Biomarker determination as a provenance tool for detrital carbonate events (Heinrich events?): Fingerprinting Quaternary glacial sources into Baffin Bay

摘要: Sedimentary deposits associated with Heinrich events are anomalously rich in detrital carbonate. Off Hudson Strait the dominant carbonate is calcite whereas at distal sites North Atlantic dolomite (more diagnostic?). A significant source for its outcrop northern end of Baffin Bay where major ice streams from Laurentide, Innuitian and Greenland sheets converged. The provenance samples containing carbonate, mainly dolomite, a core has been confirmed using organic geochemistry to distinguish between alternative sources, based upon thermal maturity matter carbonates region. contained five distinct units dating ∼14 51 cal ka BP indicates stream instability iceberg calving volumes meltwater. exact temporal relationship not yet clear. long mid-Wisconsin interval (∼38 22 BP) devoid suggests reduction extent high latitudes. yield thermally sensitive biomarker ratios comparable those Laurentian Canadian Arctic islands but unlike Greenland, identifying former region as their provenance. However, Late Holocene sample off Newfoundland shows stronger affinity Greenland. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.