Rock magnetic properties of the Gardar Drift sedimentary sequence, Site IODP U1314, North Atlantic: Implications for bottom current change through the mid-Pleistocene

The sediment obtained at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1314 on the Gardar Drift in the eastern flank of the Reykjanes Ridge was analyzed using rock magnetic techniques to study the depositional environment through the mid-Pleistocene climate transition. The study area is under the influence of Iceland–Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW). Consequently, the sedimentary record represents directly ISOW behavior over time. A change in the depositional environment was documented as magnetic property changes that are the result of changes in concentration and grain size of magnetic minerals, both of which decrease upward from around 0.9 Ma. Because these shifts are accompanied by a change in magnetic fabrics, which is interpreted as a change in bottom current directions from E–W to NNE–SSW, it is considered that the sedimentation pattern inferred from magnetic records at the site was modified by a change in the bottom current through the middle Pleistocene.