Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean
Abstract The Arctic Ocean and terrestrial environment have recently been reported to be changing drastically, but it is unclear whether these changes are similar to natural variations in the past or how sudden and large the changes are compared to natural variations. This premise served as motivatio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Progress in Earth and Planetary Science |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-025-00734-2 |
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| author | Masanobu Yamamoto Kenta Suzuki Masafumi Murayama Laura Gemery Koji Seike Leonid Polyak Young Jin Joe Shoma Uchida Minoru Kobayashi Jonaotaro Onodera Keiji Horikawa Yuhji Yamamoto Takayuki Omori Michinobu Kuwae Tomohisa Irino Yutaka Y. Watanabe Motoyo Itoh Eiji Watanabe |
| author_facet | Masanobu Yamamoto Kenta Suzuki Masafumi Murayama Laura Gemery Koji Seike Leonid Polyak Young Jin Joe Shoma Uchida Minoru Kobayashi Jonaotaro Onodera Keiji Horikawa Yuhji Yamamoto Takayuki Omori Michinobu Kuwae Tomohisa Irino Yutaka Y. Watanabe Motoyo Itoh Eiji Watanabe |
| author_sort | Masanobu Yamamoto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The Arctic Ocean and terrestrial environment have recently been reported to be changing drastically, but it is unclear whether these changes are similar to natural variations in the past or how sudden and large the changes are compared to natural variations. This premise served as motivation to collect sediment cores during the summer of 2022 at four sites on the Canadian continental shelf and Alaskan upper continental slope to reconstruct changes in the marine and terrestrial environments to provide a comprehensive picture of the ocean environment during the preindustrial period before anthropogenic influences. We dated the sediments based on the 137Cs radioactivity of bulk sediments and the 14C concentrations of mollusk shells. The 137Cs radioactivity shows a distinct onset corresponding to 1950 Common Era (CE) and the most prominent peak corresponding to 1963 CE. Multiple peaks appeared above the most prominent one, coinciding with nuclear power plant accidents in 1986 and 2011. Inventories of excess 210Pb in all cores exceed the estimated supply of excess 210Pb from atmospheric deposition, likely due to the scavenging supply of excess 210Pb. By comparing 137Cs and radiocarbon conventional ages, we estimated the local radiocarbon reservoir age value of each site. Using these local radiocarbon reservoir age and the conventional ages of mollusk shell samples, we established the age-depth models by the Bayesian method. The optimal ΔR values were 598, 511, 65, and –60 years at the MT1, MT2, BC2, and BC2-2 sites, respectively. The cores consist of clayey silts continuously deposited with uniquely high sedimentation rates of 0.17 to 0.74 cm y−1. Variation in the Ca/Ti ratio indicates ~ 20, ~ 30, 50–60, 100–125, and 300-year cycles, likely attributed to the variation in the Aleutian Low that controls the Bering Strait inflow of Pacific waters influencing our core sites. These sediments will be used for further high-resolution, multi-proxy studies with forthcoming results. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-69eb322d8ea84a5f8ea86bf6be7f06dd |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2197-4284 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Progress in Earth and Planetary Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-69eb322d8ea84a5f8ea86bf6be7f06dd2025-08-20T03:06:36ZengSpringerOpenProgress in Earth and Planetary Science2197-42842025-07-0112112610.1186/s40645-025-00734-2Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic OceanMasanobu Yamamoto0Kenta Suzuki1Masafumi Murayama2Laura Gemery3Koji Seike4Leonid Polyak5Young Jin Joe6Shoma Uchida7Minoru Kobayashi8Jonaotaro Onodera9Keiji Horikawa10Yuhji Yamamoto11Takayuki Omori12Michinobu Kuwae13Tomohisa Irino14Yutaka Y. Watanabe15Motoyo Itoh16Eiji Watanabe17Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido UniversityInstitute for Geo-Cosmology, Chiba Institute of TechnologyGraduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Kochi UniversityUS Geological Survey, Florence Bascom Geoscience CenterGeological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and TechnologyFaculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido UniversityDivision of Glacier and Earth Sciences, Korea Polar Research InstituteGraduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido UniversityGraduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido UniversityInstitute of Arctic Climate and Environment Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyFaculty of Science, Toyama UniversityMarine Core Research Institute, Kochi UniversityThe University Museum, The University of TokyoCenter for Marine Environmental Studies, Ehime UniversityFaculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido UniversityFaculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido UniversityInstitute of Arctic Climate and Environment Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyInstitute of Arctic Climate and Environment Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyAbstract The Arctic Ocean and terrestrial environment have recently been reported to be changing drastically, but it is unclear whether these changes are similar to natural variations in the past or how sudden and large the changes are compared to natural variations. This premise served as motivation to collect sediment cores during the summer of 2022 at four sites on the Canadian continental shelf and Alaskan upper continental slope to reconstruct changes in the marine and terrestrial environments to provide a comprehensive picture of the ocean environment during the preindustrial period before anthropogenic influences. We dated the sediments based on the 137Cs radioactivity of bulk sediments and the 14C concentrations of mollusk shells. The 137Cs radioactivity shows a distinct onset corresponding to 1950 Common Era (CE) and the most prominent peak corresponding to 1963 CE. Multiple peaks appeared above the most prominent one, coinciding with nuclear power plant accidents in 1986 and 2011. Inventories of excess 210Pb in all cores exceed the estimated supply of excess 210Pb from atmospheric deposition, likely due to the scavenging supply of excess 210Pb. By comparing 137Cs and radiocarbon conventional ages, we estimated the local radiocarbon reservoir age value of each site. Using these local radiocarbon reservoir age and the conventional ages of mollusk shell samples, we established the age-depth models by the Bayesian method. The optimal ΔR values were 598, 511, 65, and –60 years at the MT1, MT2, BC2, and BC2-2 sites, respectively. The cores consist of clayey silts continuously deposited with uniquely high sedimentation rates of 0.17 to 0.74 cm y−1. Variation in the Ca/Ti ratio indicates ~ 20, ~ 30, 50–60, 100–125, and 300-year cycles, likely attributed to the variation in the Aleutian Low that controls the Bering Strait inflow of Pacific waters influencing our core sites. These sediments will be used for further high-resolution, multi-proxy studies with forthcoming results.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-025-00734-2Sediment coresSedimentationLithologyAge modelSedimentation rateCs-137 |
| spellingShingle | Masanobu Yamamoto Kenta Suzuki Masafumi Murayama Laura Gemery Koji Seike Leonid Polyak Young Jin Joe Shoma Uchida Minoru Kobayashi Jonaotaro Onodera Keiji Horikawa Yuhji Yamamoto Takayuki Omori Michinobu Kuwae Tomohisa Irino Yutaka Y. Watanabe Motoyo Itoh Eiji Watanabe Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean Progress in Earth and Planetary Science Sediment cores Sedimentation Lithology Age model Sedimentation rate Cs-137 |
| title | Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean |
| title_full | Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean |
| title_fullStr | Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean |
| title_short | Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean |
| title_sort | rapid holocene deposition in the mackenzie trough and barrow canyon areas in the western arctic ocean |
| topic | Sediment cores Sedimentation Lithology Age model Sedimentation rate Cs-137 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-025-00734-2 |
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