Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Multi-Proxy Approach To Understanding Abrupt Climate Change And Laurentide Ice Sheet Melting History Based On Gulf Of Mexico Sediments, Clare Carlisle Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the last deglaciation (ca. 24-10 ka thousand years ago (ka)), the North American Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) was a major source of meltwater to the Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), and it is hypothesized that meltwater routing played an important role in regulating Late Quaternary millennial-scale climate variability, via its influence on Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). For example, the meltwater routing hypothesis predicts that a rerouting of meltwater from the GOM to the North Atlantic and/or Arctic Oceans resulted in a decrease of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation and subsequent cooling …