Upper Intermediate Water Reservoir Ages in the Northeastern Atlantic During the Past 11000 Years: New Evidence for Mid Holocene Freshening of the North Atlantic

Deep-water corals such as Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora occulata construct reef like structures along the slopes of Rockall Trough and within the Porcupine Seabight between 500 and 1000m depth, so called carbonate mounds. The hydrography is complex, with upper intermediate and surface water originating in the temperate North Atlantic and water masses from the sub-polar gyre and Labrador Sea circulating at depth within the Rockall Trough. Moreover, Norwegian Sea deep-water returns southward over the sill close to Rosemary Bank and move along the western slope of Rockall Bank. In addition, strong winter mixing of up to 1000m depth causes a significant contribution of surface water at depth and vise versa. Sediment coring on carbonate mounds and subsequent U series dating of coral skeletons has revealed up to 5m thick Holocene coral reef structures. Combined U series and 14C dating on those corals allows reconstructing upper intermediate water reservoir ages almost continuously for the entire Holocene. Here we present a compilation of 40 reservoir ages from western Rockall Bank and Porcupine Seabight that span from 400 years PB to ~11000 years BP representing water masses between 610 and 750m depth. Reservoir ages vary remarkably between as low as 150 years to up to 800 years throughout the Holocene. Variable reservoir ages are recorded at the beginning of the Holocene having mean values of about 450-500 years. The Mid-Holocene warm phase between 8500 and 6000 years BP revealed stunningly small and constant reservoir ages of about 200±150 years indicating extremely well ventilated upper intermediate waters. Than reservoir ages rise towards values as high as 700 years and drop down again to about 500 years at 4000 years BP. During the past 4000 years reservoir ages remain far more stable at 450- 500 years. Such changes in upper intermediate water ventilation agree with changes in Northern Hemisphere climate and oceanography recorded by other sedimentary proxies such as Pa/Th ratios and the Nd isotopic composition of corals and likely represent a Mid Holocene freshening of the sub-polar gyre (SPG) and changes in the relative strength of the STG and sub-tropical gyre (STG) circulation. Similar but likely less intense variations of STG and SPG have recently been recorded for the past 60 years from mollusk shells (N. Tisnérat- Laborde, M. Paterne, B. Métivier: Abstract of the 19th International Radiocarbon Conference, 2006)