Transportation mechanism of terrigenous sediment and its paleoenvironmental implications on the Chukchi Plateau, western Arctic Ocean during the late Quaternary

A comprehensive analysis of sediment color cycle, XRF-Ca and Mn content, foraminiferal abundance, coarse fraction content, grain size and end-member modeling analysis have been carried out for the core ARC7-P12 collected from the Chukchi Plateau, Western Arctic Ocean. Stratigraphic correlation indicates that the core ARC7-P12 is deposited in the time from MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 5 to 1. Grain size end-member analysis suggests that the particle modal values of 2 μm and 9 μm represent the nepheloid and deep current transportation respectively, while the particle modal values of 30 μm and the 110 μm represent sea ice and iceberg transportation respectively. Since MIS 5, the interglacial and deglaciation periods was characterized by increase in coarse fraction due to the collapse of ice shelf and the expansion of open sea. Sea ice and iceberg were melted, leading to ice-rafted detritus deposition. During the glacial periods, however, due to the growth of the sea ice cover and ice sheet as well as the weakening of the surface currents, the transportation of deep current and nepheloid was relatively enhanced, and as the results, fine-grained sediment increased.