Collaborative Study of Ice-Rafted Sediment Petrology and Climate Variability in the Subpolar North Atlantic

This project will analyze the petrology of ice-rafted detritus in high-sedimentation-rate cores from the North Atlantic, concentrating on the last glacial interval. Previous work has identified a persistent cycle of 1500 years at one site during both glacial and interglacial intervals, implying an inherent instability in the Earth's climate system resulting in varying production of icebergs. The project will expand the study to other sites, in order to determine the reliability of this finding.