Fe grain geochemical provenance data for Denmark Strait

The dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet and drift of sea ice from the Arctic Ocean reaching Denmark Strait are poorly constrained. We present data on the provenance of Fe oxide detrital grains from two cores in the Denmark Strait area and compare the Fe grain source data with other environmental proxies. Based on their Fe grain geochemistry the sediments can be traced to regional East Greenland sources and to sites around the Arctic Basin. On both the 2 and 11 cal ka BP time-scales in the two cores, the environmental proxies revealed coherent relationships with new IP25 data and quartz weight percent being positively associated with T°C and inversely associated with biogenic carbonate wt.%. Trends in the data were obtained from Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) and residuals were tested for cyclicity. Trends on the environmental proxies explained between 15 and 90% of the variance. At both sites the primary Fe grain sources were from Greenland, but significant contributions were also noted from Banks Island and Svalbard. There is a prominent cyclicity of 800 yrs as well as other less prominent cycles for both Greenland and Arctic sources.