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Abstract Marine sediments in glacially-carved fjords at high latitudes feature high organic carbon (OC) burial rates, but there are fewer data on the role of glacial activity on high-latitude OC burial rates outside of fjords. Here, we investigate the relationship between sediment OC burial rates in the deep troughs and basins of the southwest Greenland shelf and Holocene glacial dynamics. Since the onset of prominent Neoglacial advances ~2500 years ago, the nature of the OC buried in the deep troughs and basins of the shelf was influenced by the glacier-driven increase in sediment accumulation rates (SAR), reactive iron (oxyhydr)oxide concentrations and fine-grain sediment, while OC burial rates were primarily enhanced by increasing SAR. Peak OC burial rates (~18.5 ± 5.7 g m−2 a−1) in the deep troughs and basins of the shelf during the past ~1300 years are comparable to those of many high-latitude fjords, and the inferred total annual OC burial in these trough and basin areas is equivalent to ~5% of the annual CO2 uptake by the Labrador Sea deep convection.

Over the last four decades, organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts have shown high potential as tracers of past sea-surface conditions during the Quaternary. These microfossils relate to the pelagic productivity of both phototrophic and heterotrophic protist organisms and are recovered in high numbers in almost all marine environment settings from the nearshore and estuarine systems to the distal continental margin. In polar environments, where other conventional proxies are rare or absent, dinoflagellate cysts showed a relatively high diversity of species and a close relationship with sea-ice cover duration, winter and summer temperature, and salinity, enabling quantitative reconstructions of several oceanic variables over time. From the temperate to the tropical latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean, their modern distribution highlights a response to primary productivity and seasonal contrasts in surface temperature. They also have proven that they could be used as tracers of eutrophication in stratified systems and can also highlight human impact on their distribution. In this paper, we present an overview of dinoflagellate cysts as ecological tracers in recent and past sediments of the Atlantic Ocean, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. We provide examples of their use as proxies in paleoclimatic-palaeoceanographic studies at glacial to interglacial time scales, with emphasis on the last ice age to recent (last 25 kyr), the northern North Atlantic and western-eastern tropic North Atlantic. We also discuss their potential as tracers of anthropogenic stress in coastal environments.

Abstract In eastern Canada, Black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. B.S.P.) grows in a wide variety of climates, from maritime-oceanic conditions near the Labrador Sea, to more continental climates, inland. Along this gradient, timing and provenance of heat and moisture that support growth are uncertain, weakening our capacity to predict the response of boreal ecosystems to climate variability. Here, we measured the stable oxygen isotopic composition of black spruce tree-ring cellulose at three sites in eastern Canada and provide evidence of a rapid decrease of Labrador Sea’s influence on adjacent ecosystems. Our results report a landwards decrease in the oxygen isotope composition of both tree-ring cellulose (δ 18O T R C ) and precipitation water (δ 18O p ). We also reveal a rapid landwards decoupling between δ 18O T R C variability (1950-2013), maximum temperature and Sea Surface Temperature variations over the Northwest Atlantic. Thus, despite their apparent ecological homogeneity, eastern Canada’s black spruce ecosystems rely on heterogeneous sources of heat and moisture.

Analysis of compositional changes in fossil organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst (dinocysts) assemblages is a widely used tool for the quantitative reconstruction of past environmental parameters. This approach assumes that the assemblage composition is significantly related to the reconstructed environmental parameter, which requires an independent correlation between the assemblage and the variable, meaning that the variable explains a dimension of the assemblage variance that is not also explained by other parameters. Theoretically, dinocyst assemblages can be used to reconstruct multiple environmental variables. However, there is evidence that primary and subordinate drivers for assemblage compositions regionally differ, and it remains unclear whether a significant relationship to specific parameters in the present ocean always implies that this relationship is significant in fossil assemblages, questioning if past changes in these multiple parameters can be reconstructed simultaneously from fossil assemblages. Here, we analysed a local subset of the Northern Hemisphere dinocyst calibration dataset (n=1968), including samples from the Baffin Bay area (n=421), and evaluated the benefits of a local versus a more regional or global calibration for the environmental reconstruction of Baffin Bay oceanography during the Holocene. We determined the dimensionality of the dinocyst ecological response and identified environmental drivers in the Baffin Bay area for the modern dataset. We analysed four existing Holocene records along a north–south transect in the area and evaluated the statistical significance of downcore reconstructions by applying the local and global datasets with different techniques: the modern analogue technique (MAT), the weighted average partial least square (WA-PLS) and maximum likelihood (ML). We evaluated reconstructions tested as significant in light of the existing state of knowledge about West Greenland's Holocene palaeoceanography. Our analyses imply that present-day and Holocene dinocyst assemblages in the Baffin Bay area are primarily driven by salinity changes; other parameters were less important in driving assemblage compositions, and their contribution differed among the studied records. We show that the objectively occurring and temporally coherent shifts in dinocyst assemblages in the Holocene of Baffin Bay can be robustly interpreted only by transfer functions that are locally calibrated. Transfer functions based on the broad Northern Hemisphere calibration yielded many insignificant environmental reconstructions. At the same time, we show that even in the local calibration, not all parameters that appear to significantly affect dinocyst assemblages in the calibration dataset can be meaningfully reconstructed in the fossil record. A thorough evaluation of the calibration dataset and the significance of downcore applications is necessary to reveal the region-specific information contained in dinocyst assemblage composition.

Analysis of the largest available database of Holocene temperature time series covering past 12,000 years reveals complex spatio-temporal trends and challenges the paradigm of a globally synchronous Holocene Thermal Maximum.

Fragmentary and contradictory evidence prevents a clear understanding of the possible role of the North Pacific Ocean surface on the ice‐sheet evolution. New palynological data encompassing the Pliocene and Pleistocene at Ocean Drilling Program Site 882 in the northwest Pacific document sea‐surface conditions from dinoflagellate cysts in addition to atmospheric trajectories from pollen grains and spores. The comparison of the Site 882 record with that of Site 887 from the northeast Pacific also permits documenting West to East contrasts across the subarctic North Pacific. The dinocyst assemblages at the two sites indicate strong temperature contrasts until 4.2 Ma, with much warmer conditions in the East. From 4.2 to 3.6 Ma, dinocyst assemblages of both sites are characterized by alternated dominance of the extinct taxa Habibacysta tectata and Impagidinium detroitense suggesting homogenous and cool conditions across the subarctic Pacific gyre. A major transition is recorded in the palynological assemblages at Site 882 around 2.7 Ma. It is marked by the highest occurrence of Habibacysta tectata and high percentages of Filisphaera microornata additionally to thermophilic taxa. Dinocyst record indicates high seasonality and warmer surface conditions due to reinforced stratification, which support the hypothesis of high evaporation at the origin of atmospheric moisture supply to high latitudes. During the last 1.2 Ma, the increase of Operculodinium centrocarpum relative to Nematosphaeropsis labyrinthus is tentatively interpreted as a reinforced influence of the subtropical waters. Hence, we suggest that the warm surface ocean fostered the inception and growth of northwestern North American ice‐sheets during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Key Points: Dinocyst assemblages in the subarctic Pacific record changes in temperature and productivity through the Plio‐PleistoceneThe major transitions reflect halocline onset at 2.7 Ma and a major cooling at 1.7 MaSubarctic ocean temperature and Westerlies migration may have affected northward moisture supply and ice‐sheet growth over North America [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variations in sea surface conditions and sea level through the Holocene in the Kandalaksha Bay, the White Sea, were reconstructed based on the study of core sediments from the outer Kandalaksha Bay, using the modern analog technique applied to dinocysts in addition to diatoms, TOC, δ13Corg, CaCO3, and grain size data. The chronostratigraphy of the core sediments was defined from accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dates on mollusk shells. The results indicated an increase in water depth in the outer Kandalaksha Bay and in the central Dvina Bay until the late Holocene. From about 9.5 to 7.5 cal kyr BP, the data suggested a general trend of increasing sea surface temperatures (up to 14 °C), at least in areas with inflow of Atlantic waters. The last 2.5 kyr were characterized by increased freshwater runoff to the White Sea.

The presence of a late Quaternary ice sheet/ice shelf over the East Siberian Sea has been proposed in several papers. Here, we further document its duration/resilience based on the sedimentary, bulk mineralogical, and geochemical (organic matter content and its stable isotopic composition, U‐Th series) properties of a core raised from the southernmost Mendeleev Ridge. The chronostratigraphy of the studied core was mainly built from the 230Th excess (230Thxs) distribution and decay downcore. At the core‐top, peaking 230Thxs values during the early MIS 3 and mid‐MIS 1 encompassing an MIS 2 hiatus were observed. As documented in several papers, these peaks suggest seasonally open ice conditions over proximal continental shelves. Below, the interval spanning MIS 4 and possibly MIS 5d records major ice‐rafting events illustrated by overall high coarse‐fraction contents. Underlying MIS 5e, down to MIS 11, the sediment depicts relatively low sand (1.7±2.5 dw%), high clay (33.5±4.7 dw%), and very low organic carbon (0.10±0.06 dw%) contents, and low δ13Corg values (−24.3±0.9‰). This section is interpreted as recording fine sediment transport by deep currents and/or meltwater plumes below a resilient ice cover, only interrupted by a few short‐duration events. These events include (i) detrital carbonate pulses assigned to deglacial events along the NW Laurentide Ice Sheet margin (Termination (T) III), and (ii) intervals with some planktonic foraminifer occurrences, likely relating to their advection from open areas of the Arctic Ocean (MIS 5e, 9 and 11). All Terminations, but TII and the early MIS 3, show peaking Mn/Al values linked to the submergence of Arctic shelves under a rising sea level. We conclude that the resilient ice cover, likely an ice shelf, has been present over the southern Mendeleev Ridge during most of the interval after the Mid‐Pleistocene Transition and was favoured by the low summer insolation of the MIS 14 to 10 interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The micropaleontological and palynological content, and geochemical and isotopic composition of a marine sediment core collected off Pointe-des-Monts in eastern Québec, Canada, reveal regional palaeoclimatic and paleoceanographic conditions in the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary over the last ~8200 years. The pollen and spore content allows comparison with the terrestrial palynostratigraphy, whereas dinoflagellate cysts and benthic foraminifera are used to reconstruct sea-surface conditions and bottom water properties, respectively. The dinocyst-based reconstructions indicate shifts between estuarine and oceanic conditions with important changes in sea-surface temperature, salinity, and primary productivity. Both the dinocyst assemblages and the quantitative sea-surface estimates highlight a distinct transition at ca. 4200 cal years BP. It is notably marked by a change towards higher salinity, which suggests reduced freshwater discharge, hence lower precipitation in the watershed, during the Late-Holocene. The isotopic composition (δ18O and δ13C) and assemblages of the benthic foraminifera indicate centennial to millennial frequency variability of bottom water properties, over a general trend towards decreasing temperatures and increasing ventilation from the beginning of the Middle Holocene until the last century. Since then, reverse trends with abrupt warming and decreasing dissolved oxygen content in bottom water have been observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of compositional changes in fossil organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst (dinocysts) assemblages is a widely used tool for the quantitative reconstruction of past environmental parameters. This approach assumes that the assemblage composition is significantly related to the reconstructed environmental parameter, which requires an independent correlation between the assemblage and the variable, meaning that the variable explains a dimension of the assemblage variance that is not also explained by other parameters. Theoretically, dinocyst assemblages can be used to reconstruct multiple environmental variables. However, there is evidence that primary and subordinate drivers for assemblage compositions regionally differ, and it remains unclear whether a significant relationship to specific parameters in the present ocean always implies that this relationship is significant in fossil assemblages, questioning if past changes in these multiple parameters can be reconstructed simultaneously from fossil assemblages. Here, we analysed a local subset of the Northern Hemisphere dinocyst calibration dataset (n=1968), including samples from the Baffin Bay area (n=421), and evaluated the benefits of a local versus a more regional or global calibration for the environmental reconstruction of Baffin Bay oceanography during the Holocene. We determined the dimensionality of the dinocyst ecological response and identified environmental drivers in the Baffin Bay area for the modern dataset. We analysed four existing Holocene records along a north–south transect in the area and evaluated the statistical significance of downcore reconstructions by applying the local and global datasets with different techniques: the modern analogue technique (MAT), the weighted average partial least square (WA-PLS) and maximum likelihood (ML). We evaluated reconstructions tested as significant in light of the existing state of knowledge about West Greenland's Holocene palaeoceanography. Our analyses imply that present-day and Holocene dinocyst assemblages in the Baffin Bay area are primarily driven by salinity changes; other parameters were less important in driving assemblage compositions, and their contribution differed among the studied records. We show that the objectively occurring and temporally coherent shifts in dinocyst assemblages in the Holocene of Baffin Bay can be robustly interpreted only by transfer functions that are locally calibrated. Transfer functions based on the broad Northern Hemisphere calibration yielded many insignificant environmental reconstructions. At the same time, we show that even in the local calibration, not all parameters that appear to significantly affect dinocyst assemblages in the calibration dataset can be meaningfully reconstructed in the fossil record. A thorough evaluation of the calibration dataset and the significance of downcore applications is necessary to reveal the region-specific information contained in dinocyst assemblage composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palmitic acid (PA) is ubiquitous in the biosphere and its hydrogen isotopic composition (δ2HPA) was proposed as a potential paleoenvironmental proxy for salinity, with δ2HPA values increasing with salinity. In this study, we analyzed 40 surface sediment samples from Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea to examine the isotopic composition of PA in relation to local environmental variables, including salinity. In contrast to expectations, our results show a negative relationship between the δ2HPA and sea‐surface salinity, raising questions about its pertinence and usefulness as a salinity proxy. Instead, our results suggest that the relative abundance of distinct organisms that employ different metabolisms is the key in determining the hydrogen isotopic fractionations in PA. While we show that PA is mostly produced through photoautotrophic metabolisms by diatoms and dinoflagellates, varying contributions from heterotrophic metabolisms may obscure the stable isotope composition of PA. Surprisingly, we found no correlation between the stable carbon isotopic composition of the sedimentary organic matter (δ13Corg) and PA (δ13CPA), implying major differences in either the dominant organisms producing sedimentary PA or in carbon isotope fractionation during lipid biosynthesis. We also found that the presence of extended sea‐ice cover leads to enriched carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions in PA. These enriched values suggest heterotrophic biodegradation in the water column and/or in the sediment as well as an increase in grazing activities. We propose that sea‐ice cover and surface water oxygenation modulate the relative impact of phototrophic and heterotrophic metabolisms, and therefore the isotopic composition of marine sedimentary PA. Plain Language Summary: Fatty acids are composed of a chain of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The chain length can be diagnostic of the sources of organic matter (OM), long chains being produced by terrestrial plants whereas short chains originate from algae and bacteria. Hence, the chain length of lipids preserved in sediments can be used to reconstruct OM sources and paleoenvironmental conditions. In this study, we analyzed the composition of palmitic acid (PA, 16 carbon atoms) in 40 surface sediment samples from Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea. PA can be produced by phototrophic and heterotrophic algae, and microbes. Our results reveal that high PA concentrations reflect the dominance of local OM production in the study region. We find that variations in overlying salinity or temperature are not recorded in the isotopic composition of the sedimentary PA. Instead, we find evidence that the relative abundance of photoautotrophic and heterotrophic metabolisms influences the PA isotopic composition. Thus, less negative isotopic values are caused by higher heterotrophic biodegradation in the water column and/or in the sediment. We propose that PA can be an indicator of the specific sources of OM in marine sediments and benthic food webs. Key Points: The hydrogen isotopic composition of palmitic acid (PA) is not a proxy for salinity in subarctic environmentsThe stable carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of PA are indicators of the different metabolic sources of organic matterUnder stronger seasonal sea‐ice cover, heterotrophic metabolisms lead to enriched PA carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]