose of this study is to investigate the pathways and the ventilation of source water masses of the upper and intermediate waters of the arctic ocean for the arctic and subarctic domain a coupled ice ocean general circulation model is set up to be integrated for several decades it is driven by a climatological seasonal cycle of monthly mean atmospheric data from 1980 to 1989 and by restored sea surface salinities passive tracers are used to visualize and interpret the modeled flow and to compare it with observations the model is able to reproduce known features of the arctic ocean circulation like the inflow of two branches of atlantic origin via the fram strait and the barents sea and their subsequent passage at middepths in several cyclonic circulation cells the fate of these atlantic source water masses river water and bering strait inflow water in the model are studied the branch crossing the barents sea is subject to an intense heat loss and ice formation as a result water of this branch leaves the shelf toward the central part of the arctic ocean not only at the surface but also in denser varieties which finally feed the central arctic at halocline and middepths the lightest part turns northward and finally westward joining the transpolar drift the densest part 200 1000 m depth moves eastward along the continental slope a similar path is taken by the atlantic water branch from the fram strait the inflowing branch over the barents sea turns out to be the dominant source for the lower atlantic water layer in the arctic ocean in this investigation atlantic tracers starting in fram strait need 6 years to reach the northern laptev sea slope travel times to return to fram strait are 15 20 years along the lomonossov ridge and about 30 years along the continental slope of the canadian basin tracers that mark the pacific water or the mackenzie river water flow eastward and leave the arctic mainly via the canadian archipelago the siberian river water tracers at the surface penetrate far into the canadian basin before they join the transpolar drift the travel times of the river water from the river mouths are 2 3 years to the shelf edge and 12 14 years to fram strait

final closure of panama and the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation abstract the greenland ice sheet is accepted as a key factor controlling the quaternary glacial scenario however the origin and mechanisms of major arctic glaciation starting at 3 15 ma and culminating at 2 74 ma are still controversial for this phase of intense cooling ravelo et al 1 a c ravelo d h andreasen m lyle a o lyle m w wara regional climate shifts caused by gradual global cooling in the pliocene epoch nature 429 2004 263 267 proposed a complex gradual forcing mechanism in contrast our new submillennial scale paleoceanographic records from the pliocene north atlantic suggest a far more precise timing and forcing for the initiation of northern hemisphere glaciation nhg since it was linked to a 2 3 c surface water warming during warm stages from 2 95 to 2 82 ma these records support previous models g h haug r tiedemann effect of the formation of the isthmus of panama on atlantic ocean thermohaline circulation nature 393 1998 673 676 2 claiming that the final closure of the panama isthmus 3 0 2 5 ma j groeneveld s steph r tiedemann d nurnberg d garbe schonberg the final closure of the central american seaway geology in prep 3 induced an increased poleward salt and heat transport associated strengthening of north atlantic thermohaline circulation and in turn an intensified moisture supply to northern high latitudes resulted in the build up of nhg finally culminating in the great irreversible climate crash at marine isotope stage g6 2 74 ma in summary there was a two step threshold mechanism that marked the onset of nhg with glacial to interglacial cycles quasi persistent until today

pliocene pleistocene ice rafting history and cyclicity in the nordic seas during the last 3 5 myr a continuous 3 5 myr ird record was produced from ocean drilling program odp site 907 a timescale based on magnetic polarity chrons oxygen isotope stratigraphy for the last 1myr and orbital tuning was developed the record documents a stepwise inception of large scale glacial cycles in the nordic seas region the first being a marked expansion of the greenland ice sheet at 3 3 ma a second step occurred at 2 74 ma by an expansion of large scale ice sheets in the northern hemisphere ice sheet variability around the nordic seas was tightly coupled to global ice volume over the past 3 3 myr between 3 and 1 ma most of the variance of the ird signal is in the 41 kyr band whereas the last 1 myr is characterized by stronger 100 kyr variance the gamma ray porosity evaluator grape density record is closely linked with ird variations and documents sub orbital variability resembling the late quaternary heinrich bond cycles

testing the extraction of past seawater nd isotopic composition from north atlantic deep sea sediments and foraminifera neodymium isotopes provide a paleoceanographic proxy for past deep water circulation and local weathering changes and have been measured on various authigenic marine sediment components including fish teeth ferromanganese oxides extracted by acid reductive leaching cleaned foraminifera and foraminifera with fe mn oxide coatings here we compare nd isotopic measurements obtained from ferromanganese oxides leached from bulk sediments and planktonic foraminifera as well as from oxidatively reductively cleaned foraminiferal shells from sediment cores in the north atlantic sedimentary volcanic ash contributes a significant fraction of the nd when the ferro manganese fe mn oxide coatings are leached from bulk sediments reductive leachates of marine sediments from north atlantic core tops near iceland or directly downstream from iceland scotland overflow waters record nd values that are significantly higher than seawater indicating that volcanic material is easily leached by acid reductive methods the nd values from sites more distal to iceland are similar to modern seawater values showing little contamination from iceland derived volcanogenic material in all comparisons core top planktonic foraminifera nd values more closely approximate modern deep seawater than the bulk sediment reductive leached value suggesting that the foraminifera provide a route toward quantifying the nd isotopic signature of deep north atlantic water masses

quaternary climate modulation of pb isotopes in the deep indian ocean linked to the himalayan chemical weathering we use reductive sediment leaching to extract lead pb from the authigenic fraction of marine sediments and reconstruct the pb isotope evolution of the deep central indian ocean over the past 250 thousand years at 3 kyr resolution temporal variations define a binary mixing line that is consistent with data from ferromanganese nodules and which records mixing between two well defined endmembers through time the unradiogenic endmember appears to represent a widely distributed pb source from mid ocean ridges or possibly volcanic aerosols while the radiogenic endmember coincides with the composition of ganges brahmaputra river sediments that are indicative of the himalayan weathering inputs glacial interglacial pb isotope variations are striking and can be explained by an enhancement of himalayan contributions by two to three times during interglacial periods indicating that climate modulates the supply of dissolved elements to the ocean while these changes could accurately record variations in the continental chemical weathering flux in response to warmer and wetter conditions during interglacials the relative proportions of pb derived from the ganges and brahmaputra appear to have been constant through time this observation may point towards particulate dissolved interactions in the estuary or pro delta as a buffer of short timescale variability in the composition and potentially flux of the fluvial inputs in addition the changes are recorded at 3800 m water depth and with the lack of deep water formation in the bay of bengal a mechanism to transfer such a signature into the deep ocean could either be reversible scavenging of dissolved pb inputs and or boundary exchange on the deep sea fan unless the mechanism transferring the pb isotope signature into the deep ocean was itself highly sensitive to global climate cycles and with the absence of a precessional signal in our pb isotope data we suggest that the indian climate and its influence on basin scale chemical weathering were strongly modulated by glacial versus interglacial boundary conditions

acquisition of the neodymium isotopic composition of the north atlantic deep water the north atlantic deep water nadw neodymium isotopic composition nd ic is increasingly used in oceanography and paleoceanography to trace large scale circulation and weathering processes notably to investigate past variations of the global thermohaline circulation although the present day nadw nd ic is well characterized at nd 13 5 the acquisition of this isotopic signature in other words the causes of this value has so far been very sparsely documented such an understanding is however fundamental to the interpretation of paleo records nd ic and rare earth element concentrations were measured at 9 stations within the north atlantic subpolar gyre signature cruise summer 1999 the comparison of this data set with our understanding of water mass circulation provides a description of how the three layers constituting the nadw the labrador sea water lsw nd 13 9 0 4 north east atlantic deep water neadw nd 13 2 0 4 and north west atlantic bottom water nwabw nd 14 5 0 4 acquire their nd ic through distinct water mass mixings and lithogenic inputs these different mechanisms acting upon water masses from very diverse sources seem to bring the nd ic of the three nadw layers to values close together and similar to that of the nadw it is suggested that sediment seawater interactions significantly lower the neadw and nwabw nd ic along the south east greenland margin since these interactions do not significantly modify the nd content of these water masses sediment remobilizations leading to the nd ic variations are probably associated with nd removal fluxes from the water mass toward the sediment a process called boundary exchange on the other hand lsw seems to acquire its nd ic from the subpolar mode waters from which it is formed by deep convection and no other mechanism needs to be invoked its unradiogenic signature could ultimately be linked to fresh water runoff from the canadian shield these conclusions should allow more precise interpretations of paleoceanographic nd ic records taking into account the distinct histories of the three nadw layers including distinct water mass mixings and distinct lithogenic inputs

a pb isotope tracer of ocean ice sheet interaction the record from the ne atlantic during the last glacial interglacial cycle abstract ice sheet ocean interactions are both a response to climate forcing and a source of climate feedback releasing freshwater to the surface ocean and influencing climate and atmospheric co2 through changes in ocean circulation documenting the outcomes of these interactions for recent glacial cycles is important given current and future scenarios of polar ice retreat however this is currently hampered by lack of accurate constraints on ice sheet development and demise marine sedimentary pb isotope records have potential to investigate these aspects of ice sheet feedbacks at high temporal resolution because of the sensitivity of the pb isotope composition to continental weathering intensity and solute flux here we present a pb isotope record sourced from the femn oxyhydroxide fraction in marine sediments from odp site 980 on feni drift 2168 mbsl rockall trough ne atlantic spanning the last 43 ka the location of site 980 at the northern edge of the british irish ice sheet biis makes it well placed to monitor changes in biis development as it responded to migration of the polar front during the last glacial interglacial cycle the data reveal millennial scale cyclicity in pb isotope composition reminiscent of dansgaard oeschger cycles from the start of the record until heinrich event 2 43 24 ka characterised by extreme shifts to radiogenic compositions i e variation in 206pb 204pb from 18 9 to 20 5 the period 24 17 5 ka is also characterised by exceptionally radiogenic and highly variable pb isotope compositions associated with the rapid and repeated expansion and collapse of the biis the presence of such radiogenic pb isotope compositions during periods of maximum ice sheet activity support interpretation of the subglacial environment as an active weathering environment contributing to biogeochemical cycles through the transport vectors of meltwater release and debris laden ice calving

modelling nd isotopes with a coarse resolution ocean circulation model sensitivities to model parameters and source sink distributions the neodymium nd isotopic composition nd of seawater is a quasi conservative tracer of water mass mixing and is assumed to hold great potential for paleoceanographic studies here we present a comprehensive approach for the simulation of the two neodymium isotopes 143nd and 144nd using the bern3d model a low resolution ocean model the high computational efficiency of the bern3d model in conjunction with our comprehensive approach allows us to systematically and extensively explore the sensitivity of nd concentrations and nd to the parametrisation of sources and sinks previous studies have been restricted in doing so either by the chosen approach or by computational costs our study thus presents the most comprehensive survey of the marine nd cycle to date our model simulates both nd concentrations as well as nd in good agreement with observations nd covaries with salinity thus underlining its potential as a water mass proxy results confirm that the continental margins are required as a nd source to simulate nd concentrations and nd consistent with observations we estimate this source to be slightly smaller than reported in previous studies and find that above a certain magnitude its magnitude affects nd only to a small extent on the other hand the parametrisation of the reversible scavenging considerably affects the ability of the model to simulate both nd concentrations and nd furthermore despite their small contribution we find dust and rivers to be important components of the nd cycle in additional experiments we systematically varied the diapycnal diffusivity as well as the atlantic to pacific freshwater flux to explore the sensitivity of nd concentrations and its isotopic signature to the strength and geometry of the overturning circulation these experiments reveal that nd concentrations and nd are comparatively little affected by variations in diapycnal diffusivity and the atlantic to pacific freshwater flux in contrast an adequate representation of nd sources and sinks is crucial to simulate nd concentrations and nd consistent with observations the good agreement of our results with observations paves the way for the evaluation of the paleoceanographic potential of nd in further model studies

plio pleistocene evolution of water mass exchange and erosional input at the atlantic arctic gateway water mass exchange between the arctic ocean and the norwegian greenland seas has played an important role for the atlantic thermohaline circulation and northern hemisphere climate we reconstruct past water mass mixing and erosional inputs from the radiogenic isotope compositions of neodymium nd lead pb and strontium sr at ocean drilling program site 911 leg 151 from 906 m water depth on yermak plateau in the fram strait over the past 5 2 myr the isotopic compositions of past bottom waters were extracted from authigenic oxyhydroxide coatings of the bulk sediments neodymium isotope signatures obtained from surface sediments agree well with present day deepwater end signature of 11 0 0 2 prior to 2 7 ma the nd and pb isotope compositions of the bottom waters only show small variations indicative of a consistent influence of atlantic waters since the major intensification of the northern hemisphere glaciation at 2 7 ma the seawater nd isotope composition has varied more pronouncedly due to changes in weathering inputs related to the waxing and waning of the ice sheets on svalbard the barents sea and the eurasian shelf due to changes in water mass exchange and due to the increasing supply of ice rafted debris ird originating from the arctic ocean the seawater pb isotope record also exhibits a higher short term variability after 2 7 ma but there is also a trend toward more radiogenic values which reflects a combination of changes in input sources and enhanced incongruent weathering inputs of pb released from freshly eroded old continental rocks

reconstructing deglacial north and south atlantic deep water sourcing using foraminiferal nd isotopes during the last few decades neodymium isotopes have been increasingly used as a paleoceanographic and paleoclimate proxy on million year through millennial time scales the widespread use of the nd isotope proxy depends on whether the nd isotopic composition of past seawater can be reliably extracted from authigenic sediment phases here we show evidence that planktonic foraminifera with authigenic coatings preserve a deep water nd isotopic signature and thus can be used to reconstruct past deep water nd isotopes applying this method downcore on south atlantic deep cape basin core tno57 21 41 1 s 7 9 e 4981 m the nd isotopic composition of the planktonic foraminiferal fe mn oxide coatings is identical with and confirms that of the reductively leached bulk sediment fraction piotrowski et al 2004 2005 2008 as reflecting changes in bottom water sourcing in the case of northeastern north atlantic core bofs 8k 52 5 n 22 1 w 4045 m the planktonic foraminiferal fe mn oxide coatings have different nd isotopes from reductive sediment leaches clearly acid reductive leaching must be tested in more detail we observe that the nd isotopic composition of the deep northeastern atlantic core shifted during the deglaciation from glacial values similar to the south atlantic cape basin towards holocene values similar to the bermuda rise roberts et al 2010 taken as a whole the nd isotope record from foraminiferal authigenic coatings suggests large scale changes in the proportion of northern and southern deep water sources occurred throughout the atlantic ocean with substantial chemical gradients at times during the last deglaciation

neodymium isotopic composition and rare earth element concentrations in the deep and intermediate nordic seas constraints on the iceland scotland overflow water signature neodymium isotopic composition and rare earth element concentrations were measured in seawater samples from eleven stations in the nordic seas these data allow us to study how the iceland scotland overflow water isow acquires its neodymium signature in the modern ocean the waters overflowing the faroe shetland channel are characterized by nd 8 2 0 6 in good agreement with the only other data point published 19 years ago in the greenland and iceland seas the water masses leading to the formation of the isow display lower neodymium isotopic composition with nd around 11 and 9 respectively since no water masses in the nordic seas are characterized by nd 8 the radiogenic signature of the isow likely reflects inputs from the highly radiogenic norwegian basin basaltic margins jan mayen iceland faroe with nd 7 in addition to the neodymium isotopic composition the rare earth element patterns suggest that these inputs occur via the remobilization which includes resuspension and dissolution of sediments deposited on the margins whereas the neodymium isotopic composition behaves conservatively in the oceans in the absence of lithogenic inputs and can be used as a water mass tracer these results emphasize the role of interactions between sediments deposited on margins and seawater in the acquisition of the neodymium isotopic composition of water masses these results should allow a better use of this parameter to trace the present and the past circulation in the north atlantic

the plio pleistocene development of atlantic deep water circulation and its influence on climate trends abstract using benthic stable isotope records from 10 sites in the atlantic ocean including two new records from walvis ridge in the southeast atlantic sites 1264 and 1267 we review changes in atlantic deep water circulation in the context of plio pleistocene climate overall we find non linear responses of atlantic deep water circulation to a cooling climate with differently evolving glacial and interglacial states our main conclusion is that peak north atlantic deep water nadw production was reached between 2 0 and 1 5 ma most prominently seen by a maximum in ventilated high 13 c conditions in the mid depth southeast atlantic site 1264 we infer that a major source of nadw at this time was the export of dense overflow water from the nordic seas into the abyssal east atlantic sea surface temperature records from the north and south atlantic support this notion and indicate that the peak nadw production between 2 0 and 1 5 ma was compensated by a stronger warm surface water return flow i e atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc was enhanced causing long term 10 5 year heat piracy from the south to the north atlantic in the wider picture of plio pleistocene climate evolution we find that a long term enhancement in the average state of amoc 2 4 1 3 ma coincides with the 41 kyr world hence we speculate that the transitory negative feedback response of enhanced amoc to a cooling climate supplied heat to key areas of ice sheet growth acting to limit their size and maintain the 41 kyr world once a threshold in global cooling was reached the strength of amoc lessened providing a positive feedback for the early middle pleistocene transition and the associated build up of northern hemisphere ice sheets

retreat of the laurentide ice sheet tracked by the isotopic composition of pb in western north atlantic seawater during termination 1 during the last glacial maximum much of north america was covered by the laurentide ice sheet its melting during termination 1 led to systematic changes in proglacial lake formation continental runoff and possibly north atlantic meridional overturning circulation the accompanying change in chemical weathering rates in the interior of north america throughout the deglaciation resulted in a pronounced change in seawater pb isotope composition in the western north atlantic ocean here we present the first high resolution records of seawater pb isotope variations of north atlantic deep water extracted from authigenic fe mn oxyhydroxides in three sediment cores 51ggc 1790 m depth 31ggc 3410 m depth 12jpc 4250 m depth from the blake ridge off florida these data reveal a striking excursion from relatively unradiogenic 206pb 204pb as low as 18 93 towards highly radiogenic pb isotope compositions that was initiated during the bolling allerod interstadial and was most pronounced in both intermediate and deep waters during and after the younger dryas 206pb 204pb as high as 19 38 at 8 8 ka in 4250 m this pattern is interpreted to be a direct function of increased inflow of continent derived radiogenic pb into the western north atlantic supplied through chemical weathering of north american rocks that had been eroded and freshly exposed during the preceding glacial cycle these sediment derived data are complemented by new laser ablation pb isotope data from a ferromanganese crust from the blake plateau at 850 m water depth which show only small glacial interglacial pb isotope variations of the florida current 206pb 204pb between 19 07 and 19 16 the lack of change in the blake plateau record at the same time as the radiogenic excursion in the deeper sediments supports a northern origin of the pulse of radiogenic pb after the younger dryas the deep western north atlantic has experienced a persistent highly radiogenic pb supply that was most pronounced during the first half of the holocene and still lasts until today

subpolar mode water formation traced by neodymium isotopic composition 1 the formation of subpolar mode water spmw is documented by combining neodymium isotopic composition nd ic as a conservative tracer with salinity temperature and o2 concentration nd ic reveals a more pronounced eastward extension of the labrador current particularly its subarctic intermediate water component than the other parameters nd ic also suggests that waters flowing through the denmark strait do not significantly contribute to the spmw formation a two end member mixing involving subarctic intermediate water and maybe ultimately labrador current water and north atlantic central water is proposed to explain spmw formation these results provide important insight into the processes controlling the nd ic in the north atlantic subpolar gyre which could provide a means for reconstructing the northward extension of the gulf stream in the past

early arrival of southern source water in the deep north atlantic prior to heinrich event 2 the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc plays an important role in the northern hemisphere climate system significant interest went into the question of how excessive freshwater input through melting of continental ice can affect its overturning vigor and hence heat supply to higher northern latitudes such forcing can be tested by investigating its behavior during extreme iceberg discharge events into the open north atlantic during the last glacial period the so called heinrich events he here we present neodymium nd isotope compositions of past seawater a sensitive chemical water mass tag extracted from sediments of ocean drilling program site 1063 in the western north atlantic bermuda rise covering the period surrounding he 2 the last glacial maximum and the early deglaciation these data are compared with a record of the kinematic circulation tracer 231pa 230th xs extracted from the same sediment core both tracers indicate significant circulation changes preceding intense ice rafting during he 2 by almost 2 kyr moreover the nd isotope record suggests the presence of deeply ventilating north atlantic deep water early during marine isotope stage 2 until it was replaced by southern source water at 27 ka the early switch to high pa th xs and radiogenic nd in relation to intensified ice rafting during he 2 suggests that ice rafting into the open north atlantic during major he 2 was preceded by an early change of the amoc this opens the possibility that variations in amoc contributed to or even triggered the ice sheet instability rather than merely responding to it

on the driving processes of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation because of its relevance for the global climate the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc has been a major research focus for many years yet the question of which physical mechanisms ultimately drive the amoc in the sense of providing its energy supply remains a matter of controversy here we review both observational data and model results concerning the two main candidates vertical mixing processes in the ocean s interior and wind induced ekman upwelling in the southern ocean in distinction to the energy source we also discuss the role of surface heat and freshwater fluxes which influence the volume transport of the meridional overturning circulation and shape its spatial circulation pattern without actually supplying energy to the overturning itself in steady state we conclude that both wind driven upwelling and vertical mixing are likely contributing to driving the observed circulation to quantify their respective contributions future research needs to address some open questions which we outline

pb isotopes and geochemical monitoring of arctic sedimentary supplies and water mass export through fram strait since the last glacial maximum 1 elemental and pb isotope measurements were performed on leachates and residues from surface sediments and two 50 cm cores mc04 and mc16 collected along a ne sw transect through fram strait geochemical and isotopic properties of residues from surface sediments define three distinct spatial domains within the strait 1 the easternmost edge of the strait 2 the eastern part of the strait off the svalbard margins and 3 the western part of the strait influenced by supplies from svalbard the nordic seas with possible contributions from northwestern siberian margins and sea ice and water outflow from the arctic respectively core mc16 in the third domain beneath the outflowing arctic waters spans the last glacial maximum present interval sediments from this core were leached to obtain detrital residues and exchangeable leachates fractions detrital supplies to core mc16 are believed to originate mainly from melting of the overlying sea ice and thus can be used to document changes in arctic sedimentary sources detrital 206pb 204pb and 208pb 206pb ratios illustrate two mixing trends trends a and b corresponding to the pre and post younger dryas yd intervals respectively these trends represent binary mixtures with a common end member canadian margins and either a siberian trend a or greenland trend b margin end member the yd is marked by an isotopic excursion toward the canadian end member suggesting a very active beaufort gyre possibly triggered by massive drainage of the laurentide ice sheet pb isotope compositions of leachates thought to represent the signature of the overlying water masses define a unique linear trend coincident with trend a this suggests that water masses acquired their signature through exchange with particulate fluxes along the canadian and siberian continental margins

effect of the formation of the isthmus of panama on atlantic ocean thermohaline circulation the late cenozoic closure of the seaway between the north andsouth american continents is thought to have caused extensive changes in ocean circulation and northern hemisphere climate1 2 but the timing and consequences of the emergence of the isthmus of panama which closed the seaway remain controversial1 2 3 4 5 here we present stable isotope and carbonate sand fraction records from caribbean sediments which when compared to atlantic and pacific palaeoceanographic records indicate that the closure caused a marked reorganization of ocean circulation starting 4 6 million years ago shallowing of the seaway intensified the gulf stream and introduced warm and saline water masses to high northern latitudes these changes strengthened deep water formation in the labrador sea over the next million years as indicated by an increased deep water ventilation and carbonate preservation in the caribbean sea and favoured early pliocene warming of the northern hemisphere the evaporative cooling of surface waters during north atlantic deep water formation would have introduced moisture to the northern hemisphere although the pronounced intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation between 3 1 and 2 5 million years ago substantially lagged the full development of north atlantic deep water formation we propose that the increased atmospheric moisture content was a necessary precondition for ice sheet growth which was then triggered by the incremental changes in the earth s orbital obliquity

continental ice in greenland during the eocene and oligocene the eocene and oligocene epochs approximately 55 to 23 million years ago comprise a critical phase in earth history an array of geological records supported by climate modelling indicates a profound shift in global climate during this interval from a state that was largely free of polar ice caps to one in which ice sheets on antarctica approached their modern size however the early glaciation history of the northern hemisphere is a subject of controversy here we report stratigraphically extensive ice rafted debris including macroscopic dropstones in late eocene to early oligocene sediments from the norwegian greenland sea that were deposited between about 38 and 30 million years ago our data indicate sediment rafting by glacial ice rather than sea ice and point to east greenland as the likely source records of this type from one site alone cannot be used to determine the extent of ice involved however our data suggest the existence of at least isolated glaciers on greenland about 20 million years earlier than previously documented at a time when temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were substantially higher

the midcontinent rift system one of the most prominent features on gravity and aeromagnetic maps of the united states is a series of major generally linear anomalies that extend from central kansas to lake superior and then turn southward into central michigan figures 1 2 this system of anomalies clearly reflects major geological features and as such it must represent a very significant episode in the history of the north american continental lithosphere the geologic features associated with these anomalies particularly axial basins filled with basalt and immature clastic rocks along with evidence of crustal extension indicate that the episode was probably one of incipient rifting