ALBERT

Description: Low field magnetic susceptibility normalized by the volume and measured on u-channels with a Bartington MS2C 45-mm diameter susceptibility bridge at 2 cm intervals with a resolution of about 4-5 cm.

Description: The comparison between different climate model simulations of water hosing experiments under glacial conditions points toward diverging responses in Sea Surface Temperature changes (SST) especially in the Southeast Pacific (SEP). This suggests that reconstituting the latitudinal SST gradient in the SEP is a critical parameter for a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the abrupt climatic events since the last glacial period. Here we present, high-resolution records of SST, using planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and alkenone temperature reconstructions and stable oxygen and carbon isotopes from three deep-sea sediment cores along a latitudinal transect off the southern Chilean coast. This allowed us to reconstruct the variations of the latitudinal SST gradient and the Subtropical Front movements in the SEP. The SST results suggest a clear Antarctic timing consistent with the bipolar seesaw control, especially during the late glacial and the deglaciation. Our records do not suggest a complete oceanic heat transfer signal, highlighting the implication of an atmospheric component in the heat transfers between the two hemispheres, controlled by the latitudinal movements of the intertropical convergence zone in the Atlantic and the associated weaker South Pacific westerly split jet. Furthermore, our records indicate variable conditions during the Holocene, and also emphasize the influence of local fresh water inputs from the Patagonian ice sheet and/or precipitation on the SST fresh water input estimates along the Chilean margin (North and South of 49° S) from the onset of the deglaciation until 8 kyr cal. BP.

Description: This dataset comprises magnetic parameters of seven sediment cores from the South China Sea. The parameters are given versus age (in kyr): S-ratio = -IRM@-0.3T/IRM@1T (IRM is for Isothermal Remanent Magnetization), k (10^-6SI): low field magnetic susceptibility, ARM (10^-2 A/m): Anhysteretice remanent magnetization acquired with 100 mT alternating field and 50µT BC field IRM@1T (A/m): isothermal remanent magnetization acquired at 1T.

Description: Deep ocean circulation has been considered relatively stable during interglacial periods, yet little is known about its behavior on submillennial time scales. Using a subcentennially resolved epibenthic foraminiferal d13C record we show that North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) influence was strong at the onset of the last interglacial period and then interrupted by several prominent, centennial-scale reductions. These NADW transients occurred during periods of increased ice rafting and southward expansions of polar water influence, suggesting that a buoyancy threshold for convective instability was triggered by freshwater and circum-Arctic cryosphere changes. The deep Atlantic chemical changes were similar in magnitude to those associated with glaciations, implying that the canonical view of a relatively stable interglacial circulation may not hold for conditions warmer/fresher than at present.

Description: Magnetic properties coupled with sortable silt are investigated for Holocene marine sedimentary sequences located in the subpolar North Altantic, in the Charlie– Gibbs fracture zone (53°N) and in central (57°N) and southern Gardar drift (59°N). All the cores are located at water depths bathed by the Iceland–Scotland Overflow Water, mixed at the southernmost locality with southern sourced water masses. The goal of the multi-proxy study is the changes in the dynamics and the properties of bottom water mass during Holocene. After checking that the magnetic minerals is magnetite of uniform grain size, the low field magnetic susceptibility is used as a magnetic concentration parameter and as a tracer of the transport efficiency by the bottom current from the northern basaltic-derived source. The mean sortable silt size is used as a tracer of bottom current strength whatever the detrital source.

Description: For measurements of the mean sortable silt size of the detrital faction, biogenic carbonates were dissolved using acetic acid (20 %) and the organic matter was removed using hydrogen peroxide (33%) at 85°C. The samples were sieved through a 63 μm mesh and mixed in Sodium hexametaphosphate solution (0,2 %) in an ultrasonic bath for 2 minutes before analysis. The measurement was made using a Beckman Coulter Counter Multisizer 3 with a 100µm aperture tube valid for the 2-63µm. Two runs were performed with a total of 500,000 to 600,000 particles passing through the aperture. The number of particles counted in the 10-63µm range exceeds 10,000 and the reproducibility between these replicates is of the order of 1.5 to 2%.

Description: Relative changes in geomagnetic field intensity over the last 280 kyears have been recovered from the study of three marine cores from the Açores area. One core was precisely dated by oxygen isotope study and the other two records were linked to it using light reflectance analysis which allowed precise correlation. Rock magnetic analysis shows that the main magnetic mineral is magnetite with a very homogeneous grain-size distribution in the pseudo-single domain range for the three cores. Changes in the amount of magnetite do not exceed a factor of 10. Therefore, these cores appear to be suitable for relative palaeointensity determinations. Two mineral magnetic components with periodicities of 23 and 18 kyears are present in the records of bulk magnetic parameters and natural remanent magnetisation (NRM), but the power at these frequencies is not significant at the 95% level for the normalised remanence records. For each core, normalisation of the NRM using different normalising parameters yields virtually identical results. Using saturation isothermal remanent magnetisation (SIRM) as the normalising parameter, the results of the three cores were then combined into a stacked curve. Squared coherence analysis between this stacked curve and bulk mineral-magnetic parameters reveals that the 18 kyear component is still present in the record, but that the power spectrum is barely above noise level at this frequency. Some of the features of this North Atlantic record are consistent with the main characteristics already documented in other sedimentary or volcanic records. For instance, distinct periods of low intensity are observed around 40, 120, and 190 kyears, and periods of high intensity at 50 and 80 kyears. Because of the uniformity of the mineral-magnetic characteristics of the three cores, we suggest that this record may be a suitable palaeointensity reference curve for the Central North Atlantic Ocean region.

Description: Sortable silt data was obtained from core MD03-2679 located in the North Atlantic. The sediment was analysed with a laser diffractometer at GEOsciences Paris-Sud (GEOPS), in order to provide informations on past changes in intensity of the Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) over the Marine Isotopic Stages 7 and 9. The original sortable silt data (percent and mean) were used for comparison with the new method of correcting for ice-rafted debris (IRD) influence on sortable silt described in Stevenard et al. (submitted).