Date List X contains an annotated listing of 213 radiocarbon dates determined on samples from marine and terrestrial environments. The marine samples were collected from the East Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, and Norwegian margins, Baffin Bay, and Labrador Sea. The terrestrial samples were collected from Vestfirdir, Iceland and Baffin Island. The samples were submitted by INSTAAR and researchers affiliated with INSTAAR's Micropaleontology Laboratory under the direction of Dr.’s John T. Andrews and Anne E. Jennings. All of the dates from marine sediment cores were determined from either shells or foraminifera (both benthic and planktic). All dates were obtained by the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) method. Regions of concentrated marine research include: Baffin Bay, Baffin Island, Labrador Sea, East Greenland fjords, shelf and slope, Denmark Strait, the southwestern and northwestern Iceland shelves, and Vestfirdir, Iceland. The non-marine radiocarbon dates are from peat, wood, plant microfossils, and mollusc. The radiocarbon dates have been used to address a variety of research objectives such as: 1. determining the timing of northern hemisphere high latitude environmental changes including glacier advance and retreat, and 2. assessing the accuracy of a fluctuating reservoir correction. Thus, most of the dates constrain the timing, rate, and interaction of late Quaternary paleoenvironmental fluctuations in sea level, glacier extent, sediment input, and changes in ocean circulation patterns. Where significant, stratigraphic and sample contexts are presented for each core to document the basis for interpretations.
Tephra-grain counting, morphology and geochemistry in the 150–1000 μm size fraction were used to identify 22 individual tephra horizons and one visible tephra layer (Saksunarvatn) from postglacial sediment of the north Iceland shelf. Core MD99-2269 (66°37.53‘N, 20°51.16‘W, water depth 365 m, length 2533 cm) from the Reykjafjardaráll basin is constrained at the base by the Vedde tephra (c. 12 000 cal. yr BP). Geochemical analyses and stratigraphical position of the 22 tephra horizons were used to identify the following cryptotephras: KOL-1372 (AD 1372), Hekla 1104 (AD 1104), Snæfellsnes 1 (c. 1790 cal. yr BP), Hekla 3 (c. 2970 cal. yr BP), Hekla 4 (c. 4230 cal. yr BP), TV 5 (c. 6860 cal. yr BP) and Suduroy (c. 8070 cal. yr BP). A tephra of the same geochemistry as KOL-1372 was found near the base of the core and is here named KOL3-2269 (>11 000 cal. yr BP). Eleven additional cryptotephras were geochemically typed to their respective Icelandic volcanic centres of origin and their ages constrained. Four tephra horizons had a very heterogeneous geochemical signal and may reflect secondary rather than primary deposition although we speculate whether the heterogeneity may be due to mixing of distinct cryptotephras within our sample. The cryptotephras and one visible tephra layer (Saksunarvatn) were intercalibrated with the combined MD99-2269 and MD99-2322 (67°08.18‘N, 30°49.67‘W, 714 m water depth, length 2617 cm) palaeomagnetic secular variation record, in depth and on a calibrated radiocarbon chronology, providing a fundamental chronological and stratigraphic template for future studies of environmental and volcanic variability for the Icelandic region, eastern North Atlantic and NW Europe.
The oceanographic Polar Front separates the East Greenland and Iceland margins. Surface water temperatures across Denmark Strait vary by 8–12 °C and represent one of the steepest oceanographic gradients on earth. The East Greenland margin is a polar environment, with extensive sea‐ice cover and calving glacier margins; in contrast, the Iceland shelf is much more temperate, and freshwater run‐off is a key component in land–ocean sediment transfers. Average sediment properties from these two contrasting climate and oceanographic continental shelf environments are compared in the spatial domain at 13 sites; the data represent the last 10 000 radiocarbon years of `normal' marine sedimentation for the two regions. The two regions have similar average rates of sediment accumulation (around 43·5 cm kyr −1 ), so that this key variable is factored out in explaining any differences in sediment properties. Dry sediment density, moisture content, hygroscopic moisture, total organic carbon and carbonate contents, mass magnetic susceptibility and the percentages of sand and silt are compared focusing on: (1) median values for sediment properties; and (2) downcore variability, measured by the coefficient of variation (CV). There are significant differences in all but one (hygroscopic moisture) of the sediment properties between Iceland and East Greenland; in four cases, the sense of the differences was not as predicted. In terms of downcore variation (CV), no difference was found between the two regions, nor between the 13 sites, whereas there are some significant differences between the variables. Carbonate and mass magnetic susceptibility have the largest spreads, and moisture content and dry sediment density are the least variable. Protocols are developed to identify the `type core' in a regional series of sites. The results indicate a need to develop a regional perspective on sediment properties, both as inputs to models of sedimentary processes in different polar/arctic environments, and as an indication of which sediment properties might be best suited for palaeoenvironmental downcore time series.
We have developed cold‐end Mg/Ca‐temperature calibrations for three common Arctic benthic foraminifera, Islandiella norcrossi/helenae , Melonis barleeanus , and Cassidulina neoteretis , and compare the three calibrations in a late Holocene downcore record (0–4000 cal yr B.P.). The calibration and downcore trends for the three Arctic species extend the observation that Mg incorporation into benthic foraminifera is species specific. For the calibration we use a set of CTD casts, bottom water δ 18 O seawater measurements, and surface grab‐samples collected from the Iceland margin (cruise B997) and the Greenland margin (cruise BS1191). Water depth of sites used ranges from 165 to 656 m, while spatial bottom temperature ranges from 0 to 7°C. Mg/Ca values ranged from 1.02 to 1.47 for I. norcrossi / helenae , 0.64 to 2.21 for M. barleeanus , and 0.93 to 1.38 mmol/mol for C. neoteretis . We calibrated Mg/Ca content against isotopic calcification temperature (calculated using T = 16.9 − 4.0*( δ 18 O calcite corrected for vital effect − δ 18 O seawater )). Exponential calibrations for the three species are as follows: I. norcrossi / helenae Mg/Ca = 1.051 ± 0.03 * exp(0.060 ± 0.011 * T), M. barleeanus Mg/Ca = 0.658 ± 0.07 * exp(0.137 ± 0.020 * T), and C. neoteretis Mg/Ca = 0.864 ± 0.07 * exp(0.082 ± 0.020 * T). On the basis of Mg/Ca in these benthic species the downcore record from core MD99‐2269 is reconstructed. Bottom temperature values are interpreted to reflect variable inflow of Atlantic and Arctic water to the north Iceland shelf during the last 4000 cal yr B.P. All three reconstructions show a decline by 0.1°C per century from circa 1500‐0 cal yr B.P., which coincides with an increase in Arctic benthic foraminifera abundances and a rise in sea ice proxies in the same core. Intriguingly, C. neoteretis diverges periodically to higher average temperature (Atlantic water conditions) than shown by M. barleeanus or I. norcrossi / helenae (which both show Arctic water temperature) circa 1500–4000 cal yr B.P.
Tephras, mainly from Iceland, are becoming increasingly important in interpreting leads and lags in the Holocene climate system across NW Europe. Here we demonstrate that Quantitative Phase Analysis of x-ray diffractograms of the <2 mm of marine sediment fraction (ie, sand, silt and clay) from Iceland and East Greenland can detect peaks in volcanic glass concentrations (weight%) even though discrete tephra layers are not visible; thus it provides a rapid overview of the probable location of volcanic glass within sediment sequences. Experiments in spiking samples from Baffin Bay and an artificial mixture of minerals with known weight% fractions of an Icelandic tephra (Hekla 4) demonstrate a significant correlation (r 2 =0.92 and 0.97) between known and estimated weight percentages, although the slope of the measured to observed weight% is around 0.65 and not 1.0 as expected. In core B997-321PC off North Iceland we identify tephras from point counting in the > 150 μm fraction and identify these same peaks in XRD scans two of these correlate geochemically and chronologically with Hekla 1104 and 3. At a distal site to the WNW of Iceland, on the East Greenland margin (core MD99-2317), the weight% of volcanic glass reaches values of 11% at about the time of the Saksunarvatn tephra. The XRD method identifies the presence of volcanic glass but not its elemental composition; hence it will assist in focusing attention on specific sections of sediment cores for subsequent geochemical fingerprinting of tephras.
