Search

Abstract Reconstructing the depositional history of Baffin Bay allows insights into the deglacial retreat of the Laurentide, Innuitian, and Greenland ice sheets from their maximum extent during the Last Glacial Maximum. Here, we present radiocarbon-controlled sedimentation rates from Baffin Bay based on 79 sediment cores to assess spatio-temporal variabilities in sediment deposition since the Last Glacial Maximum. This comprehensive dataset reveals that until ~15,000 years ago the deep basin and slopes were the dominant active sediment depocenters along most margins of Baffin Bay, suggesting prolonged ice-margin stability near the shelf edge, much longer than previously suggested. Between 13,000-11,000 years ago, most depocenters shifted quickly from the slope to the inner shelf, evidencing a very rapid landward ice-sheet retreat. The sedimentation rate-based mean erosion rates (0.17 and 0.08 millimeters/year) derived from the West Greenland Shelf underscore the high erosion capacity of the western Greenland Ice Sheet draining into Baffin Bay.

Multiple proxies in three sediment cores from Northwestern Baffin Bay document the timing of Lancaster Sound Ice Stream (LSIS) retreat that led to Arctic–Atlantic throughflow in Parry Channel, an important source of freshwater that can impact the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The Late Glacial to Holocene timing of ice retreat and channel opening and the responses of the regional ocean environment to these events are presented. We use quantitative mineral composition, foraminiferal assemblages, biogenic silica, ice-rafted debris (IRD), and 14C-based age models to document and date the events and environmental changes occurring during deglaciation of this major marine channel. Findings show that retreat of the LSIS into Lancaster Sound occurred before ~15.3 cal ka BP, about 800 years before the onset of major iceberg calving events from the LSIS, named the Baffin Bay Detrital Carbonate events (BBDC 1 and BBDC 0). The end of BBDC 0 occurred at ~10.6 cal ka BP, which coincides with the opening of Parry Channel. A marine environment productive of calcareous benthic and planktic foraminifera, with diminished meltwater, seasonal sea ice, warmer summer temperatures, and inflowing, nutrient-rich Arctic surface water characterizes the interval between the opening of Parry Channel and the opening of Nares Strait. Paired planktic and benthic 14C ages over this 2,200-year interval show diminishing age offsets suggesting progressive mixing of the upper ~850–900 m of the water column. The opening of Nares Strait by ~8.2 cal ka BP coincides with increased biogenic silica in the form of abundant, large centric diatoms and dissolution of CaCO3. The paucity of calcareous organisms after 8.2 cal ka BP resulted in poor chronological control in the cores to interpret changing environments after 8.2 cal ka BP.

International commitments to preserve global biodiversity target the protection of 30% of marine habitats by 2030. The lack of even basic knowledge of many marine areas (e.g., deep oceans) combined with short timelines require integrative knowledge and multidisciplinary techniques to be used to efficiently identify areas worthy of protection. Here we outline a case study of the discovery of the Makkovik Hanging Gardens found in a deep-water trough in coastal Labrador, Canada. The area is of ecological significance because it supports high densities of vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator taxa, including the gorgonian coral Primnoa resedaeformis on portions of its vertical submarine walls. This study illustrates the exploratory process initiated by Nunatsiavut, which integrated local knowledge, scientific models, and a variety of technologies (such as remotely operated vehicles and multibeam sonar) to discover deep-water hidden biodiversity toward the advancement of both local Indigenous and global conservation goals.

Here, the authors show that enhanced tropical cyclone activity was synchronized with increased Asian dust emissions during the Little Ice Age, implying a mechanism linking tropical cyclone climatology to Asian dust levels, at 100 to 1000 year scales.

In the deepest portions of many lakes, zones of high-conductivity bottom water (HCBW) depleted in dissolved oxygen (DO) are present. HCBW and DO are important for determining benthic diversity and abundance, nutrients, and contaminant cycling and understanding the long-term evolution of lakes. We investigate the persistence and removal of HCBW and DO replenishment in a High Arctic lake using physical properties and flow velocity data along with hydrometric and suspended sediment inflow data over a 4 year monitoring period (2007–2010). HCBW was removed in 2007 and 2008 but largely remained in 2009 and 2010. Catchment disturbances in 2007 increased suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) in the inflowing river in 2007 and 2008. In the later two years of monitoring (2009 and 2010), fluvial sediment availability relaxed to pre-disturbance levels. High SSC in 2007 and 2008 caused by landscape disturbances formed sustained river-generated hyperpycnal flows during the snowmelt period that are linked to HCBW removal. In 2009 and 2010, inflowing river water was periodically denser than lake water; however, HCBW was not removed in these years. Hyperpycnal flows were likely either of insufficient strength or duration, deposited on the delta front, or followed paths that led away from the deepest portion of the lake. Results suggest that hyperpycnal flow frequency will increase and HCBW persistence will decrease with projected climate change due to an increase in fluvial SSC inflow. Water density changes resulting from increased electrical conductivity and water temperature are not likely to have a similarly large effect on hyperpycnal flow frequency and HCBW.