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Late-Holocene Atlantic bottom-water variability in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, reconstructed from foraminifera faunas

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland,Østervoldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark; sl{at}geus.dk

Antoon Kuijpers

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland,Østervoldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark

Helmar Kunzendorf

Geographic Institute, University of Copenhagen,Østervoldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark

Gerd Hoffmann-Wieck

GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1–3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany

Naja Mikkelsen

Peter Konradi

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland,Østervoldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark

A high-resolution record of late-Holocene subsurface water-mass characteristics in outer Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, is presented based on benthic foraminifera faunas from core PO 243–451 collected from a water depth of 304 m. Strati" cation with Atlantic water masses present in the lower part of the water-column is suggested to have prevailed during the last 3200 cal. years, except for a period referred to as the‘Mediaeval Warm Period’ (MWP). During the MWP (c. ad 885–1235) the outer part of Igaliku Fjord experienced enhanced vertical mixing and a high hydrodynamic energy level which we ascribe to increasing wind stress through this period, corresponding to the period of the Norse settlement. The transition from the MWP to the‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) shows a two-step pattern with a short climatic amelioration around AD 1520 before maximum cooling occurred. The intensified wind stress and the overall environmental change are suggested to have contributed to the loss of the Norse settlement in Greenland. Periods with strong stratification and marked in uence of Atlantic subsurface water masses around 2.6, 1.3 ka BP and during the LIA are correlated to North Atlantic Holocene ice-rafting events reported by Bond et al. (1997).

Key Words: Benthic foraminifera • palaeoceanography • hydrography • climatic change • Atlantic bottom water • ocean currents • Greenland • Norse settlement • late Holocene • ‘Little Ice Age’ • ‘Mediaeval Warm Period’

The Holocene, Vol. 14, No. 2, 165-171 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683604hl699rp


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