Abstract The rate and consequences of future high latitude ice sheet retreat remain a major concern given ongoing anthropogenic warming. Here, new precisely dated stalagmite data from NW Iberia provide the first direct, high-resolution records of periods of rapid melting of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets during the penultimate deglaciation. These records reveal the penultimate deglaciation initiated with rapid century-scale meltwater pulses which subsequently trigger abrupt coolings of air temperature in NW Iberia consistent with freshwater-induced AMOC slowdowns. The first of these AMOC slowdowns, 600-year duration, was shorter than Heinrich 1 of the last deglaciation. Although similar insolation forcing initiated the last two deglaciations, the more rapid and sustained rate of freshening in the eastern North Atlantic penultimate deglaciation likely reflects a larger volume of ice stored in the marine-based Eurasian Ice sheet during the penultimate glacial in contrast to the land-based ice sheet on North America as during the last glacial.
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This content will become publicly available on August 1, 2026
Storage capacity and partitioning of sulfur during silicate melting of the Earth’s shallow upper mantle and the evolution of S/Dy during MORB-source melting
- Award ID(s):
- 1819550
- PAR ID:
- 10626887
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier, Ltd.
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
- Volume:
- 403
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0016-7037
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 20 to 36
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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