Continental shelf drift deposit indicates non-steady state Antarctic bottom water production in the Holocene

A late Quaternary, current-lain sediment drift deposit over 30 m in thickness has been discovered on the continental shelf of East Antarctica in an 850 m deep glacial trough off George Vth Land. Radiocarbon dating indicates that a period of rapid deposition on the drift (averaging 290 cm/kyr) occurred in the mid-Holocene, between about 3000 and 5000 yr before present (yr bp). Slower deposition rates of around 10 cm/kyr, during the past 0–3000 yr and from 5000 to about 13000 yr bp, coincides with the deposition of bioturbated, ice-rafted debris (IRD) rich, sandy mud under an energetic bottom current regime. In contrast, the mid-Holocene (3000–5000 yr bp) sediments are fine-grained, laminated to cross-laminated with minimal IRD content, and are contemporaneous with a period of warmer marine conditions with less sea ice production. This pattern suggests that bottom currents were weaker than present day in the mid-Holocene, and that the rate of dense bottom water production was reduced at that time. This scenario is consistent with the hypothesis of non-steady state rates of Antarctic bottom water production through the Holocene as recently proposed by Broecker and his colleagues.