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

The results show changes in transport pathways and source areas within two examined transitions MIS6-5 and MIS4-3. The main source for material during MIS6-5 transition was Amerasian margin due to the high dolomite content in the studied section of sediments inferring strong Beaufort Gyre (BG) and Transpolar Drift (TPD) transport for this material. IRD material during late the MIS6 to 5 deglacial event was from terrigenous input through from the MacKenzie route Banks/Victoria Islands then transported as far as the Lomonosov Ridge area. The transition, MIS4-3 in comparison with MIS6-5, shows a clear shift in source areas, reflected in a different mineralogical composition of sediments, supplied from the Eurasian margin, such as the Anabar Shield, the Putorana Plateau and the Verkhoyansk Fold Belt during active decay of the Barents-Kara Ice Sheet presumable associated with an ice-dammed lake outburst then triggered by a strong TPD over the central Arctic. These two studied deglaciations suggest that contributions of different circum-Arctic sediment sources are related to interaction between ice sheet decay, sea ice production and circulation.