Orbital-Scale Cyclostratigraphy and Ice Volume Fluctuations from Arctic Ocean Sediments

Abstract:

Deep-sea foraminiferal oxygen isotope curves (δ¹⁸O_f) are excellent paleoclimate records but are limited as proxies of global ice volume history during orbital glacial-interglacial cycles (GIC) due to the influence of deep-sea bottom water temperature, regional hydrography, ocean circulation and other factors affecting δ¹⁸O_f. A more direct source of northern hemisphere [NH] ice history comes from central Arctic Ocean (CAO) submarine ridges (Northwind, Mendeleev, Lomonosov) where, at orbital timescales, sedimentation is controlled by the growth and decay of ice sheets, ice shelves, and sea ice. Calcareous microfossil density in CAO sediments is one of many proxies, such as manganese concentrations, grain size, bulk density, color, mineral content, organic geochemistry, and foraminiferal δ¹⁸O, that reveal GIC changes in ice cover, biological productivity, and primary and post-depositional sediment processes. In order to better understand NH ice history, we constructed 600-kyr-long stacked records of Arctic foraminiferal and ostracode density (AFD, AOD) from 19 CAO sediment cores following stacking and astronomical tuning procedures used for deep-sea δ¹⁸O_f curves. Results show discrepancies between the Arctic AFD and AOD curves, the LR04 δ¹⁸O_f stack (Lisiecki and Raymo 2005, Paleoceanography), the Red Sea and Mediterranean δ¹⁸O_f sea level curves (Rohling et al. 2014 Nature), and modeled Antarctic Ice Sheet volume, suggesting asynchronous polar ice sheet behavior in the two hemispheres, notably during MIS 3, 5a, 5c, 7d, and 11.