Work

A 430 kyr record of ice-sheet dynamics and organic-carbon burial in the central Eurasian Arctic Ocean

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Late Quaternary central Arctic Ocean paleoclimatic records going beyond the last climate cycle, are still very rare. Here, we present data from a well-dated deep-sea sediment core that allow for the first time to reconstruct in detail the interrelationship between ice-sheet dynamics and organic-carbon (OC) burial in the Eurasian Basin during the last 430 kyr, and to correlate marine and terrestrial records of the Eurasian Ice Sheet (EIS) history. Using a multi-proxy approach, we demonstrate that within pulses of EIS advance and retreat during glacial to subsequent deglacial times, erosion of ancient (petrogenic) OC-rich sedimentary rocks and soils deliver sediments, further supplied onto the shelf and beyond. Down-slope and long-distance transport of the fine-grained OC-rich suspension by turbidity and contour currents cause elevated burial of terrestrial OC and anoxic sedimentary conditions in the deep Eurasian Basin that allow preservation of labile algae-type OC.

Source: Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59112-7