Provenance signatures and changes of the southwestern sector of the Barents Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation

Abstract

Southwestern Barents Sea sediments contain important information on Lateglacial and Holocene environmental development of the area, i.e. sediment provenance characteristics related to ice‐flow patterns and ice drifting from different regional sectors. In this study, we present investigations of clay, heavy minerals, and ice‐rafted debris from three sediment cores obtained from the SW Barents Sea. The sediments studied are subglacial/glaciomarine to marine in origin. The core sequences were divided into three lithostratigraphical units. The lowest, Unit 3, consists of laminated glaciomarine sediments related to regional deglaciation. The overlying Unit 2 is a diamicton, dominated by mud and oversized clasts. Unit 2 reflects a more ice‐proximal glaciomarine sedimentary environment or even a subglacial depositional environment; its deposition may indicate a glacial re‐advance or stillstand during an overall retreat. The uppermost Unit 1 consists of Holocene marine sediments and current‐reworked sedimentary material with a relatively high carbonate content. A significant proportion of the sedimentary material could be derived from Svalbard and transported by sea ice or icebergs to the Barents Sea during the late deglacial phase. The Fennoscandian sources and local Mesozoic strata from the bottom of the Barents Sea are the likely provenances of sediments deposited during the deglacial and ice re‐advance phases. Bottom currents and sea‐ice transport were the main mechanisms influencing sedimentation during the Holocene. Our results indicate that the provenance areas can be reliably related to certain ice‐flow sectors and transport mechanisms in the deglaciated Barents Sea.

Dynamic and history of methane seepage in the SW Barents Sea: new insights from Leirdjupet Fault Complex

“…Foraminiferal tests at the base of this unit yielded a radiocarbon age of 14,484 ± 333 cal years BP, thus ascribing deposition of Unit II to the Younger Dryas—post Bølling period. This unit is similar to Unit A1 described by Lucchi et al 36 from cores collected in the Storfjorden and Kveithola trough mouth fans and Unit 2 of Kaparulina et al 38 from cores collected in the Bear Island Trough.…”

“…Pebbles are rare, suggesting the presence of multi-year shorefast sea ice hindering iceberg formation 41 . This unit was deposited during the Bølling interstadial (15 cal ka BP) and is tentatively correlated to Unit A2 of Lucchi et al 36 , Unit 3 of Kaparulina et al 38 and Unit Ib of Pau et al 37 .…”

“…S1 ) based on lithofacies (grain size composition and sedimentary features), a radiocarbon tie point obtained from foraminiferal tests (Fig. 2 ), and correlations to sediment cores from adjacent areas 36 – 38 . The lithofacies Unit I, Unit II and Unit III (Fig.…”

Heavy and Light Mineral Association of Late Quaternary Permafrost Deposits in Northeastern Siberia

“…In contrast, other studies favored local sediment sources and dynamics delivering the detritus (e.g., Kunitsky et al, 2002;Schirrmeister et al, 2020). While a number of studies have described heavy mineral associations of Arctic sediments both from the Laptev Sea region (Siegert et al, 2002;Siegert et al, 2009;Schwamborn et al, 2002;Schirrmeister et al, 2003a;Schirrmeister et al, 2008;Schirrmeister et al, 2010;Schirrmeister et al, 2011b) and the neighboring shelf sea areas (Behrends et al, 1999;Peregovich et al, 1999;Kaparulina et al, 2018), our study presents the first comprehensive analysis of heavy mineral associations as a proxy for provenance. This analysis is restricted methodically to sand fractions, due to weathering processes that alter the silt fractions and the fact that in the silt fractions, the minerals cannot be identified anymore.…”

Ice-stream dynamics of the SW Barents Sea revealed by high-resolution 3D seismic imaging of glacial deposits in the Hoop area

“…Such ice-flow imprints indicate that similar paleo-ice-stream configurations might have formed this structure. Based on sediment core datings from the Barents Sea (Salvigsen, 1981;Rüther et al, 2011;Kaparulina et al, 2017), we suggest that this shear margin moraine formed during an episode of the Bjørnøyrenna Ice Stream readvance between 16.9 and 15.5 cal. yrs BP.…”