Southernmost evidence of large European Ice Sheet-derived freshwater discharges during the Heinrich Stadials of the Last Glacial Period (Galician Interior Basin, Northwest Iberian Continental Margin)

Abstract Reconstruction of circum-Atlantic ice-sheet motion and instabilities is crucial to understanding the mechanisms that triggered and/or enhanced abrupt climate changes. Using enviromagnetic and geochemical data, we provide a continuous and well-dated record of the evolution of glacial/interglacial sedimentation on the Northwest Iberian Margin during the last glacial period, covering the last six Heinrich Stadials. The record shows European sediments that were related to meltwater pre-events during the initial stages of HS1, HS2, and HS4 that corroborate the Channel River depositional history. The record also includes IRD from the Laurentide Ice Sheet and the European Ice Sheet during the final stages of these stadials, i.e., Heinrich Events. Therefore, this study provides insight into one of the potential forcing mechanisms for Heinrich Events and, by inference, for Heinrich Stadials.