A Laurentide outburst flooding event during the last interglacial period

Nicholl, Joseph A. L. and Hodell, David A. and Naafs, B. David A. and Hillaire-Marcel, Claude and Channell, James E. T. and Romero, Oscar E. (2012) A Laurentide outburst flooding event during the last interglacial period. Nature Geoscience, 5 (12). pp. 901-904. ISSN 1752-0894 EISSN:1752-0908 DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1622

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Abstract

Episodes of ice-sheet disintegration and meltwater release over glacial–interglacial cycles are recorded by discrete layers of detrital sediment in the Labrador Sea1, 2. The most prominent layers reflect the release of iceberg armadas associated with cold Heinrich events3, but the detrital sediment carried by glacial outburst floods from the melting Laurentide Ice Sheet is also preserved4. Here we report an extensive layer of red detrital material in the Labrador Sea that was deposited during the early last interglacial period. We trace the layer through sediment cores collected along the Labrador and Greenland margins of the Labrador Sea. Biomarker data, Ca/Sr ratios and δ18O measurements link the carbonate contained in the red layer to the Palaeozoic bedrock of the Hudson Bay. We conclude that the debris was carried to the Labrador Sea during a glacial outburst flood through the Hudson Strait, analogous to the final Lake Agassiz outburst flood about 8,400 years ago, probably around the time of a last interglacial cold event in the North Atlantic5. We suggest that outburst floods associated with the final collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet may have been pervasive features during the early stages of Late Quaternary interglacial periods.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2012AREP; IA64;
Subjects:	01 - Climate Change and Earth-Ocean Atmosphere Systems
Divisions:	01 - Climate Change and Earth-Ocean Atmosphere Systems
Journal or Publication Title:	Nature Geoscience
Volume:	5
Page Range:	pp. 901-904
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1622
Depositing User:	Sarah Humbert
Date Deposited:	21 Dec 2012 15:56
Last Modified:	23 Jul 2013 10:05
URI:	http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/2644

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