Changes in surface conditions east of the Reykjanes Ridge (North Atlantic) during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene cold events

The article presents data on the study of the AI-3359 marine sediment core recovered from the North Atlantic (east of the Reykjanes Ridge) during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene (the last 45,000 years). The data on ice-rafted debris (IRD) and N. pachyderma (s) distribution together with changes in the relative abundance of CaCO3 enable assigning several cooling events during the investigated period. In the period of Late Pleistocene we found 4 cold events, which correspond to Heinrich events. However, ages of these cold events are slightly different from well-known ages of the Heinrich events. Six Holocene events in the study area centred at 10,800, 10,100, 6020, 2200, and 1200 years BP are the most pronounced cooling events with relatively intensive ice rafting in the study area. Cooling of the subsurface layer without intensive ice rafting is observed at 9300, 8300 and 4100 years BP. In the period of the Little Ice Age, which is marked by cooling between 200 and 500 years BP, a late response of the subsurface layer on cooling on the surface is registered. During some warm intervals (800-1200 years BP, 3200-3900 years BP, 5300-5900 years BP, and 9600-10,000 years BP), ice rafting still occurred in the study area. Increase in the number of foraminiferal shells, calcium carbonate, and IRD during the last 230 years BP indicates a shift of the Arctic Front to the south resulting in intensive ice rafting.