Evidence for middle Eocene Arctic sea ice from diatoms and ice-rafted debris

Catherine E. Stickley (), Kristen St John, Nalân Koç, Richard W. Jordan, Sandra Passchier, Richard B. Pearce and Lance E. Kearns
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Catherine E. Stickley: University of Tromsø
Kristen St John: James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807, USA
Nalân Koç: University of Tromsø
Richard W. Jordan: Yamagata University
Sandra Passchier: Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey 07043, USA
Richard B. Pearce: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton
Lance E. Kearns: James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 460, issue 7253, 376-379

Abstract: The arrival of Arctic ice Sea ice has not always existed in the Arctic and indeed little is known about the sea-ice history of this climatically sensitive region. The recent discovery of ice-rafted debris in middle Eocene ocean sediments prompted suggestions that ice appeared in the Arctic about 46 million years ago, but it is important to distinguish between land-based glacial ice and sea ice as the source of the debris because each kind of ice has different climate implications. Now the analysis of an oceanic sediment core from the ACEX project reveals vast quantities of well-preserved fossils of the needle-like diatom Synedropsis spp., which relied on sea ice for its survival, at about 260 metres below the sea floor of the central Arctic. This, in combination with detailed grain analysis, suggests that sea ice was the dominant source of ice-rafted debris at around 47.5–45.5 million years ago. The results push back the first appearance of ice in the Arctic by 1.25 million years, and the first appearance of sea-ice diatoms by 16 million years.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08163

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