Holocene Sediment Magnetic Properties along a Transect From Ísafjardardjúp to Djúpáll, Northwest Iceland

ABSTRACT Holocene changes in terrestrial provenance and processes of sediment transport and deposition are tracked along a fjord-to-shelf transect adjacent to Vestfirdir, Iceland, using the magnetic properties of marine sediments. Magnetic susceptibility (MS) profiles of 10 cores (gravity and piston) were obtained onboard using a Bartington MS loop. Remanent magnetizations were measured at 1-cm intervals from u-channel samples taken from six cores on a cryogenic magnetometer. Between six and nine alternating field demagnetization steps were used to isolate the characteristic magnetization directions. The chronologies of the cores used in this study were determined from AMS 14C dates on mollusks and foraminifera and constrained by the regional occurrence of the 10,200 ± 60 cal yr. BP Saksunarvatn tephra. Correlative fluctuations in magnetic concentration are noted between the fjord and shelf sites, though these fluctuations are partially masked by regional variations in carbonate content. The onset of Neog...