Rapid Changes in Planktic and Benthic Oxygen Isotopes in the Glacial North Atlantic

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

Summary: This ESH project will develop a high-resolution record (100 year intervals) of surface and bottom water geochemistry in sediment samples from a site south of Iceland, spanning the last 65,000 years. Th goal is to assess the timing and phase of events at this site compared to those reported for a site on the Iberian margin, where benthic events are inferred to have occurred before surface ones by about 500 years. Comparison of the timing of events between surface and bottom water at both sites will test the hypothesis that rapid climate changes in the North Atlantic were driven by global changes in sea level resulting from melting ice sheets.