Were the North Atlantic Heinrich events triggered by the behavior of the European ice sheets?

Theories explaining the origin and distribution of Heinrich layers-abrupt, massive discharges of ice-rafted detritus-generally attribute these layers to the Laurentide ice sheet. However, doubt has been cast by the discovery that sediments also originated from European ice sheets. Here we present is otopic (Sr-Nd) fingerprints of Heinrich layers obtained in cores from the E uropean margin, They reveal that for most of the Heinrich layers, the icebe rgs were calved first from the European ice sheets, predating the Laurentid e surges. Accelerator mass spectrometry C-14 ages reveal that the oceanic H einrich events were synchronous with their dust equivalents in the Greenlan d ice cores, implying a direct ocean-atmosphere link. The typical Laurentid e surge seems to have occurred over a short time span, after about 1.5 k.y. of iceberg release from the European ice sheets. This suggests that the La urentide ice sheet responded to a stimulus created by events in the Europea n sector.