We have formed a data bank for sedimentation rates determined in sediment cores with good stratigraphy from the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean for the last glacial/interglacial cycle, i.e. for the last five MIS.

Continental margins and deep-sea areas of the Nordic Seas as well as glaciated continental margins of the Arctic Ocean demonstrate the same regularity: mean sedimentation rates have the positive correlation with ice volume of the Northern Hemisphere. Another regularity exists for deep-sea areas of the Arctic Ocean: mean sedimentation rates have the negative correlation with ice volume of the Northern Hemisphere.

We think that the first regularity is due to a combination of mechanisms of sediment delivery from the continents to adjacent marine basins, including the bulldozer effect, during evolution of continental glaciations. The second regularity can be explained by history of sediment delivery to the sea floor during melting of the pack ice and icebergs.

Reference:

Levitan M.A., Stein R. Influence of the glaciation type of the Northern Hemisphere on sedimentation rates in marine basins: two principal scenarios. Correlation of Pleistocene Events in the Russian North. International Workshop Abstracts. 4-6 December 2006. Saint-Petersburg, 2006, p. 56.