Surface water changes in the Norwegian Sea during last Deglacial and Holocene times

Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of the polar planktic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral from sediment cores of the Norwegian Sea reveal several anomalous C-13 and delta(18)O depletions in the surface water during the last glacial to interglacial transition and during the later Holocene. The depletions that are observed between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the end of the main deglacial phase were caused by massive releases of freshwater from thawing icebergs, which consequently resulted in a stratification of the uppermost surface water layer and a non-equilibrium between the water below and the atmosphere. At similar to 8.5 ka (C-14 gp) this strong iceberg melting activity ceased as defined by the cessation of the deposition of ice-rafted detritus. After this time, the dominant polar and subpolar planktic foraminiferal species rapidly increased in numbers. However, this post-deglacial evolution towards a modern-type oceanographic environment was interupted by a hitherto undescribed isotopic event (similar to 7-8 ka) which, on a regional scale, is only identified in eastern Norwegian Sea surface water. This event may be associated with the final pulse of glacier meltwater release from Fennoscandia, which affected the onset of intensified coastal surface water circulation off Norway during a time of regional sea-level rise. All these data indicate that surface water changes are an integral part of deglacial processes in general. Yet, the youngest observed change noted around 3 ka gives evidence that such events with similar effects occur even during the later Holocene when from a climatic point of view relatively stable conditions prevailed. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.