Late Holocene variations in Arctic shelf hydrology and sea-ice regime: evidence from north of the Lena Delta

Abstract.

Diatom assemblage studies are used to interpret past changes in river runoff (salinity) and sea-ice regime in the vicinity of the vast Lena River delta, southern Laptev Sea shelf. On the basis of their distribution in surface sediments, the shelf region outside the strong influence of riverine waters is characterized by a dominance in sea-ice diatoms and other marine species. Their numbers increase steeply (>20%) within the area of drifting pack ice. In contrast, the marginal zone of the delta, where exceedingly low salinities prevail, is marked by freshwater diatoms showing values higher than 70%. Using the environmental information from the surface sediments, the downcore distribution patterns of the main ecological groups of diatoms were investigated on a sediment core that covers the past 2800 cal. years BP. Although the freshwater group indicates some temporal variations in salinities, the study site north of the Lena River delta remained under a dominantly riverine influence for most of the three recognized phases. In contrast, the relative abundance of sea-ice species gives evidence that pack-ice conditions were more severe during the oldest phase (older than ~2700 cal. years BP). The most significant changes are observed in the uppermost core section (younger than ~300 cal. years BP) when the relative abundance of freshwater diatoms decreases from 80% down to below 20%. This dramatic decrease is interpreted as a major shift from a more northward-directed to the modern, dominantly eastern outflow pattern. Because the dispersal and fate of riverine waters and its role on the ice regime as well as on water mass properties is a central issue in understanding short- and longer-term climatic changes in the Arctic and beyond, it needs to be tested using more cores if this most recent change in outflow pattern from the delta is connected to climate change or simply a result of channel migration within the delta.