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Detailed Reference Information |
Alley, R.B. and MacAyeal, D.R. (1994). Ice-rafted debris associated with binge/purge oscillations of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Paleoceanography 9: doi: 10.1029/94PA01008. issn: 0883-8305. |
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The North Atlantic sediment record suggests quasi-periodic (7000- to 12,000-year period) ice-rafted debris (IRD) depositions during at least the last glacial period. The cause of these Heinrich events, as they are commonly known, is not fully understood; however, they may point to surges of the ice stream that drained the Hudson Bay/Hudson Strait region of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. We investigate a simple conceptual model of ice stream instability (the binge/purge model) to suggest ways in which the ice stream could have entrained sufficient debris to account for the estimated mass of IRD associated with a typical Heinrich IRD layer in the North Atlantic (1.0¿0.3¿1015 kg). We find that freezing of debris-laden ice at the bed of the ice stream during the brief (≈750 years) surge phase of the ice stream's hypothesized binge/purge cycle can incorporate up to 5.1¿1015 kg. This amount is sufficient to meet the constraints of the North Atlantic sediment record but by no means verifies the binge/purge model as the cause of Heinrich events. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994 |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Oceanography, General, Paleoceanography, Hydrology, Glaciology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Paleoclimatology |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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