Petrological classification and lithology-specific abundance analysis of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) of sediment core GeoB18530-1

IRD-rich Heinrich Event (HE) layers are commonly used as stratigraphic markers of North Atlantic sediments. Gravity core GeoB18530-1, retrieved from the SE Grand Banks slope of Newfoundland, features a proximal and therefore complete and expanded HE layer succession, which was sampled and investigated in steps of 2.3 cm, permitting a petrographic, stratigraphic and statistical analysis of IRD lithology and abundance in unpreceded detail. In total, 8243 IRD particles of the > 1 mm fraction from 216 syringe samples were microscopically classified and counted following the newly developed IRD classification system of Bukar et al. (submitted) based on petrographic thin section analyses of selected larger IRD granules. The data sets provided here comprise classified IRD count data, high-quality representative micrographs and interpreted thin sections of all observed IRD lithologies, and systematic univariate and multivariate IRD statistics permitting to rank all observed IRD lithologies by abundance and to determine their individual affiliation to Heinrich Events and their interlayers.