Reconstruction of late Quaternary sedimentary environments at the southern Mendeleev Ridge (Arctic Ocean)

Abstract

The late Pleistocene history of the Arctic comprised cyclical changes in the extension of land-based ice sheets and sea-ice cover that affected sedimentary environments in the Arctic Ocean. This PhD thesis focuses on sediment records from the Mendeleev Ridge spanning the last 200 ka. Over this time period, variable sedimentation patterns were described and possible implications for reconstruction of glacial/interglacial paleoenvironments were provided. One of the main goals of this study was to identify mineralogical and inorganic-geochemical tracers in marine sediments that could be used for discrimination of sediment provenance and consequently for reconstruction of sediment pathways.