Provenance analysis of central Arctic Ocean sediments: Implications for circum-Arctic ice sheet dynamics and ocean circulation during Late Pleistocene

摘要

Mineralogical and geochemical data generated from the well referred shallow core 96/12-1pc on the Lomonosov Ridge, central Arctic Ocean was used to evaluate ice transport from the circum-Arctic sources and variability in sediment drainage and provenance changes. In this study heavy minerals in central Arctic sediments were used to determine those most prominent provenance areas and their changes related to the Late Pleistocene history of glaciations in the Arctic. Provenance changes were then used to infer variations in the paleoceanographic environment of the central Arctic Ocean, such as variations in the distribution of sea ice, icebergs controlled by the Arctic Ocean circulation. Four critical end-members including Victoria and Banks Islands, the Putorana Plateau, the Anabar Shield, and the Verkhoyansk Fold Belt were identified from the Amerasian and Eurasian source areas, and their proportional contributions were estimated in relation to Late Pleistocene ice sheet dynamics and ocean circulation.