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Science 30 May 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5880, p. 1161
DOI: 10.1126/science.1153316
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Technical Comments

Comment on "Mixed-Layer Deepening During Heinrich Events: A Multi-Planktonic Foraminiferal {delta}18O Approach"

Claude Hillaire-Marcel* and Anne de Vernal

Rashid and Boyle (Reports, 19 October 2007, p. 439) analyzed oxygen isotopes in planktonic foraminera from marine sediments and concluded that Heinrich events (massive iceberg discharges into the North Atlantic Ocean) caused upper water masses to deepen. We question the robustness of this interpretation and argue that a strongly stratified mixed layer characterized by dense sea-ice cover and production of oxygen-18–depleted brines likely prevailed during such events.

Geochemistry and Geodynamics Research Centre, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chm{at}uqam.ca

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)