Seafloor composition and Holocene sediment dynamics on the Canadian Arctic continental margins

加拿大北极大陆边缘的海底组成和全新世沉积物动力学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-06600
• 负责人: MonteroSerrano, JeanCarlos
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Rimouski
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=718393
• 关键词: Seafloor; composition; Holocene; sediment; dynamics

Projections of future climate change suggest that the high-latitude regions will experience greater environmental fluctuations than the rest of the world. However, to view these environmental changes from a long-term historical perspective and to provide a more comprehensive dataset for future Arctic climate simulations, we need to better understand the historical evolution of marine Arctic Canada through the late Quaternary and its past response to abrupt climate variations. In this context, this interdisciplinary proposal, at the forefront of Arctic marine geology and paleoclimate research, aims to: 1) acquire a fundamental understanding of the nature and origin of seafloor sediments in the central part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago or CAA (i.e. area from the Canadian Beaufort Sea to the Lancaster Sound); 2) assess the impacts of late Holocene climate variability (Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age, and recent warming) on the sediment dynamics within the central part of the CAA; 3) document the response of marine-terminating outlet glaciers draining the Baffin (Penny) and Ellesmere (Sydkap, Manson, Eugenie and Ekblaw) Island icecaps to changing ocean and climatic conditions during the Holocene; and 4) reconstruct the fluvial sedimentary regimes of North American Arctic rivers draining into the Coronation and Queen Maud Gulfs in relationship to changing climatic boundary conditions during the Holocene. These ambitious goals will be addressed by using a holistic source-to-sink analysis, including grain size, quantitative mineralogy, elemental geochemistry, dinocyst assemblages and magnetic parameters, on a unique set of surface and high-resolution (0.08-0.30 cm/yr) core sediments distributed across a large quasi-unexplored area within the CAA. This proposal aims also to obtain supplementary funds from northern research supplements program to cover the high costs involved with sediment sample collection in the Arctic and to performed outreach activities in Inuit communities of Arctic Bay, Cambridge Bay, and Ulukhaktok. Overall, the proposed cutting-edge research program will provide a remarkable multiproxy dataset that will contribute to the fundamental advancement of our current critical understanding of sedimentation processes under varying climate conditions in the Canadian Arctic continental margins over decadal, centennial, and millennial timescales. From an environmental perspective, the proposed research will also provide baseline geochemical data for coastal surface sediments close to several Inuit communities, which will help federal government agencies (e.g., Environment and Climate Change Canada, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada) with assessing environmental risk and setting regulatory levels of pollutants in these coastal areas. Finally, the proposed research program will contribute to the training of 5 BSc/2 MSc/3 PhD students in the fields of marine geology, paleoclimatology, and environmental sciences.

对未来气候变化的预测表明，高纬度地区将比世界其他地区经历更大的环境波动。然而，为了从长期的历史角度看待这些环境变化，并为未来的北极气候模拟提供更全面的数据集，我们需要更好地了解加拿大北极海洋在第四纪晚期的历史演变及其过去对突变气候的反应变化。在此背景下，这项处于北极海洋地质学和古气候研究前沿的跨学科提案旨在： 1) 对加拿大北极群岛或CAA中部（即从加拿大波弗特海到兰开斯特海峡的区域）海底沉积物的性质和起源有基本的了解； 2) 评估全新世晚期气候变化（中世纪温暖期、小冰期和近期变暖）对 CAA 中部沉积物动态的影响； 3) 记录全新世期间巴芬岛（Penny）和埃尔斯米尔岛（Sydkap、Manson、Eugenie 和 Ekblaw）冰盖的海洋终止出口冰川对海洋和气候条件变化的响应；和 4）重建流入加冕湾和莫德皇后湾的北美北极河流的河流沉积状况，与全新世气候边界条件变化的关系。 这些雄心勃勃的目标将通过在一组独特的表面和高分辨率（0.08-0.30 厘米/年）上使用整体源-汇分析来实现，包括粒度、定量矿物学、元素地球化学、恐龙囊组合和磁性参数）岩心沉积物分布在 CAA 内的大片准未勘探区域。该提案还旨在从北方研究补充计划获得补充资金，以支付北极沉积物样本采集的高额费用，以及在北极湾、剑桥湾和乌鲁哈克托克的因纽特人社区开展外展活动。总体而言，拟议的尖端研究计划将提供一个出色的多代理数据集，这将有助于我们目前对加拿大北极大陆边缘在十年、百年和千年时间尺度上不同气候条件下的沉积过程的批判性理解的根本进步。从环境角度来看，拟议的研究还将提供靠近几个因纽特人社区的沿海表面沉积物的基线地球化学数据，这将有助于联邦政府机构（例如加拿大环境和气候变化部、原住民事务部和加拿大北部发展部）评估环境风险并制定这些沿海地区污染物的监管水平。最后，拟议的研究计划将有助于在海洋地质学、古气候学和环境科学领域培训 5 名理学学士/2 名理学硕士/3 名博士生。