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The Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Northwind Ridge, Arctic Ocean

Crawford, Kevin A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284698703

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Geological Sciences.
The Arctic Ocean plays an important role in modulating the world’s climate. Changes in sea-ice albedo and the export of freshwater into the North Atlantic could have serious repercussions to the climate patterns far beyond the Arctic. To understand fully the impacts of the retreating sea-ice cover and the warming Arctic Ocean we need to look into the past for clues. Paleoenvironments of the Arctic Ocean can be reconstructed by using sea-floor sediment constituents, such as paleobiological and mineral components as well as chemical and paleomagnetic parameters. Three cores raised from the Northwind Ridge, north of the Alaskan continental margin, were chosen to investigate sedimentary patterns and related paleoenvironments in the western Arctic Ocean across a time frame from the Holocene to estimated early Pleistocene. These cores show a range of sedimentation rates decreasing from south to north, thus allowing a development of a relatively high-resolution Upper Quaternary stratigraphy at the southern part of the ridge and a lower-resolution, yet longer stratigraphy for its northern part. In addition to this long stratigraphic coverage, the northern core has well-preserved calcareous microfauna, which provides new insights into paleoceanographic environments. All stratigraphic intervals recovered display glacial-interglacial cyclicity expressed in abundances of foraminifera and ice-rafted debris, and variability in stable-isotopic compositions and some chemical elements such as manganese consistent with data from other parts of the Arctic Ocean. In addition to this cyclicity, sedimentary and micropaleontological data from cores under study indicate a step increase in glacial inputs and sea-ice coverage at the end of the Early Pleistocene, co-occurring with a fundamental reorganization of the Earth’s climate during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. The causal relationships between these processes are yet to be investigated.
Peter-Noel Webb, PhD (Advisor)
Leonid Polyak (Committee Member)
Lawrence A. Krissek (Committee Member)
125 p.
Geology; Oceanography; Paleontology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Crawford, K. A. (2010). The Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Northwind Ridge, Arctic Ocean [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284698703

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Crawford, Kevin. The Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Northwind Ridge, Arctic Ocean. 2010. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284698703.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Crawford, Kevin. "The Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Northwind Ridge, Arctic Ocean." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284698703

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1284698703
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© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.