Furthermore, the eolian dust makes contributions to the composition of bulk sediments as confirmed by rare earth elements. Strong positive correlations between Al 2 O 3 and Fe 2 O 3, TiO 2, MgO, and K 2 O ( R > 0.9) in the bulk sediments indicate pronounced contributions of terrigenous materials from surrounding continent mass to the study area. The CaCO 3 contents in sediments above 4,000 m range from 20 to 84% but decrease sharply to less than 1.5% below 4,000 m, confirming that the water depth of 4,000 m is the carbonate compensation depth of the study area. The mean grain size of the sortable silt shows that the hydrodynamic condition in the study area is significantly stronger than that of the abyssal plain, especially at the water depth of 1,000–2,500 m. Sediments in Zone I (∼33°N–44°N) and Zone III (49.8°N–53°N) are dominated by clayey silt, and mainly consist of sand and silty sand in Zone II.

On the basis of sedimentary components, we divide them into three Zones (I, II, and III) spatially with distinct features.

In this study, a suite of sedimentological and geochemical proxies were analyzed, including the sediment grain size, organic carbon, CaCO 3, major and rare earth elements of 50 surface sediment samples from the Emperor Seamount Chain, spanning from ∼33°N to ∼52°N. The spatial distributions of surface sediment are unclear due to limited investigation along the Emperor Seamount Chain of the North Pacific. Investigating the composition and distribution of pelagic marine sediments is fundamental in the field of marine sedimentology. A transition to open ocean conditions is evident from the early Holocene onwards, albeit with the occurrence of some drift ice and icebergs. The cross-correlation of the quartz % records between MD99-2274 and the well-dated core PS2644 in Blosseville Basin indicates significant coherence in the records at a multi-millennial (∼8 ky) timescale. Indeed, our biomarker and sediment data require that the seas north of Iceland experienced a nearly continuous cover of sea ice, together with icebergs calved from ice stream termini, which drifted southward. IP25, HBI III, brassicasterol and alkenones) all point towards near-perennial sea ice cover during MIS 3 and 2, rather than seasonal sea ice or open water conditions. Sea ice, open water and sea surface temperature (SST) biomarker proxies (i.e. Five pulses of sediment with a distinct felsic component are associated with iceberg transport from E/NE Greenland. Slow-down in flow speeds may be associated with massive ice and water discharges linked to the Hudson Strait ice stream (H-events) and to melt of icebergs from Greenland in the Nordic seas where convection would have been suppressed. The sortable silt mean size (S̅S̅) suggests a bottom current (1000 m depth) flow speed maximum to minimum range of ∼8 cm/s during Marine Isotope Stages 2–3, but the data are unreliable for the Holocene. A multi-proxy sediment and biomarker study at a ∼0.5 ky resolution is used to derive a paleoclimate scenario for this area of the southwestern Nordic Seas, which during the Holocene had intermittent excursions of icebergs and a seasonal cover of drifting sea ice across the site. Radiocarbon dates and marine tephra suggest that the upper 10 m of core MD99-2274 off North Iceland extends from ∼0 to ∼65 ka BP.

Open water drift 2