The Younger Dryas (YD) is recognized as a cool period that began and ended abruptly during a time of general warming at the end of the last glacial. New multi-proxy data from a sediment gravity core from Storfjordrenna (western Barents Sea, 253 m water depth) reveals that the onset of the YD occurred as a single short-lived dramatic environment deterioration, whereas the subsequent warming was oscillatory. The water masses in the western Barents Sea were likely strongly stratified at the onset of the YD, possibly due to runoff of meltwater combined with perennial sea-ice cover, the latter may last up to several decades without any brake-up. Consequently, anoxic conditions prevailed at the bottom of Storfjordrenna, leading to a sharp reduction of benthic biota and the appearance of vivianite microconcretions which formation is favoured by reducing conditions. While the anoxic conditions in Storfjordrenna were transient, the unfavorable conditions for benthic foraminifera lasted for c. 1300 years. We suggest that the Pre-Boreal Oscillation, just after the onset of the Holocene, may have been a continuation of the oscillatory warming trend during the YD.

新仙女木 (YD) 被认为是一个凉爽的时期，它在最后一次冰川结束时普遍变暖的时期突然开始和结束。来自 Storfjordrenna（巴伦支海西部，水深 253 m）的沉积物重力核心的新多代理数据显示，YD 的开始是作为单一的短暂的剧烈环境恶化而发生的，而随后的变暖是振荡的。西巴伦支海的水团可能在 YD 开始时强烈分层，可能是由于融水径流加上常年海冰覆盖，后者可能持续数十年而没有任何停顿。因此，Storfjordrenna 底部普遍存在缺氧条件，导致底栖生物群急剧减少，并出现蓝铁矿微结核，还原条件有利于其形成。虽然 Storfjordrenna 的缺氧条件是短暂的，但底栖有孔虫的不利条件持续了 c。1300 年。我们认为，就在全新世开始之后，前北方振荡可能是 YD 期间振荡变暖趋势的延续。