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Paleomagnetic analysis and radiocarbon dating of an expanded Holocene deep-sea sediment sequence recovered by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 303 from Labrador Sea Site U1305 (Lat.: 57 degrees 28.5 N, Long.: 48 degrees 31.8 W, water depth 3459 m) provides insights into mechanisms that drive both paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) and magnetization acquisition in deep-sea sediments. Seventeen radiocarbon dates on planktonic foraminifera define postglacial (ca. 8 ka) sedimentation rates as ranging from 35 to > 90 cm/kyr. Alternating field (AF) demagnetization of u-channel samples show that these homogeneous sediments preserve a strong, stable, and consistently well-defined component magnetization. Normalized remanence records pass reliability criteria for relative paleointensity (RPI) estimates. Assuming that the age of magnetization is most accurately defined by well dated PSV records with the highest sedimentation rates, allows us to estimate and correct for temporal offsets at Site U1305 interpreted to result from postdepositional remanence acquisition at a depth of similar to 20 cm. Comparisons indicate that the northern North Atlantic PSV and RPI records are more consistent with European than North American records, and the evolution of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGP) are temporally and longitudinally similar to global reconstructions, though with much larger latitudinal variation. The largest deviations from a geocentric axial dipole (GAD) are observed during times of the highest intensities, in contrast to the usual assumption. These observations are consistent with the idea that PSV in the North Atlantic and elsewhere during the Holocene results from temporal oscillations of high-latitude flux concentrations at a few recurrent locations.

Four piston cores collected in 1999 and 2002 from the Eirik Drift (southern Labrador Sea, off SE Greenland) provide paleomagnetic, environmental magnetic, and oxygen isotope records back to marine isotope stage 11. Age models for the cores are based on a combination of planktonic oxygen isotope data, relative geomagnetic paleointensity proxies, and the identification of geomagnetic excursions (Laschamp and Iceland Basin). Environmental magnetic data delineate two distinct detrital signals, interpreted to reflect the behavior of the surrounding ice sheets (Greenland and Laurentide) to orbital-and millennial-scale climate forcing. Broad decimeter-scale intervals of increased magnetic concentration and grain size occur during the early part of interglacial marine isotopic stages (MIS) 1, 5, 7, 9, and 11. Discrete centimeter-scale layers, recognized by magnetic concentration and grain-size sensitive parameters, gamma ray attenuation (GRA) bulk density, and carbonate content, are observed in glacial and interglacial stages as well as during terminations. On the basis of glacial reconstructions on Greenland during the last termination, the broad decimeter-scale coarser-grained intervals can be attributed to detrital influx associated with the retreat of the terrestrial-based Greenland Ice Sheet in the early Holocene. A similar magnetic signal observed within interglacial MIS 5, 7, 9, and 11 indicates similar Greenland Ice Sheet behavior during these time intervals. Two types of centimeter-scale detrital layers are also recognized back to MIS 11. Detrital carbonate (DC) layers reflect predominately ice-rafted debris (IRD) deposition, while the low detrital carbonate (LDC) layers reflect mass movement as evidenced by sharp basal contacts, graded bedding, and traction structures, likely from the Greenland slope. Some detrital layers on Eirik Drift, particularly the DC layers, can be tentatively correlated to detrital layers observed in the central North Atlantic and to those documented on the southern side of the Labrador Sea at Orphan Knoll.