Postglacial sedimentation in the White Sea (northwestern Russia) reconstructed by integrated microfossil and geochemical data

The White Sea being connected with the Arctic Ocean via the Barents Sea has an influence on its water temperature/salinity structures and biological processes and thus has an indirect impact on the Eurasian climate system. In this work, we have managed to find a correspondence between the climate fluctuation in the Holocene and changes in the geochemical and microfossil properties in the sediment core of the White Sea. For the first time, the element speciation in the sediment core covering about 10,000 cal yr BP period was investigated. The cooling periods (the early Holocene and the Subboreal stage) were characterized by a trend of increase in Si, Al, and Ti contents and Ti/Al ratios, which reflect lithogenous contribution, and decrease in geochemically labile forms of trace elements. A significant increase in the content of organic-bound trace elements and biogenic components (Сorg, BSi, and chlorin) was observed during periods of Holocene climatic optimums. The evident relationship between the metal speciation and indicators of the sedimentation paleoenvironment is observed at the stage of the active phase of early diagenesis after the slowing down of the biogeochemical processes. Down-core decrease in the Mn oxyhydroxide content exhibited a weakening of diagenesis processes at the ~130–150 cm depth.