Sediment Core ARC3-P23 Paleoenvironmental Research Dataset from the Chukchi Plateau in
the Western Arctic Ocean

Zhang, T. L.  Wang, R. J.^*  Xiao, W. S.  Sun, Y. C.

State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Abstract: The Arctic Ocean plays an important role in global atmospheric and thermohaline circulation, as well as in climatic evolution. It both drives and responds to global change. The paleoenvironmental study of the Arctic Ocean reported in this paper will help us to understand long-term climate change in this area and its role in the global climate system, thus providing important constraints for future climate modeling. Multi-proxy investigations and regional core correlations have been performed on sediment core ARC3-P23, which was collected from the Chukchi Plateau in the Western Arctic Ocean during the Third Chinese National Arctic Expedition cruise. The core was dated back to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 in order to reconstruct the terrigenous input and paleo-water mass of the study area. The dataset consists of physical and chemical parameters, as well as paleoenvironmental proxies from core ARC3-P23. The data includes: XRF core scanner results, CaCO₃%, coarse fraction, foraminiferal abundance, stable oxygen and carbon isotopes of planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral (NPS), and NPS AMS14C dating results. The dataset is archived in .xls format and is 0.131 MB in size.

Keywords: Chukchi Plateau; MIS 3; IRD events; oxygen and carbon isotopes; water mass changes

1 Introduction

The Arctic Ocean plays an important role in global atmospheric and thermohaline circulation, as well as in climatic evolution. It also drives and responds to global change^[1–3]. Interactions between the Arctic and the global climate occur in two ways. First, sea ice increases the albedo of earth and influences the global heat balance. Second, Pacific and Atlantic waters, which flow through the Arctic Ocean, influence the global thermohaline^[4–6]_. Over the past decade, global warming has been significantly amplified in the Arctic by a dramatic decline in sea ice^[7]. The Arctic directly influences the global environment and climate^[8]. Thus, it has become a research hotspot because of both its environmental significance and the increasing availability of field investigation data. In recent years, Arctic paleoceanographic studies have focused primarily on the Eastern Arctic Ocean. Very few studies have been performed in the Western Arctic Ocean. This dataset consists of paleoenvironmental data from sediment core ARC3-P23, which was collected from the Chukchi Plateau in the Western Arctic Ocean during the Third Chinese National Arctic Expedition cruise. This dataset aids in research on ice rafted detritus (IRD) events, mater mass evolution, and in reconstructing the paleoenvironment of the Late Quaternary Period in the Western Arctic Ocean.

2 Metadata of Dataset

The Sediment Core ARC3-P23 Paleoenvironmental Research Dataset from the Chukchi Plateau in the Western Arctic Ocean includes physical and chemical parameters, as well as paleoenvironmental proxies from core ARC3-P23^[9]. Table 1 summarizes the main metadata elements of the dataset.

Table 1  Metadata summary of the ARC3-P23_Env_Data

3 Methods

3.1 Date Collection

The gravity core 08P23 (76°20.14′N, 162°29.16′W, 2,086 m water depth)^[11] was collected from the Southern Chukchi Plateau during the Third Chinese National Arctic Expedition cruise (Figure 1). The total core length is 294 cm, and a total of 147 samples were taken from the core at 2 cm intervals.

3.2 Materials and Methods

The analysis of core 08P23 includes: XRF core scanning, CaCO₃%, coarse fraction (> 63 μm, > 150 μm, and > 250 μm) content, foraminiferal abundance, stable oxygen and carbon isotopes of pla­nktonic foraminiferal Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral (NPS), and AMS ¹⁴C dating.

The relative elemental content of the split half core was mea-

sured using an AVAATECH® non- destructive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanner at a resolution of 1 cm. Measurements were carried out at 10 kV, 30 kV, and 50 kV, with measurement times of 30 s for each energy level, in order to register a wide range of elements (Al to U). The data are represented as counts/30 s.

The bulk CaCO₃ content (%) was determined via the gasometrical method (Jones and Kaiteris, 1983) using a French carbonate analyzer (NFP18-508) with an estimated error of < 2%. About 0.1 g of a bulk sample was reacted with 3 N HCl. The CO₂ volume was measured to calculate the CaCO₃ content. The absolute CaCO₃ content was calculated using the equation: CaCO₃% = V/(22.4 ×103)×100/M, where V is the CO₂ gas volume (mL), and M is the sediment weight (g).

About 10–15 g of dry sediment was wet-rinsed through a Φ 63 μm mesh, and the >63 μm residue was dry-sifted through successive Φ 150 μm and Φ 250 μm meshes. Foraminifers in the 150-250 μm and >250 μm fractions were separated and counted under the microscope. The residual coarse fractions, which are considered IRD (>150 μm and >250 μm), were weighed and their contents (% of dry sediment) were calculated.

Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes were measured via 20 NPS tests (150-250 μm) using a Finnigan MAT252 mass spectrometer. The isotope results are reported to the Pee Dee Belemnite (PDB) standard. The standard errors for δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C are 0.08% PDB and 0.06% PDB, respectively.

AMS ¹⁴C was measured using NPS shells (150-250 μm) from core depths of 0-2 cm, 8-10 cm, and 12-14 cm.

AMS ¹⁴C dating was performed at the Earth System Science Department of UC Irvine. The remaining analyses were carried out in the State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University.

4 Dataset Compositions, Quality Control and Validation

4.1 Dataset Compositions

The Paleoenvironment Research Dataset of Sediment Core ARC3-P23 from the Chukchi Plateau, Western Arctic Ocean consists of physical and chemical parameters, as well as paleoenvironmental proxies from core ARC3-P23, including: 1. XRF scan data from core ARC3-P23 (Table 2), 74 KB; 2. CaCO₃%, coarse fraction, and foraminiferal abundance in core ARC3- P23 (Table 3), 33 KB; 3. Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes of planktonic fora-

minifera NPS in core ARC3-P23 (Table 4), 16 KB; and 4. AMS¹⁴C dating results from NPS in core ARC3-P23 (Table 5), 9 KB.

4.2 Data Validation

The AMS ¹⁴C calibration of planktonic foraminifera NPS in this dataset refers to Coulthard et al., 2010^[15] and Fairbanks et al., 2005^[16]. The reservoir-corrected ¹⁴C age is 790 yrs.

Table 2  XRF core scanner results from core ARC3-P23 (excerpt)

Table 3  CaCO₃%, foraminiferal abundance in core ARC3-P23 (excerpt)

PF: planktonic foraminiferal abundance, BF: benthic foraminiferal abundance.

Table 4  Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes in planktonic foraminifera NPS from core ARC3-P23 (excerpt)

Table 5  AMS ¹⁴C dating results from NPS in core ARC3-P23

5 Discussion and Conclusion

The relative Mn%, IRD%, foraminiferal abundance, and AMS 14C results from Core 08P23 were correlated with that of Core 03M03, and a stratigraphic framework was established for Core 08P23. Sediments from 0-14 cm, 14-60 cm, and 60-294 cm represent MIS 1, MIS 2, and MIS 3, respectively. A delay between MIS 2 and MIS 3 is assumed. This delay may have resulted from thick ice covering the study area during the LGM.

As shown by the NPS-δ¹⁸O and -δ¹³C, IRD%, and foraminiferal abundance results in Core 08P23, the depletion of NPS-δ¹⁸O and -δ¹³C in the three brown units within MIS 1 and MIS 3 result from water-melting events. The NPS-δ18O and -δ13C values between B2a and B2b in MIS 3 indicate enhanced sea ice formation, which causes production and sinking of isotopically lighter brine. A rapid drop in SST during MIS 2 leads to heavier NPS-δ18O.

A total of 5 prominent IRD events are recognized in MIS 2 and MIS 3, including IRD 2/3 and IRD 7-IRD 10. The high detrital carbonate content originates from vast Paleozoic carbonate rock outcroppings in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. They were carried via sea ice or icebergs and brought to the Chukchi Plateau by the Beaufort Gyre. The clastic quartz in IRD 2/3 may originate from Eurasia.

Author Contributions

Zhang, T. L. performed the experimental design and data analysis, and created the data paper; Wang, R. J. and Xiao, W. S. performed the dataset development and data validation, and created part of the data paper; Sun, Y. C. performed the sample collection and data pre-processing.

Acknowledgements

This work is part of “the Third Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition” (CHINARE- 2008) sponsored by the National Ministry of Finance of China and organized by the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (CAA), with participation of PRIC, FIO, SIO, TIO, and Tongji University. We thank members of the CHINARE-2008 cruise for collecting samples.

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