TY - JOUR T1 - Late Holocene Paleomagnetic Secular Variation in the Chukchi Sea, Arctic Ocean JF - Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems Y1 - 2022 A1 - West, Gabriel A1 - Nilsson, Andreas A1 - Geels, Alexis A1 - Jakobsson, Martin A1 - Moros, Matthias A1 - Muschitiello, Francesco A1 - Pearce, Christof A1 - Snowball, Ian A1 - O’Regan, Matt AB - The geomagnetic field behavior in polar regions remains poorly understood and documented. Although a number of Late Holocene paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) records exist from marginal settings of the Amerasian Basin in the Arctic Ocean, their age control often relies on a handful of radiocarbon dates to constrain ages over the past 4,200 years. Here we present well-dated Late Holocene PSV records from two sediment cores recovered from the Chukchi Sea, Arctic Ocean. The records are dated using 26 14C measurements, with local marine reservoir corrections calibrated using tephra layers from the 3.6 cal ka BP Aniakchak eruption in Northern Alaska. These 14C-based chronologies are extended into the post-bomb era using caesium-137 dating, and mercury isochrons. Paleomagnetic measurements and rock magnetic analyses reveal stable characteristic remanent magnetization directions, and a magnetic mineralogy dominated by low-coercivity minerals. The PSV records conform well to global spherical harmonic field model outputs. Centennial to millennial scale directional features are synchronous between the cores and other Western Arctic records from the area. Due to the robust chronology, these new high-resolution PSV records provide a valuable contribution to the characterization of geomagnetic field behavior in the Arctic over the past few thousand years, and can aid in developing age models for suitable sediments found in this region. VL - 23 UR - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GC010187 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A new 30,000-year chronology for rapidly deposited sediments on the Lomonosov Ridge using bulk radiocarbon dating and probabilistic stratigraphic alignment JF - Geochronology Y1 - 2020 A1 - Muschitiello, Francesco A1 - O'Regan, Matt A1 - Martens, Jannik A1 - West, Gabriel A1 - Gustafsson, Örjan A1 - Jakobsson, Martin AB - We present a new marine chronostratigraphy from a high-accumulation rate Arctic Ocean core at the intersection of the Lomonosov Ridge and the Siberian margin, spanning the last ∼ 30 kyr. The chronology was derived using a combination of bulk 14C dating and stratigraphic correlation to Greenland ice-core records. This was achieved by applying an appositely developed Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for Bayesian probabilistic alignment of proxy records. The algorithm simulates depositionally realistic alignments that are consistent with the available radiocarbon age estimates and allows deriving uncertainty bands associated with the inferred alignment. Current composite chronologies from this region are reasonably consistent with our age model during the Holocene and the later part of deglaciation. However, prior to ∼ 14 kyr BP they yield too old age estimates with offsets that linearly increase up to ∼ 40 kyr near the onset of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2. Our results challenge the robustness of previous regional chronostratigraphies and provide a new stratotype for correlation of sediment cores from this sector of the Lomonosov Ridge and East Siberian slope. In particular, they call for a re-interpretation of events in recent sea-ice proxy reconstructions (Xiao et al., 2015) inaccurately attributed to MIS 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum. VL - 2 UR - https://gchron.copernicus.org/articles/2/81/2020/ IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Late Holocene paleoceanography in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, Arctic Ocean, based on benthic foraminifera and ostracodes JF - arktos Y1 - 2018 A1 - Seidenstein, Julia L. A1 - Cronin, Thomas M. A1 - Gemery, Laura A1 - Keigwin, Lloyd D. A1 - Pearce, Christof A1 - Jakobsson, Martin A1 - Coxall, Helen K. A1 - Wei, Emily A. A1 - Driscoll, Neal W. AB - Calcareous microfossil assemblages in late Holocene sediments from the western Arctic continental shelf provide an important baseline for evaluating the impacts of today’s changing Arctic oceanography. This study compares 14C-dated late Holocene microfaunal assemblages of sediment cores SWERUS-L2-2-PC1, 2-MC4 and 2-KL1 (57 mwd), which record the last 4200 years in the Herald Canyon (Chukchi Sea shelf), and HLY1302-JPC-32, GGC-30, MC-29 (60 mwd), which record the last 3000 years in the Beaufort Sea shelf off the coast of Canada. Foraminiferal and ostracode assemblages are typical of Arctic continental shelf environments with annual sea-ice cover and show relatively small changes in terms of variability of dominant species. Important microfaunal changes in the Beaufort site include a spike in Spiroplectammina biformis coinciding with a decrease in Cassidulina reniforme in the last few centuries suggesting an increase of Pacific Water influence and decreased sea-ice. There is low-amplitude centennial-scale variability in proportions of benthic foraminiferal species, such as C. reniforme. In addition to these species, Cassidulina teretis s.l., Elphidium excavatum clavatum and Stainforthia feylingi are also common at this site. At the Herald Canyon site in the last few centuries, C. reniforme peaks around 150 years BP and then decreases while Spiroplectammina earlandi spikes and Acanthocythereis dunelmensis decreases also suggesting an increase in Pacific Water influence and decreased sea-ice at this site. This site also includes Buccella spp. and Elphidium excavatum clavatum. Differences in benthic foraminifera and ostracode species dominance between the two sites may be due to a greater influence of Pacific Water in the Chukchi shelf, compared to the more distal Beaufort shelf, which is also affected by the Beaufort Gyre and the Mackenzie River. VL - 4 UR - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41063-018-0058-7 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Remobilization of old permafrost carbon to Chukchi Sea sediments during the end of the last deglaciation JF - Global Biogeochemical Cycles Y1 - 2018 A1 - Martens, Jannik A1 - Wild, Birgit A1 - Pearce, Christof A1 - Tesi, Tommaso A1 - Andersson, August A1 - Broder, Lisa A1 - O’Regan, Matt A1 - Jakobsson, Martin A1 - Sköld, Martin A1 - Gemery, Laura A1 - Cronin, Thomas M. A1 - Semiletov, Igor A1 - Dudarev, Oleg V. A1 - Gustafsson, Örjan KW - carbon isotope KW - climate change feedback KW - coastal erosion KW - Deglaciation KW - past carbon cycling KW - permafrost AB - Climate warming is expected to destabilize permafrost carbon (PF‐C) by thaw‐erosion and deepening of the seasonally thawed active layer and thereby promote PF‐C mineralization to CO2 and CH4. A similar PF‐C remobilization might have contributed to the increase in atmospheric CO2 during deglacial warming after the last glacial maximum. Using carbon isotopes and terrestrial biomarkers (Δ14C, δ13C, and lignin phenols), this study quantifies deposition of terrestrial carbon originating from permafrost in sediments from the Chukchi Sea (core SWERUS‐L2‐4‐PC1). The sediment core reconstructs remobilization of permafrost carbon during the late Allerød warm period starting at 13,000 cal years before present (BP), the Younger Dryas, and the early Holocene warming until 11,000 cal years BP and compares this period with the late Holocene, from 3,650 years BP until present. Dual‐carbon‐isotope‐based source apportionment demonstrates that Ice Complex Deposit—ice‐ and carbon‐rich permafrost from the late Pleistocene (also referred to as Yedoma)—was the dominant source of organic carbon (66 ± 8%; mean ± standard deviation) to sediments during the end of the deglaciation, with fluxes more than twice as high (8.0 ± 4.6 g·m−2·year−1) as in the late Holocene (3.1 ± 1.0 g·m−2·year−1). These results are consistent with late deglacial PF‐C remobilization observed in a Laptev Sea record, yet in contrast with PF‐C sources, which at that location were dominated by active layer material from the Lena River watershed. Release of dormant PF‐C from erosion of coastal permafrost during the end of the last deglaciation indicates vulnerability of Ice Complex Deposit in response to future warming and sea level changes. UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2018GB005969https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2018GB005969https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1029%2F2018GB005969https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2018GB005969 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The 3.6 ka Aniakchak tephra in the Arctic Ocean: a constraint on the Holocene radiocarbon reservoir age in the Chukchi Sea JF - Climate of the Past Y1 - 2017 A1 - Pearce, Christof A1 - Varhelyi, Aron A1 - Wastegård, Stefan A1 - Muschitiello, Francesco A1 - Barrientos, Natalia A1 - O'Regan, Matt A1 - Cronin, Thomas M. A1 - Gemery, Laura A1 - Semiletov, Igor A1 - Backman, Jan A1 - Jakobsson, Martin AB - The caldera-forming eruption of the Aniakchak volcano in the Aleutian Range on the Alaskan Peninsula at 3.6 cal kyr BP was one of the largest Holocene eruptions worldwide. The resulting ash is found as a visible sediment layer in several Alaskan sites and as a cryptotephra on Newfoundland and Greenland. This large geographic distribution, combined with the fact that the eruption is relatively well constrained in time using radiocarbon dating of lake sediments and annual layer counts in ice cores, makes it an excellent stratigraphic marker for dating and correlating mid–late Holocene sediment and paleoclimate records. This study presents the outcome of a targeted search for the Aniakchak tephra in a marine sediment core from the Arctic Ocean, namely Core SWERUS-L2-2-PC1 (2PC), raised from 57 m water depth in Herald Canyon, western Chukchi Sea. High concentrations of tephra shards, with a geochemical signature matching that of Aniakchak ash, were observed across a more than 1.5 m long sediment sequence. Since the primary input of volcanic ash is through atmospheric transport, and assuming that bioturbation can account for mixing up to ca. 10 cm of the marine sediment deposited at the coring site, the broad signal is interpreted as sustained reworking at the sediment source input. The isochron is therefore placed at the base of the sudden increase in tephra concentrations rather than at the maximum concentration. This interpretation of major reworking is strengthened by analysis of grain size distribution which points to ice rafting as an important secondary transport mechanism of volcanic ash. Combined with radiocarbon dates on mollusks in the same sediment core, the volcanic marker is used to calculate a marine radiocarbon reservoir age offset ΔR = 477 ± 60 years. This relatively high value may be explained by the major influence of typically "carbon-old" Pacific waters, and it agrees well with recent estimates of ΔR along the northwest Alaskan coast, possibly indicating stable oceanographic conditions during the second half of the Holocene. Our use of a volcanic absolute age marker to obtain the marine reservoir age offset is the first of its kind in the Arctic Ocean and provides an important framework for improving chronologies and correlating marine sediment archives in this region. Core 2PC has a high sediment accumulation rate averaging 200 cm kyr throughout the last 4000 years, and the chronology presented here provides a solid base for high-resolution reconstructions of late Holocene climate and ocean variability in the Chukchi Sea. VL - 13 UR - https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/13/303/2017/ IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The De Long Trough: a newly discovered glacial trough on the East Siberian continental margin JF - Climate of the Past Y1 - 2017 A1 - O'Regan, Matt A1 - Backman, Jan A1 - Barrientos, Natalia A1 - Cronin, Thomas M. A1 - Gemery, Laura A1 - Kirchner, Nina A1 - Mayer, Larry A. A1 - Nilsson, Johan A1 - Noormets, Riko A1 - Pearce, Christof A1 - Semiletov, Igor A1 - Stranne, Christian A1 - Jakobsson, Martin AB - Ice sheets extending over parts of the East Siberian continental shelf have been proposed for the last glacial period and during the larger Pleistocene glaciations. The sparse data available over this sector of the Arctic Ocean have left the timing, extent and even existence of these ice sheets largely unresolved. Here we present new geophysical mapping and sediment coring data from the East Siberian shelf and slope collected during the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition (SWERUS-C3: Swedish – Russian – US Arctic Ocean Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere-Carbon Interactions). The multibeam bathymetry and chirp sub-bottom profiles reveal a set of glacial landforms that include grounding zone formations along the outer continental shelf, seaward of which lies a  >  65 m thick sequence of glacio-genic debris flows. The glacial landforms are interpreted to lie at the seaward end of a glacial trough – the first to be reported on the East Siberian margin, here referred to as the De Long Trough because of its location due north of the De Long Islands. Stratigraphy and dating of sediment cores show that a drape of acoustically laminated sediments covering the glacial deposits is older than ∼ 50 cal kyr BP. This provides direct evidence for extensive glacial activity on the Siberian shelf that predates the Last Glacial Maximum and most likely occurred during the Saalian (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6). VL - 13 UR - https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/13/1269/2017/ IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins JF - Climate of the Past Y1 - 2017 A1 - Cronin, Thomas M. A1 - O'Regan, Matt A1 - Pearce, Christof A1 - Gemery, Laura A1 - Toomey, Michael A1 - Semiletov, Igor A1 - Jakobsson, Martin AB - Deglacial (12.8–10.7 ka) sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1) and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1), and a gravity core from an East Siberian Sea transect, SWERUS-L2-20-GC1 (20-GC1). Cores 4-PC1 and 20-GC were taken at 120 and 115 m of modern water depth, respectively, only a few meters above the global last glacial maximum (LGM;  ∼  24 kiloannum or ka) minimum sea level of  ∼  125–130 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.). Using calibrated radiocarbon ages mainly on molluscs for chronology and the ecology of benthic foraminifera and ostracode species to estimate paleodepths, the data reveal a dominance of river-proximal species during the early part of the Younger Dryas event (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1) followed by a rise in river-intermediate species in the late Younger Dryas or the early Holocene (Preboreal) period. A rapid relative sea level rise beginning at roughly 11.4 to 10.8 ka ( ∼  400 cm of core depth) is indicated by a sharp faunal change and unconformity or condensed zone of sedimentation. Regional sea level at this time was about 108 m b.s.l. at the 4-PC1 site and 102 m b.s.l. at 20-GC1. Regional sea level near the end of the YD was up to 42–47 m lower than predicted by geophysical models corrected for glacio-isostatic adjustment. This discrepancy could be explained by delayed isostatic adjustment caused by a greater volume and/or geographical extent of glacial-age land ice and/or ice shelves in the western Arctic Ocean and adjacent Siberian land areas. VL - 13 UR - https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/13/1097/2017/ IS - 9 ER -