A 430 kyr record of ice-sheet dynamics and organic-carbon burial in the central Eurasian Arctic Ocean

Abstract

Abstract Late Quaternary central Arctic Ocean paleoclimatic records going beyond the last climate cycle, are still very rare. Here, we present data from a well-dated deep-sea sediment core that allow for the first time to reconstruct in detail the interrelationship between ice-sheet dynamics and organic-carbon (OC) burial in the Eurasian Basin during the last 430 kyr, and to correlate marine and terrestrial records of the Eurasian Ice Sheet (EIS) history. Using a multi-proxy approach, we demonstrate that within pulses of EIS advance and retreat during glacial to subsequent deglacial times, erosion of ancient (petrogenic) OC-rich sedimentary rocks and soils deliver sediments, further supplied onto the shelf and beyond. Down-slope and long-distance transport of the fine-grained OC-rich suspension by turbidity and contour currents cause elevated burial of terrestrial OC and anoxic sedimentary conditions in the deep Eurasian Basin that allow preservation of labile algae-type OC.