POUTINE

East Canada is, and has been, a key region for climate variations on the northern hemisphere. In the Labrador Sea, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) links northwards-flowing, warm- and salty water of the upper layers with colder, deep waters of the global thermohaline circulation. Over the course of the Pleistocene, this circulation was affected by the glaciation and deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet on the Canadian Shield. Freshwater pulses during deglaciation led to dramatic shifts within the AMOC system, resulting in climate variations even in Europe. The understanding of the waxing and waning of the Laurentide Ice Sheet is paramount to better model and forecast any climate variations caused by melting ice sheets. In this project, we survey potential lacustrine sedimentary archives in East Canada in order to study their paleoclimate/paleolimnology potential. We acquire new high-resolution reflection seismic data on two endmembers of the freshwater system in East Canada: Lake Saint-Jean and Grand-Lake. In combination with already existing datasets from the freshwater-, brackish- and marine realm, our aim is to propose drill sites for a land-to-sea (L2S) transect through East Canada which will enable us to better constrain the importance of glaciation and deglaciation events on the northern hemisphere. The project is a follow-up project to the labsCAUs project. All project activities are carried out in consultation with the local communities in Labrador and Québec.