La. Prueher et Dk. Rea, Volcanic triggering of late Pliocene glaciation: evidence from the flux ofvolcanic glass and ice-rafted debris to the North Pacific Ocean, PALAEOGEO P, 173(3-4), 2001, pp. 215-230
Mass accumulation rates (MAR) of different components of North Pacific deep
-sea sediment provide detailed information about the timing of the onset of
major Northern Hemisphere glaciation that occurred at 2.65 Ma. An increase
in explosive volcanism in the Kamchatka-Kurile and Aleutian arcs occurred
at this same time, suggesting a link between volcanism and glaciation. Sedi
ments recovered by piston-coring techniques during ODP Lea 145 provide a un
ique opportunity to undertake a detailed test of this possibility. Here we
use volcanic glass as a proxy for explosive volcanism and ice-rafted debris
(IRD) as a proxy for glaciation. The MAR of both glass and IRD increase ma
rkedly at 2.65 Ma. Further, the flux of the volcanic glass increased just p
rior to the flux of ice-rafted material, suggesting that the cooling result
ing from explosive volcanic eruptions may have been the ultimate trigger fo
r the mid-Pliocene glacial intensification. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
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