Bering Sea surface water conditions during Marine Isotope Stages 12 to 10 at Navarin Canyon (IODP Site U1345) Article Swipe
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· 2016
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2015-184
· OA: W4244127357
Records of past warm periods are essential for understanding interglacial climate system dynamics. Marine Isotope Stage 11, occurred ~410 ka when global ice volume was the lowest, sea level was the highest and terrestrial temperatures were the warmest of the last 500 kyrs. This interval with its extreme character has been considered an analog for the near future. The Bering Sea is ideally situated to record how opening or closing the Pacific-Arctic Ocean gateway (Bering Strait) impacted primary productivity, sea ice, and sediment transport in the past; however, little is known about this region prior to 125 ka. IODP Expedition 323 to the Bering Sea offered the unparalleled opportunity to look in detail at time periods older than had been previously retrieved using gravity and piston cores. Here we present a multi-proxy record for Marine Isotope Stages 12-10 from Site U1345 located near the shelf-slope break. MIS 11 is bracketed by highly productive laminated intervals that may have been triggered by flooding of the Beringian shelf. Low insolation is associated with higher productivity, which was likely driven by increased upwelling. During the majority of MIS 11 however, high stratification appears to have led to lowered productivity in both the northern Atlantic and the northern Pacific. U1345, located near the marginal ice zone, experienced seasonal sea ice throughout both the glacial and interglacial stages. When global eustatic sea level was at its peak, Beringian tidewater glaciers advanced, driven by decreasing insolation, reduced seasonality, and high humidity due to high sea level and ice-free summers. Multiple examples of Pacific-Atlantic teleconnections are presented including laminations deposited at the end of MIS 11 in sync with millennial scale stadial events seen in the North Atlantic.
