The Quaternary record of eastern Svalbard - an overview

The eastern part Svalbard archipelago and the adjacent areas of the Barents Sea were subject to extensive erosion during the Late Weichselian glaciation. Small remnants of older sediment successions have been preserved on Edgeeya, whereas a more complete succession on Kongsøya contains sediments from two different ice-free periods, both probably older than the Early Weichselian. Ice movement indicators in the region suggest that the Late Weichselian ice radiated from a centre east of Kong Karls Land. On Bjørnøya, on the edge of the Barents Shelf, the lack of raised shorelines or glacial striae from the east indicates that the western parts of the ice sheet were thin during the Late Weichselian. The deglaciation of Edgeøya and Barentsøya occurred ca 10,300 bp as a response to calving of the marine-based portion of the ice sheet. Atlantic water, which does not much influence the coasts of eastern Svalbard today, penetrated the northwestern Barents Sea shortly after the deglaciation. At that time, the coastal environment was characterised by extensive longshore sediment transport and deposition of spits at the mouths of shallow palaeo-fjords.     

Palynodebris analysis of a shallow core from the Barents Sea

A quantitative study of palynomorphs and palynodebris in a shallow core from the central part of Bjørnøyrenna, western Barents Sea, is presented. The core could be subdivided into a lower part characterized by a complete dominance of reworked plant debris of Mesozoic age and an upper part with considerable input of first cycle algal debris and dinoflagellate cysts. Two hypotheses are suggested to explain this radical change in palynodebris composition. Either it represents a transition from a situation with permanent ice to normal marine conditions, or the absence of first cycle plant debris in the lower part of the core is caused by a masking of this component due to extremely high input of glacially eroded material from the bordering shallow parts of the Barents Sea. The present study shows that palynodebris analysis may contribute important information to the study of composition and depositional environment of Quaternary marine sediments in the area.     

Pleistocene stratigraphy of Kongsfjordhallet, Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Open sections along Kongsfjodhallet, the north-western coast Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, exhibit marine and glacigenic sediments of Early to Late Plestocene age. Glaciatio, deglaciation and subsequent isostatic rebound caused the formation of three sedimentary successions (A, B and C) that comprise till grading upward into glaciomarine mud, followed by shell-bearing sand, and finally littoral sand and gravel. Six major lithostratigraphic units are recognized. Succession C comprises units 1 and 2, which were deposited during an Early Pleistocene glaciation, followed by deglaciation and subsequent beach progradation. Succession B is divisible into units 3 and 4 and reflects glaciation and eventual emergence as a result of isostatic response. The youngest succesion (A) comprises units 5 and 6, and reflects fiord glaciation followed by a regression during an Early Weichselian glaciation-deglaciation episode. Ice-free conditions may have prevailed untill the Late Weichselian, when a glaciation, confined to the fiord trough, covered parts of Kongsfjordhallet. Deglaciation and isostatic rebound are recorded by Holocene marine terraces up to ca 40 m a. s. l.
Marine and glacial events from Kongsfjordhallet are compared with stratigraphic evidence from adjacent regions and it is suggested that the Late Weichselian ice configuration was of a more restricted nature than proposed by previous authors. Glaciers. draining through the larger ford troughs reached the shelf break. while at the same time other parts of western Svalbard could have experienced restricted glaciation.     

Glaciomarine sediments and suspended particulate matter, Weddell Sea Shelf, Antarctica

Samples of glaciomarine sediments and suspended matter from the eastern and central Weddell Sea Shelf were collected during the Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition (NARE) in 1978/79. Ice-rafted clastic materials are in general the main sediment sources. On the eastern shelf, biogenic materials are abundant (sponges and bryozoan debris). Fine-grained materials, clastic and bioclastic, are additionally supported as fecal aggregates and by currents. The composition of the bottom sediments shows only small variations laterally and within the profiles. Dissolution of the biogenic materials appears to be slight. The suspended matter is dominated by fine silt and clay particles of clastic, biogenic (mainly diatoms) and authigenic (Fe, Mg-rich silicates) origin. Metalliferous particles (Fe, Ti, Zn, Cr, Ni-rich) of possibly anthropogenic and/or cosmic origin are observed. On the upper continental slope and the outer shelf the sedimentation rates are in the range of 2–5 cm/1000 years, which are slightly higher than for the rest of the shelf. The bioclastic glaciomarine deposits grade southward into bioclastic free sediments, showing that glaciomarine deposits outside an ice shelf may form a sequence of alternating bioclastic-rich and bioclastic-free layers. Similarly, late Precambrian carbonate tillite sequences, especially in the case of thin carbonate layers interbedded with tillite layers, may reflect variations in glaciomarine facies rather than interglacial/glacial cycles.     

Late glacial and Holocene marine records from the Independence Fjord and Wandel Sea regions, North Greenland

The first marine sediment cores from the unexplored Independence Fjord system and the Wandel Sea, North Greenland, have been investigated to reveal the glacial marine history of the region. Two key sites in the Independence Fjord system, and an earlier analysed site from the Wandel Sea continental slope, off the mouth of Independence Fjord, are presented. The Independence Fjord sites reveal an early Holocene record (10.0–8.9 Kya) of fine-grained reddish muds with calcareous microfossils, dominated by the benthic foraminifera Cassidulina neoteretis . We suggest that a semi-permanent fast ice cover characterized the region in the early Holocene, and that the deeper troughs in the mouth region of the Independence Fjord system were intruded by subsurface Atlantic water. A stiff diamicton, at least 1.3 m thick, with coal and sandstone clasts of mainly local origin, and a 0.5-m-thick Holocene cover, are found in one of the sites. The diamicton is assumed to represent a subglacial till predating the early Holocene sediments (>10 Kya). Shallow seismic records off the mouth of Independence Fjord reveal kilometre-sized troughs with signs of glacial erosion, till deposition and a Holocene glaciomarine deposition. These features could indicate that glacial ice debouching from the Independence Fjord system at some time during the last glacial period extended to the mid-outer Wandel Sea shelf. Data from a high-resolution sediment core previously retrieved from the adjacent Wandel Sea slope indicate that the maximum ice sheet advance in this area culminated about 25–20 Kya.     

Surface wave dispersion, crustal structure, and sediment thickness variations across the Barents shelf

Summary. Rayleigh and Love wave group velocities were determined for 21 paths across the Barents shelf. Those group velocities exhibit regional variations of 1.0 km^-1 or more at short periods, depending upon the location of the path within the shelf. Only two different crustal shear-velocity models beneath sedimentary layers are required, however, to explain all of the group velocity data. One model pertains to most of the shelf from a longitude near the eastern coast of Svalbard to Novaya Zemlya. The other pertains to a 200 or 300 km wide region at the western edge of the shelf. Shear velocities in the upper crust of the western region are significantly higher and the crust is much thinner than they are for the rest of the shelf. That region is known to have moved to its present prosition from a point several hundred kilometres to the north during the Caledonian orogeny.
Surface wave group velocities within each of the two regions are strongly influenced by sediments which have accumulated in basins within the Barents shelf. Some of these basins, in the southern portion of the shelf, may be 10km or more in thickness.     

Glacier extent in a Novaya Zemlya fjord during the "Little Ice Age" inferred from glaciomarine sediment records

Glacier activity at Russkaya Gavan', north-west Novaya Zemlya (Arctic Russia), is reconstructed by particle size analysis of three fjord sediment cores in combination with ¹⁴C and ²¹⁰Pb dating. Down-core logging of particle size variation reveals at least two intervals with sediment coarsening during the past eight centuries. By comparing them with reconstructions of summer temperature and atmospheric circulation, these intervals are interpreted to represent two cycles of glacier advance and retreat sometime during ca. AD 1400–1700 and AD 1700–present. Sediment accumulation thus appears to be sensitive to century-scale fluctuations of the Barents Sea climate. The identification of two glacier cycles in the glaciomarine record from Russkaya Gavan' demonstrates that during the "Little Ice Age" major glacier fluctuations on Novaya Zemlya occurred in broad synchrony with those in other areas around the Barents Sea.     

Stratigraphic and Morphologic Constraints on the Weichselian Glacial History of Northern Prins Karls Forland, Western Svalbard

Uncertainty remains if ice–free marginal areas existed on the west coast of Svalbard during the Late Weichselian. Field mapping and correlation to well dated raised beach sequences on nearby Brøggerhalvøya reveal the existence of two generations of raised beach deposits on northern Prins Karls Forland. Distinct beach ridges rise up to the inferred Late Weichselian marine limit at 18 m a.s.l. Discontinuous pre–Late Weichselian beach deposits rise from the Late Weichselian marine limit up to approximately 60 m a.s.l. Expansion of local glaciers during the Late Weichselian is indicated by the limited distribution of a till that overlies parts of the older beach sequence. Stratigraphic data and chronological control indicate deposition in a shallow marine environment before 50 ka bp . Correlation to stratigraphic sites on western Svalbard suggests deposition at c . 70 ±10 ka. Glaciotectonic structures disclose expansion of local glaciers into the For–landsundet basin during stage 4 or late stage 5 high relative sea level. Palaeotemperature estimates derived from amino acid ratios indicate that during the time interval c . 70 to 10 ka the area was exposed to cold subaerial temperatures with low rates of racemization. Pedogenesis and frost–shattered clasts at the contact between c . 70 ka deposits and Holocene deposits further indicate a prolonged period of subaerial polar desert conditions during this time interval. The evidence suggests that the Barents Sea ice sheet did not extend across northern Prins Karls Forland during the Weichselian. It is inferred that during the Late Weichselian, ice was drained throughout the major fjords on the west coast of Svalbard and that relatively large marginal areas experienced polar desert conditions and minor expansions of local glaciers.     

Late Weichselian to early Holocene sedimentation in a steep fjord/valley setting, Visdalen, Edgeøya, eastern Svalbard: glacial deposits, alluvial/colluvial-fan deltas and spit-platforms

The Visdalen valley, situated at the northwestern corner of Edgeøya, was investigated with respect to lithostratigraphy and depositional environments of the Quaternary sediments. Eight major lithostratigraphic units are recognised of which seven were deposited during the Late Weichselian to early Holocene glaciation, deglaciation and the subsequent emergence of the area, and one unit deposited prior the last glaciation. Till deposition from a west-flowing glacier was followed by glaciomarine and later marine deposition of fine-grained sediments. Coarse-grained colluvial and alluvial-fan deltas were deposited along the mountainsides in the Visdalen palaeo-bay, and distal sediment gravity-flow deposits from these deltas were interbedded with the glaciomarine-marine sediments. A spit-platform (riegel) was built up across the Visdalen bay contemporaneously with the alluvial fan-deltas. Its formation was time-transgressive, with its highest part in the south close to the marine limit at 85 m a.s.l. and its lowest part in the north at ca 65 m a.s.l. The sediment source was alluvial and colluvial debris, which was entrained by longshore currents along the more exposed coast south of Visdalen and transported northwards to the final place of deposition. The bulk part of the riegel ridge is composed of progradational successions of steep foresets dipping towards NW, N and NE, and clearly rejects an earlier ice-contact model. Datings suggest that the fan-delta deposition and the riegel formation ended before 9,000 BP. A meltwater-fed lagoon with a highest level at >50m a.s.l. was formed behind the riegel ridge in which, according to varve counting, glaciolacustrine sedimentation lasted more than 250 years and occurred within the time span 9,000-8,500 BP. Gradual uplift of the area resulted in drainage of the glaciolacustrine lagoon. Beachface processes and fluvial down-cutting took place during the emergence of the area.     

North Atlantic Water in the Barents Sea Opening, 1997 to 1999

North Atlantic Water (NAW) is an important source of heat and salt to the Nordic seas and the Arctic Ocean. To measure the transport and variability of one branch of NAW entering the Arctic, a transect across the entrance to the Barents Sea was occupied 13 times between July 1997 and November 1999, and hydrography and currents were measured. There is large variability between the cruises, but the mean currents and the hydrography show that the main inflow takes place in Bjørnøyrenna, with a transport of 1.6 Sv of NAW into the Barents Sea. Combining the flow field with measurements of temperature and salinity, this results in mean heat and salt transports by NAW into the Barents Sea of 3.9×10¹³ W and 5.7×10⁷ kg s⁻¹, respectively. The NAW core increased in temperature and salinity by 0.7 °C yr⁻¹ and 0.04 yr⁻¹, respectively, over the observation period. Variations in the transports of heat and salt are, however, dominated by the flow field, which did not exhibit a significant change.     

Miocene shelf‐edge deltas and their impact on deepwater slope progradation and morphology,Northwest Shelf of Australia

Late‐middle Miocene to Pliocene siliciclastics in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, Northwest Shelf of Australia, are interpreted as having been deposited by deltas. Some delta lobes deposited sediments near and at the shelf break (shelf‐edge deltas), whereas other lobes did not reach the coeval shelf break before retreating landward or being abandoned. Shelf‐margin mapview morphology changes from linear to convex‐outward in the northern part of the study area where shelf‐edge deltas were focused. Location and character of shelf‐edge deltas also had significant impact on along‐strike variability of margin progradation and shelf‐edge trajectory. Total late‐middle and late Miocene margin progradation is ca. 13 km in the south, where there were no shelf‐edge deltas, vs. ca. 34 km in the north where shelf‐edge deltas were concentrated. In the central area, the deltas were arrested and accumulated a few kilometres landward of the shelf break, resulting in an aggradational shelf‐edge trajectory, in contrast to the more progradational trajectory farther north. This illustrates a potential limitation of shelf‐edge trajectory analysis: only where shelf‐edge deltas occur, there is sufficient sediment available for the shelf‐edge trajectory to record relative sea‐level fluctuations reliably. Small‐scale (ca. 400 m wide) incisions were already conspicuous on the coeval slope even before deltas reached the shelf break. However, slope gullies immediately downdip from active shelf‐edge deltas display greater erosion of underlying strata and are wider and deeper (>1 km wide, ca. 100 m deep) than coeval incisions that are laterally offset from the deltaic depocenter (ca. 0.7 km wide, ca. 25 m deep). We interpret this change in slope‐gully dimensions as the result of greater erosion by sediment gravity flows sourced from the immediately adjacent shelf‐edge deltas. Similarly, gullies also incised further (up to 6 km) into the outer shelf in the region of active shelf‐edge deltas.     

Past glaciation and sea levels on Bjørnøya, Svalbard

Bjørnøya has a very thin cover of unconsolidated Quaternary sediments. Glacial erratics of local origin are spread throughout the lowland areas, and glacial striae indicate glacial movement which was centred middle of the island. No traces of the Barents Sea ice sheet have been observed on Bjørnøya, nor has there been any postglacial emergence of the island. Lake cores date the deglaciation of the lowlands to ca 10,000 BP, and peat deposits on high mountains show that these were deglaciated before 8700 bp.     

Dynamics of the last glaciation in eastern Svalbard as inferred from glacier-movement indicators

Glacial striae and other ice movement indicators such as roche moutonées, glacial erratics, till fabric and glaciotectonic deformation have been used to reconstruct the Late Weichselian ice movements in the region of eastern Svalbard and the northern Barents Sea. The ice movement pattern may be divided into three main phases: (1) a maximum phase when ice flowed out of a centre east or southeast of Kong Karls Land. At this time the southern part of Spitsbergen was overrun by glacial ice from the Barents Sea; (2) the phase of deglaciation of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet, when an ice cap was centred between Kong Karls Land and Nordaustlandet. At the same time ice flowed southwards along Storfjorden; and (3) the last phase of the Late Weichselian glaciation in eastern Svalbard is represented by local ice caps on Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Barentsoya and Edgeøya.
The reconstructed ice flow pattern during maximum glaciation is compatible with a centre of uplift in the northern Barents Sea as shown by isobase reconstructions and suggested by isostatic modelling.     

Late Pliocene–early Pleistocene deep‐sea basin sedimentation at high‐latitudes: mega‐scale submarine slides of the north‐western Barents Sea margin prior to the shelf‐edge glaciations

At high‐latitude continental margins, large‐scale submarine sliding has been an important process for deep‐sea sediment transfer during glacial and interglacial periods. Little is, however, known about the importance of this process prior to the arrival of the ice sheet on the continental shelf. Based on new two‐dimensional seismic data from the NW Barents Sea continental margin, this study documents the presence of thick and regionally extensive submarine slides formed between 2.7 and 2.1 Ma, before shelf‐edge glaciation. The largest submarine slide, located in the northern part of the Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan (TMF), left a scar and is characterized by an at least 870‐m‐thick interval of chaotic to reflection‐free seismic facies interpreted as debrites. The full extent of this slide debrite 1 is yet unknown but it has a mapped areal distribution of at least 10.7 × 10³ km² and it involved >4.1 × 10³ km³ of sediments. It remobilized a larger sediment volume than one of the largest exposed submarine slides in the world – the Storegga Slide in the Norwegian Sea. In the southern part of the Storfjorden TMF and along the Kveithola TMF, the seismic data reveal at least four large‐scale slide debrites, characterized by seismic facies similar to the slide debrite 1. Each of them is ca. 295‐m thick, covers an area of at least 7.04 × 10³ km² and involved 1.1 × 10³ km³ of sediments. These five submarine slide debrites represent approximately one quarter of the total volume of sediments deposited during the time 2.7–1.5 Ma along the NW Barents Sea. The preconditioning factors for submarine sliding in this area probably included deposition at high sedimentation rate, some of which may have occurred in periods of low eustatic sea‐level. Intervals of weak contouritic sediments might also have contributed to the instability of part of the slope succession as these deposits are known from other parts of the Norwegian margin and elsewhere to have the potential to act as weak layers. Triggering was probably caused by seismicity associated with the nearby and active Knipovich spreading ridge and/or the old tectonic lineaments within the Spitsbergen Shear Zone. This seismicity is inferred to be the main influence of the large‐scale sliding in this area as this and previous studies have documented that sliding have occurred independently of climatic variations, i.e. both before and during the period of ice sheets repeatedly covering the continental shelf.     

Holocene glacial advances and moraine formation at Albrechtbreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard

Terrace remnants close to the marine limit as well as two separate moraine ridges are observed in front of the glacier Albrechtbreen. The stacking of marine sediments from an original elevation of ca. 60–80 m a.s.l. into the Little Ice Age Moraine gives evidence for a considerably smaller glacier following the early Holocene deglaciation compared to that of the present. The outer moraine is composed of glacial diamicton. Radiocarbon datings of whale ribs, shell fragments and a log taken from sediment in front of Albrechtbreen indicate that the initial deglaciation occurred before 9, 400 B.P. and that the outer moraine was formed during a younger Holocene glacial advance. Lithological differences between the two moraine ridges suggest that the first ice advance occurred during a period with limited permafrost, whereas permafrost was more extensive during the Little Ice Age.     

Clinoform growth in a Miocene,Para‐tethyan deep lake basin: thin topsets,irregular foresets and thick bottomsets

Late Miocene lacustrine clinoforms of up to 400 m high are mapped using a 1700 km² 3‐D seismic data set in the Dacian foreland basin, Romania. Eight Meotian clinoforms, constructed by sediment from the South Carpathians, prograded around 25 km towards southwest. The individual clinothems show thin (10–60 m thick), if any, topsets, disrupted foresets and highly aggradational bottomsets. Basin‐margin accretion occurred in three stages with changing of clinoform heights and foreset gradients. The deltaic system prograded into an early‐stage deep depocenter and contributed to high gradient clinoforms whose foresets were dominated by closely (100–200 m) spaced 1.5–2 km wide V‐shaped sub‐lacustrine canyons. During intermediate‐stage growth, 2–4 km wide canyons were dominant on the clinoform foresets. From the early to intermediate stages, the lacustrine shelf edges were consistently indented. The late‐stage outbuilding was characterised by smaller clinoforms with smoother foresets and less indentation along the shelf edge. Truncated and thin topsets persisted through all three stages of clinoform evolution. Nevertheless, the resulting long‐term flat trajectory shows alternating segments of forced and low‐amplitude normal regressions. The relatively flat trajectory implies a constant base level over time and was due to the presence of the Dacian–Black Sea barrier that limited water level rise by spilling to the Black Sea. Besides the characteristic shelf‐edge incision of the thin clinoform topsets and the resultant sediment bypass at the shelf edge, the prolonged regressions of the shelf margin promoted steady sediment supply to the basin. The high sediment supply at the shelf edges generated long‐lived slope sediment conduits that provided sustained sediment transport to the basin floor. Clinothem isochore maps show that large volumes of sediment were partitioned into the clinoform foresets, and especially the bottomsets. Sediment predominantly derived from frequent hyperpycnal flows contributed to very thick, ca. 300–400 m in total, bottomsets. Decreasing subsidence over time from the foredeep resulted in diminishing accommodation and clinoform height, reduced slope channelization and smoother slope morphology.     

Recent foraminifera in glaciomarine sediments from three arctic fjords of Novaja Zemlja and Svalbard

Foraminifera were examined in recent (<100 years) fine-grained glaciomarine muds from surface sediments and cores from Nordensheld Bay, Novaja Zemlja, and Hornsund and Bellsund, Spitsbergen. This study presents the first data on modern foraminifera distribution for fjord environments in Novaja Zemlja, Russia. The data are interpreted with reference to the distribution of foraminiferal near Svalbard and the Barents Sea. In Nordensheld Bay, live and dead Nonionellina labradorica and Islandiella norcrossi are most abundant in the outer fjord. Cassidulina reniforme and Allogromiina spp. dominate in the middle and inner fjord. The dominant species are dissimilar to species occurring in other areas of the Barents Sea region, with the exception of Svalbard fjords. The number of live foraminifera (24 to 122 tests/10 cm¹) in outer and middle Nordensheld Bay corresponds with values known from the open Barents Sea. However, the biomass (0.03 mg/10 cm³) is two orders of magnitude less due to smaller foraminiferal test size, which in glaciomarine sediments reflects the absence of larger species, paucity of large specimens, and high occurrence of juvenile foraminifera. The smaller size indicates an opportunistic response to environmental stress due to glacier proximity. The presence of Quinqueloculina stalkeri is diagnostic of glaciomarine environments in fjords of Novaja Zemlja and Svalbard.     

A pockmark field in the Central Barents Sea; gas from a petrogenic source?

A pockmark field has been encountered in the northwestern Barents Sea, SO km southeast of Hopen island. High resolution seismic records and side scan sonographs show that the features are small (10–20 m diameter), shallow (<1 m deep) structures that may cover up to 25% of the sea floor in local areas. Pockmark existence seem to be dependent on the presence of soft, Holocene mud. In more firm sea-floor they seem to concentrate in the partly infilled troughs of iceberg plough marks. The pockmark distribution, characteristics of the underlying sedimentary bedrock and thin cover of glacigenic sediments in the area, indicate they are formed by ascending gas from a deeper, probably petrogenic source. It is inferred that pockmarks may be found in larger parts of the Barents Sea.     

Upper Carboniferous cyclic shelf deposits, Kapp Kåre Formation, Bjørnøya, Svalbard: response to high frequency, high amplitude sea level fluctuations and local tectonism

The upper Bashkirian-Moscovian Kapp KIre Formation is well-exposed in coastal cliff sections along the west coast of Bjørnøya, Svalbard. It is composed of stacked cycles of nixed siliciclastics and carbonates in the lower Bogevika Member and of cyclic shelf carbonates in the overlying Efuglvika Member. The uppermost Kobbebukta Member consists of shelf carbonates and syntectonic conglomerates and sandy turbidites. The shift in cycle types reflects an overall transgression of the region during the Moscovian combined with renewed tectonic activity and uplift of eastern Bjørnøya during the late Moscovian. Twelve carbonate facies and 6 siliciclastic facies are distinguished. The carbonate facies range from intertidal dolomitic mudstones with pseudomorphs after gypsum to subwavebase, intensely bioturbated wackestones. Most carbonates are deeper subtidal facies and shallow marine carbonate facies are only common in the transgressive part of mixed siliciclastic-carbonate cycles of the Bogevika Member. Incorporating the effects of high amplitude, high frequency glacioeustacy and active extensional tectonism, a dynamic model is developed to explain the spatial variability of facies observed within the Kapp Kke Formation. Observations from Bjørnøya are placed within the context of the regional structural and stratigraphic framework so that significance of the study to ongoing exploration efforts in the Barents Sea can be evaluated. Most important, our observations suggest that dolomitized, porous carbonate buildups are most likely to be found in the upper Moscovian succession in areas where accommodation space increased temporarily due to local tectonism.     

The Late Weichselian and Holocene shoreline displacement on the west-central coast of Svalbard

Three well-developed raised marine shorelines along Nordenskioldkysten have been studied and correlated with the shoreline displacement since the last deglaciation. The marine limit of 64 m in the area is of Late Weichselian age and has been dated to 10, 900- 11, 000 years B.P. An intermediate level at 50 m is estimated to be 10, 600-10, 000 years old and demonstrates a sea level stagnation probably caused by a glacier readvance in eastern Svalbard during the Younger Dryas. A Holocene transgression culminating shortly after 6, 000 years B.P. has been stratigraphically demonstrated, and it probably correlates with the Tapes transgression of Scandinavia. No pre-Late Weichselian marine levels are found, and the large rebound can be attributed only to a Late Weichselian glaciation.