ALBERT

Description: During the six Heinrich events of the last 70 kyr, episodic calving from the circum-Atlantic ice sheets released large numbers of icebergs into the North Atlantic. These icebergs and associated meltwater flux are hypothesized to have led to a shutdown of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and severe cooling in large parts of the Northern Hemisphere. However, due to the limited availability of high-resolution records, the magnitude of sea surface temperature (SST) changes related to the impact of Heinrich events on the midlatitude North Atlantic is poorly constrained. Here we present a record of U37K′-based SSTs derived from sediments of Integrated Ocean Drilling Project Site U1313, located at the southern end of the ice-rafted debris (IRD) belt in the midlatitude North Atlantic (41°N). We demonstrate that all six Heinrich events are associated with a rapid warming of surface waters by 2–4°C in a few thousand years. The presence of IRD leaves no doubt about the simultaneous timing and correlation between rapid surface water warming and Heinrich events. We argue that this warming in the midlatitude North Atlantic is related to a northward expansion of the subtropical gyre during Heinrich events. As a wide range of studies demonstrated that in the central IRD belt Heinrich events are associated with low SSTs, these results thus identify an antiphased (seesaw) pattern in SSTs during Heinrich events between the midlatitude (warm) and northern North Atlantic (cold). This highlights the complex response of surface water characteristics in the North Atlantic to Heinrich events that is poorly reproduced by freshwater hosing experiments and challenges the widely accepted view that, within the IRD belt of the North Atlantic, Heinrich events coincide with periods of low SSTs.

Description: The construction of the sedimentary cover at most passive continental margins includes gravitational downslope transport and along-slope contourite deposition, which are controlled by tectonics, climate and oceanography. At the eastern continental margin of Argentina the history of deposition and erosion is intimately linked to the evolution of the South Atlantic and its water masses. Here we present a detailed seismic investigation of the mixed depositional system located between 41°S and 45°S. The study provides a northward complement to prior investigations from the southern Argentine margin and together with these may be used as background information for future ocean drilling in the region. Prominent features in our seismic cross sections are submarine canyons, mass wasting deposits, contourite channels, and sediment drifts. Four major seismic units above regional reflector PLe (∼65 Ma) are separated by distinct unconformities of regional extent. Using a dense grid of reflection seismic profiles, we mapped the depocenter geometries of the seismic units and derived a chronology of the depositional processes during the Cenozoic. While the Paleocene/Eocene (∼65–34 Ma) is characterized by hemipelagic sedimentation under relatively sluggish bottom water conditions, strong Antarctic bottom water (AABW) circulation led to widespread erosion on the slope and growth of a detached sediment drift during the Oligocene and early Miocene (∼34–17 Ma). After deposition of an aggradational seismic unit interpreted to represent the Mid-Miocene climatic optimum (∼17–14 Ma), gravitational downslope sediment transport increased during the middle to late Miocene (∼14–6 Ma) possibly related to tectonic uplift in South America. The Pliocene to Holocene unit (〈∼6 Ma) is very heterogeneous and formed by interactions of downslope and along-slope sediment transport processes as indicated by the evolution of canyons, slope plastered drifts and channels.