Episodic isolation of the Arctic Mediterranean from the North Atlantic during late Pleistocene glacials
Abstract
It has been proposed that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas (“the Arctic Mediterranean”) were not only episodically covered by an ice shelf during late Pleistocene glaciations, but disconnected from the North Atlantic and filled with freshwater. Originally based on the widespread occurrence of marine sediments with intervals barren of ²³⁰ Th xs (a function of salinity) and low in cosmogenic ¹⁰ Be (interpreted as ice cover), this interpretation is highly debated. Alternative explanations state that sediment pulses could instead have diluted both isotopes. Here, we trace the connection between the Arctic Mediterranean and the North Atlantic using reactive ¹⁰ Be/ ⁹ Be, a water mass tracer resilient to sedimentation variations. We find uniformly low ¹⁰ Be/ ⁹ Be that coincide with the ²³⁰ Th xs -minima and more than one order of magnitude below the coeval North Atlantic, consistent with an isolated Arctic Mediterranean. Our findings suggest a highly dynamic coupling between the Arctic Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, opening questions about its impact on global climate.
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BibTeX
@article{ollive2026episodic,
title = {{Episodic isolation of the Arctic Mediterranean from the North Atlantic during late Pleistocene glacials}},
author = {Agathe Ollive and Walter Geibert and Jens Matthiessen and Julia Loftfield and Johannes Lachner and Dominik Koll and Henry Patton and Christoph Vogt and Florian Adolphi},
journal = {Communications Earth \& Environment},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s43247-026-04133-3},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-04133-3},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Episodic isolation of the Arctic Mediterranean from the North Atlantic during late Pleistocene glacials
AU - Agathe Ollive
AU - Walter Geibert
AU - Jens Matthiessen
AU - Julia Loftfield
AU - Johannes Lachner
AU - Dominik Koll
AU - Henry Patton
AU - Christoph Vogt
AU - Florian Adolphi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/11
JO - Communications Earth & Environment
DO - 10.1038/s43247-026-04133-3
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-04133-3
AB - It has been proposed that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas (“the Arctic Mediterranean”) were not only episodically covered by an ice shelf during late Pleistocene glaciations, but disconnected from the North Atlantic and filled with freshwater. Originally based on the widespread occurrence of marine sediments with intervals barren of ²³⁰ Th xs (a function of salinity) and low in cosmogenic ¹⁰ Be (interpreted as ice cover), this interpretation is highly debated. Alternative explanations state that sediment pulses could instead have diluted both isotopes. Here, we trace the connection between the Arctic Mediterranean and the North Atlantic using reactive ¹⁰ Be/ ⁹ Be, a water mass tracer resilient to sedimentation variations. We find uniformly low ¹⁰ Be/ ⁹ Be that coincide with the ²³⁰ Th xs -minima and more than one order of magnitude below the coeval North Atlantic, consistent with an isolated Arctic Mediterranean. Our findings suggest a highly dynamic coupling between the Arctic Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, opening questions about its impact on global climate.
SN - 2662-4435
ER -