New observations on the relative sea level and deglacial history of Greenland from Innaarsuit, Disko Bugt

Relative sea level (RSL) data derived from isolation basins at Innaarsuit, a site on the south shores of the large marine embayment of Disko Bugt, West Greenland, record rapid RSL fall from the marine limit (ca. 108 m) at 10,300-9900 cal yr B.P. to reach the present sea level at 3500 cal yr B.P. Since 2000 cal yr B.P., RSL rose ca. 3 m to the present. When compared with data from elsewhere in Disko Bugt, our results suggest that the embayment was deglaciated later and more quickly than previously thought, at or slightly before 10,300 cal yr B.P. The northern part of Disko Bugt experienced less rebound (ca. 10 m at 6000 cal yr B.P.) compared with areas to the south. Submergence during the late Holocene supports a model of crustal down-warping as a result of renewed ice-sheet growth during the neoglacial. There is little evidence for west to east differences in crustal rebound across the southern shores of Disko Bugt.     

Late Weichselian deglacial history of Disko Bugt, West Greenland, and the dynamics of the Jakobshavns Isbrae ice stream

New relative sea-level (RSL) data from Disko Bugt, a large marine embayment in West Greenland, are used to examine the deglacial history of the Jakobshavns Isbrae ice stream. RSL data show rapid deglaciation after 10.3 ka cal. yr BP. Once deglaciation began, a bedrock high in the west of the bay exerted no discernible influence on the deglacial chronology. Following initial rapid retreat, ice stream recession slowed as it approached the eastern shores of the bay. Seabed elevations increase here and the ice stream terminus lingered for several thousand years before retreating into the narrow bedrock-confined Jakobshavns Isfjord. The seabed topography of Disko Bugt includes several deep channels which probably record the former course of the ice stream. Using a simple water depth/calving velocity relationship it is estimated that the maximum calving velocity on deglaciation was c. 4.8 km a^-1. This is less than the present rate (6–7 km a^-1), although ice discharge was two to four times that observed today. Initiation of rapid ice stream retreat was probably caused by ice stream thinning and increased surface melting. A critical point in time was the retreat of the ice stream from shallow continental shelf waters ( c. 400 m) into the deep bedrock trough (>800 m) which marks the entrance to Disko Bugt.     

Late Holocene relative sea level rise and the Neoglacial history of the Greenland ice sheet

In West Greenland, early and mid Holocene relative sea level (RSL) fall was replaced by late Holocene RSL rise during the Neoglacial, after 4–3 cal. ka BP (thousand calibrated years before present). Here we present the results of an isolation basin RSL study completed near to the coastal town of Sisimiut, in central West Greenland. RSL fell from 14 m above sea level at 5.7 cal. ka BP to reach a lowstand of ?4.0 m at 2.3–1.2 cal. ka BP, before rising by an equivalent amount to present. Differences in the timing and magnitude of the RSL lowstand between this and other sites in West and South Greenland record the varied interplay of local and non‐Greenland RSL processes, notably the reloading of the Earth's crust caused by a Neoglacial expansion of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and the subsidence associated with the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet forebulge. This means that the timing of the sea level lowstand cannot be used to infer directly when the GIS advanced during the Neoglacial. The rise in Late Holocene RSL is contrary to recently reported bedrock uplift in the Sisimiut area, based on repeat GPS surveys. This indicates that a belt of peripheral subsidence around the current ice sheet margin was more extensive in the late Holocene, and that there has been a switch from subsidence to uplift at some point in the last thousand years or so. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relative sea‐level changes since 15 000 cal. yr BP in the Nanortalik area,southern Greenland

We present new results for relative sea‐level change for southern Greenland for the interval from 9000 cal. yr BP to the present. Together with earlier work from the same region this yields a nearly complete record from the time of deglaciation to the present. Isolation and/or transgression sequences in one lake and five tidal basins have been identified using lithostratigraphic analyses, sedimentary characteristics, magnetic susceptibility, saturated induced remanent magnetisation (SIRM), organic and carbonate content, and macrofossil analyses. AMS radiocarbon dating of macrofossils and bulk sediment samples provides the timescale. Relative sea level fell rapidly and reached present‐day level at ～9300 cal. yr BP and continued falling until at least 9000 cal. yr BP. Between 8000 and 6000 cal. yr BP sea level reached its lowest level of around ～10 m below highest astronomical tide. At around 5000 cal. yr BP, sea level had reached above 7.8 m below highest astronomical tide and slowly continued to rise, not reaching present‐day sea level until today. The isostatic rebound caused rapid isolation of the basins that are seen as distinct isolation contacts in the sediments. In contrast, the late Holocene transgressions are less well defined and occurred over longer time intervals. The late Holocene sea‐level rise may be a consequence of isostatic reloading by advancing glaciers and/or an effect of the delayed response to isostatic rebound of the Laurentide ice sheet. One consequence of this transgression is that settlements of Palaeo‐Eskimo cultures may be missing in southern Greenland. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relative sea level changes during the Holocene in the Sisimiut area,south‐western Greenland

Holocene relative sea level (RSL) changes have been investigated by analysing and dating isolation sequences from five lakes near Sisimiut in south‐western Greenland. The transitions between marine and lacustrine sediments were determined from elemental analyses and analyses of macroscopic plant and animal remains. Radiocarbon dating was used to provide minimum ages for the transitions and to construct a RSL curve. Dating of a shell of the marine bivalve Macoma balthica indicates that deglaciation of the lowlands occurred in the early Holocene, at around 10 900 cal a BP. The RSL curve shows initial rapid regression from the marine limit at around 140 m, implying strong glacio‐isostatic rebound. We suggest that the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet was located at the shelf break during the Last Glacial Maximum. Frequent remains of the ostracode Sarcypridopsis aculeata, which is a thermophilous brackish water species that is unknown from the extant fauna of Greenland, in one of the basins around 8500 cal a BP may mark the beginning of the Holocene thermal maximum in the region. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chronology of the last deglaciation and Holocene environmental changes in the Sisimiut area,SW Greenland based on lacustrine records

The Sisimiut area was deglaciated in the early Holocene, c. 11 cal. ka BP. At that time the lowlands were inundated by the sea, but the isostatic rebound surpassed the global sea‐level rise, and the lowlands emerged from the sea. The pioneer vegetation in the area consisted of mosses and herbaceous plants. The oldest remains of woody plants (Empetrum nigrum) are dated to c. 10.3 cal. ka BP, and remains of Salix herbacea and Harrimanella hypnoides are found in slightly younger sediments. The maximum occurrence of statoblasts of the bryozoan Plumatella repens from c. 10 to 4.5 cal. ka BP probably reflects the Holocene thermal maximum, which is also indicated in geochemical proxies of the lake sediments. A maximum in organic matter accumulation in one of the three studied lakes c. 3 cal. ka BP can probably be ascribed to a late Holocene short‐duration temperature maximum or a period of increased aridity. Cenococcum geophilum sclerotia are common in the late Holocene, implying increased soil erosion during the Neoglaciation. A comparison with sediment and macrofossil records from inland shows similar Holocene trends and a similar immigration history. It also reveals that there has been a significant gradient throughout the Holocene, from an oceanic and stable climate at the outer coast to a more continental and unstable climate with warmer summers and drier conditions close to the margin of the Greenland ice sheet, where the buffer capacity of the sea is lower.     

Post-glacial relative sea level, isostasy, and glacial history in Icy Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA

We use the radiocarbon ages of marine shells and terrestrial vegetation to reconstruct relative sea level (RSL) history in northern Southeast Alaska. RSL fell below its present level around 13,900 cal yr BP, suggesting regional deglaciation was complete by then. RSL stayed at least several meters below modern levels until the mid-Holocene, when it began a fluctuating rise that probably tracked isostatic depression and rebound caused by varying ice loads in nearby Glacier Bay. This fluctuating RSL rise likely reflects the episodic but progressive advance of ice in Glacier Bay that started around 6000 cal yr BP. After that time, RSL low stands probably signaled minor episodes of glacier retreat/thinning that triggered isostatic rebound and land uplift. Progressive, down-fjord advance of the Glacier Bay glacier during the late Holocene is consistent with the main driver of this glacial system being the dynamics of its terminus rather than climate change directly. Only after the glacier reached an exposed position protruding into Icy Strait ca. AD 1750, did its terminus succumb - a century before the climate changes that marked the end of the Little Ice Age - to the catastrophic retreat that triggered the rapid isostatic rebound and RSL fall occurring today in Icy Strait.     

Ice sheet extent and early deglacial history of the southwestern sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet

The offshore and coastal geomorphology of southwest Greenland records evidence for the advance and decay of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum. Regional ice flow patterns in the vicinity of Sisimiut show an enlarged ice sheet that extended southwestwards on to the shelf, with an ice stream centred over Holsteinsborg dyb. High level periglacial terrain composed of blockfield and tors is dated to between 101 and 142 ka using ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be cosmogenic exposure ages. These limit the maximum surface elevation of the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet in this part of southwest Greenland to ca 750–810 m asl, and demonstrate that terrain above this level has been ice free since MIS 6. Last Glacial Maximum ice thickness on the coast of ca 700 m implies that the ice sheet reached the mid to outer continental shelf edge to form the Outer Hellefisk moraines. Exposure dates record ice surface thinning from 21.0 to 9.8 ka, with downwasting rates varying from 0.06 to 0.12 m yr⁻¹. This reflects strong surface ablation associated with increased air temperatures running up to the Bølling Interstadial (GIS1e) at ca 14 ka, and later marine calving under high sea levels. The relatively late retreat of the Itilleq ice stream inland of the present coastline is similar to the pattern observed at Jakobshavn Isbræ, located 250 km north in Disko Bugt, which also retreated from the continental shelf after ca 10 ka. We hypothesise that the ice streams of West Greenland persisted on the inner shelf until the early Holocene because of their considerable ice thickness and greater ice discharge compared with the adjacent ice sheet.     

Lateglacial to Holocene relative sea‐level changes in the Stykkishólmur area,northern Snæfellsnes,Iceland

Comparatively little research has been undertaken on relative sea‐level (RSL) change in western Iceland. This paper presents the results of diatom, tephrochronological and radiocarbon analyses on six isolation basins and two coastal lowland sediment cores from the Stykkishólmur area, northern Snæfellsnes, western Iceland. The analyses provide a reconstruction of Lateglacial to mid‐Holocene RSL changes in the region. The marine limit is measured to 65–69 m above sea level (asl), with formation being estimated at 13.5 cal ka BP. RSL fall initially occurred rapidly following marine limit formation, until ca. 12.6 cal ka BP, when the rate of RSL fall decreased. RSL fell below present in the Stykkishólmur area during the early Holocene (by ca. 10 cal ka BP). The rates of RSL change noted in the Stykkishólmur area demonstrate lesser ice thicknesses in Snæfellsnes than Vestfirðir during the Younger Dryas, when viewed in the regional context. Consequently, the data provide an insight into patterns of glacio‐isostatic adjustment surrounding Breiðafjörður, a hypothesized major ice stream at the Last Glacial Maximum.     

Late Holocene environmental change in Disko Bugt, west Greenland: interaction between climate, ocean circulation and Jakobshavn Isbrae

Foraminiferal assemblages and the sedimentology of two cores (POR20 and POR21) from eastern Disko Bugt, west Greenland, are used to identify environmental changes in the area over the past c. 2200 years. Changes in the sediment flux supplied to the core sites from Jakobshavn Isbrae are used to assess the relative position of the calving margin. An Atlantic water influence as strong as, or slightly stronger than, present prevailed at c. 2200 cal. yr BP. A trend of increasing Atlantic water influence then culminated in peak warm and saline hydrographic conditions c. 1664-474 cal. yr BP encompassing the 'Medieval Warm Period'. This period was marked by a retreat of the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbrae and was followed by a marked cooling in hydrographic conditions relating to an increase in the influence of the East Greenland Current in the West Greenland Current corresponding to the climatic episode the 'Little Ice Age'. A rise in sedimentation rate over this period relates to the well-documented advance of Jakobshavn Isbrae. The record from Disko Bugt shows good agreement with the temperature record from the Greenland ice cores and other climatic and oceanographic reconstructions in the region.     

Deglaciation and catchment ontogeny in coastal south‐west Greenland: implications for terrestrial and aquatic carbon cycling

Here we present Holocene organic carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, carbon isotope ratio and macrofossil data from a small freshwater lake near Sisimiut in south‐west Greenland. The lake was formed c. 11 cal ka BP following retreat of the ice sheet margin and is located above the marine limit in this area. The elemental and isotope data suggest a complex deglaciation history of interactions between the lake and its catchment, reflecting glacial retreat and post‐glacial hydrological flushing probably due to periodic melting of local remnant glacial ice and firn areas between 11 and 8.5 cal ka BP. After 8.5 cal ka BP, soil development and associated vegetation processes began to exert a greater control on terrestrial–aquatic carbon cycling. By 5.5 cal ka BP, in the early Neoglacial cooling, the sediment record indicates a change in catchment–lake interactions with consistent δ¹³C while C/N exhibits greater variability. The period after 5.5 cal ka BP is also characterized by higher organic C accumulation in the lake. These changes (total organic carbon, C/N, δ¹³C) are most likely the result of increasing contribution (and burial) of terrestrial organic matter as a result of enhanced soil instability, as indicated by an increase in Cenococcum remains, but also Sphagnum and Empetrum. The impact of glacial retreat and relatively subdued mid‐ to late Holocene climate variation at the coast is in marked contrast to the greater environmental variability seen in inland lakes closer to the present‐day ice sheet margin. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Holocene sea-level changes and isostasy in western Denmark

Cores and exposed cliff sections in salt marshes around Ho Bugt, a tidal embayment in the northernmost part of the Danish Wadden Sea, were subjected to ¹⁴C dating and litho- and biostratigraphical analyses to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes and to establish a late Holocene relative sea-level history. Four stages in the late Holocene development of Ho Bugt can be identified: (1) groundwater-table rise and growth of basal peat (from at least 2300 BC to AD 0); (2) salt-marsh formation (0 to AD 250); (3) a freshening phase (AD 250 to AD 1600?), culminating in the drying out of the marshes and producing a distinct black horizon followed by an aeolian phase with sand deposition; and (4) renewed salt-marsh deposition (AD 1600? to present). From 16 calibrated AMS radiocarbon ages on fossil plant fragments and 4 calibrated conventional radiocarbon ages on peat, we reconstructed a local relative sea-level history that shows a steady sea-level rise of 4 m since 4000 cal yr BP. Contrary to suggestions made in the literature, the relative sea-level record of Ho Bugt does not contain a late Holocene highstand. Relative sea-level changes at Ho Bugt are controlled by glacio-isostatic subsidence and can be duplicated by a glacial isostatic adjustment model in which no water is added to the world's oceans after ca. 5000 cal yr BP.     

Reconstruction of late Quaternary sea-level change in southwestern British Columbia from sediments in isolation basins

Bracketing ages on marine—freshwater transitions in isolation basins extending from sea level to 100 m elevation on Lasqueti Island, and data from shallow marine cores and outcrops on eastern Vancouver Island, constrain late Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level change in the central Strait of Georgia. Relative sea level fell from 150 m elevation to about —15 m from 14000 cal. yr BP to 11 500 cal. yr BP. Basins at higher elevations exhibit abrupt changes in diatom assemblages at the marine-freshwater transition. At lower elevations an intervening brackish phase suggests slower rates of uplift. Relative sea level rose to about +1 m about 9000 cal. yr BP to 8500 cal. yr BP, and then slowly fell to the modern datum. The mean rate of glacio-isostatic rebound in the first millennium after deglaciation was about 0.11 in a ^-1, similar to the peak rate at the centres of the former Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice complexes. The latter feature smooth, exponential-style declines in sea level up to the present day, whereas in the study area the uplift rate dropped to less than one-tenth of its initial value in only about 2500 years. Slower, more deeply seated isostatic recovery generated residual uplift rates of <0.01 m a^-1 in the early Holocene after the late-Pleistocene wasting of the Cordilleran ice sheet.     

Holocene shore displacement and deglaciation chronology in Norrbotten, Sweden

The coastal zone of Norrbotten, northern Sweden, was gradually inundated by the Ancylus Lake following the retreating ice margin and forming a highest coastline approximately 210 m above the present sea level. The succeeding shore displacement is reconstructed based on lithological investigations and radiocarbon datings of identified isolation sequences from 12 cored lake basins. The highest lake basins, along with two basins above the highest shoreline, suggest ice-free conditions already at 10 500 cal. yr BP. This is at least 500 years earlier than previously thought and implies rapid ice-sheet break-up in the Gulf of Bothnia. The shore displacement (RSL) curve represents a forced regression of successively decreasing rate through the Holocene, from 9 m/100 yr to 0.8 m/100 yr. During the first 1000-1200 years, the isostatic uplift is exponentially declining, followed by a constant uplift rate from c. 9500 cal. yr BP to 5500-5000 cal. yr BP. The last 5000 years seem to be characterized by a low but constant rebound rate. The development of the Ancylus Lake stage of the Baltic may also be discerned in the Norrbotten RSL curve, suggesting that the chronology of the Ancylus Lake stages may have to be revised. The Littorina transgression is also reflected by the RSL curve shape. In addition, a series of early to mid-Holocene beach terraces were OSL-dated to allow for comparison with the ¹⁴C-dated shore displacement curve. Interpretations of these ages and their relation to former sea levels were clearly more problematic than the dating of the lake basin isolations.     

Late Quaternary history around Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden and Jøkelbugten, North-East Greenland

Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden in North-East Greenland is at present covered by a floating glacier. Raised marine deposits in the surrounding area contain shells of marine molluscs, bones of marine mammals and pieces of driftwood. A fairly systematic sampling of such material has been conducted, followed by extensive radiocarbon dating. We suggest that the Greenland ice sheet extended onto the shelf offshore North-East Greenland during isotope stage 2, perhaps even reaching the shelf break. During the subsequent recession of the ice sheet, the entrance of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden had become ice-free by 9.7 cal. ka BP. The recession culminated between 7.7 and 4.5 cal. ka BP, during which time the fjord was glacier-free along its entire 80 km length. No dates younger than 4.5 cal. ka BP are available on marine material from the fjord, and it seems probable that the fjord has been continuously covered by the floating glacier since this time. The maximum glaciation was attained around AD 1900, after which thinning and recession took place. The marine limit increases from c. 40 m above sea level near the present margin of the Inland Ice to c. 65 m above sea level at the outer coast. These figures fit into the regional pattern of the marine limit for areas both to the south and north. The marine fauna comprise two bivalves, Macoma calcarea and Serripes groenlandicus, that may represent a southern element present during the Holocene temperature optimum. Remains of three taxa of southern extralimital terrestrial and limnic plants were dated to 5.1 cal. ka BP, and remains of another extralimital plant were dated to 8.8 and 8.5 cal. ka BP. The known Holocene time ranges of the willow Salix arctica and the lemming Dicrostonyx torquatus have been extended back to 8.8 and 6.4 cal. ka BP, respectively, providing minimum dates for their immigration to Greenland.     

Holocene relative sea-level changes in the Qaqortoq area, southern Greenland

We present results from an investigation of relative sea-level changes in the Qaqortoq area in south Greenland from c. 11 000 cal. yr BP to the present. Isolation and transgression sequences from six lakes and two tidal basins have been identified using stratigraphical analyses, magnetic susceptibility, XRF and macrofossil analyses. Macrofossils and bulk sediments have been dated by AMS radiocarbon dating. Maximum and minimum altitudes for relative sea level are provided from two deglaciation and marine lagoon sequences. Initially, relative sea level fell rapidly and reached present-day level at ∼9000 cal. yr BP and continued falling until at least 8800 cal. yr BP. Between 8000 and 6000 cal. yr BP, sea level reached its lowest level of around 6-8 m below highest astronomical tide (h.a.t.). At around 3750 cal. yr BP, sea level has reached above 2.7 m below h.a.t. and continued to rise slowly, reaching the present-day level between ∼2000 cal. yr BP and the present. As in the Nanortalik area further south, initial isostatic rebound caused rapid isolation of low elevation basins in the Qaqortoq area. Distinct isolation contacts in the sediments are observed. The late Holocene transgression is less well defined and occurred over a longer time interval. The late Holocene sea-level rise implies reloading by advancing glaciers superimposed on the isostatic signal from the North American Ice Sheet. One consequence of this transgression is that settlements of Palaeo-Eskimo cultures from ∼4000 cal. yr BP may have been transgressed by the sea.     

Geological constraints on glacio-isostatic adjustment models of relative sea-level change during deglaciation of Prince Gustav Channel,Antarctic Peninsula

The recent disintegration of Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves, and the associated accelerated discharge and retreat of continental glaciers, has highlighted the necessity of quantifying the current rate of Antarctic ice mass loss and the regional contributions to future sea-level rise. Observations of present day ice mass change need to be corrected for ongoing glacial isostatic adjustment, a process which must be constrained by geological data. However, there are relatively little geological data on the geometry, volume and melt history of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS) after Termination 1, and during the Holocene so the glacial isostatic correction remains poorly constrained. To address this we provide field constraints on the timing and rate of APIS deglaciation, and changes in relative sea-level (RSL) for the north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula based on geomorphological evidence of former marine limits, and radiocarbon-dated marine-freshwater transitions from a series of isolation basins at different altitudes on Beak Island. Relative sea-level fell from a maximum of c. 15 m above present at c. 8000 cal yr BP, at a rate of 3.91 mm yr^?1 declining to c. 2.11 mm yr^?1 between c. 6900–2900 cal yr BP, 1.63 mm yr^?1 between c. 2900–1800 cal yr BP, and finally to 0.29 mm yr^?1 during the last c. 1800 years. The new Beak Island RSL curve improves the spatial coverage of RSL data in the Antarctic. It is in broad agreement with some glacio-isostatic adjustment models applied to this location, and with work undertaken elsewhere on the Antarctic Peninsula. These geological and RSL constraints from Beak Island imply significant thinning of the north-eastern APIS by the early Holocene. Further, they provide key data for the glacial isostatic correction required by satellite-derived gravity measurements of contemporary ice mass loss, which can be used to better assess the future contribution of the APIS to rising sea-levels.     

An early Holocene Greenland whale from Melville Bugt, Greenland

Radiocarbon age determination of a Greenland whale (Balaena mysticetus) vertebra from Melville Bugt in northwestern Greenland yields an age of 9259-8989 cal yr BP. The margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in Melville Bugt was situated behind its AD 1950-2000 position in the early Holocene, at a similar position to that being reached following rapid retreat in recent years. Such an early deglaciation of areas close to the Greenland Ice Sheet is unusual. This probably reflects the unique glaciological setting resulting from the narrow fringe of ice-free islands and peninsulas and offshore waters with deep areas that characterize this part of Greenland. The timing of Greenland Ice Sheet retreat to its present margin varies significantly around Greenland.     

Holocene environmental reconstruction from deltaic deposits in northeast Greenland

Terraces of different age in the Zackenberg delta, located at 74°N in northeast Greenland, have provided the opportunity for an interdisciplinary approach to the investigation of Holocene glacial, periglacial, pedological, biological and archaeological conditions that existed during and after delta deposition. The raised Zackenberg delta accumulated mainly during the Holocene Climatic Optimum, starting slightly prior to 9500 cal. yr BP (30 m a.s.l.) and continued until at least 6300 cal. yr BP (0.5 m a.s.l.). Evidence of sea‐level change is based on conventional ¹⁴C dates of shells from the marine delta bottomsets, ¹⁴C AMS dating of macroscopic plant material from the foresets and of fluvial deposits. Arthropod and plant remains from 7960 cal. yr BP in the delta foresets include the oldest evidence of the arctic hare in Greenland and evidence of a rich herb flora slightly different from the modern flora. Empetrum nigrum and Salix herbacea remains indicate a summer temperature at least as high as today during delta deposition. Post‐depositional nivation activity, dated by luminescence, lichenometry and Schmidt Hammer measurements indicate mainly late Holocene activity, at least since 2900 yr BP, including Little Ice Age (LIA) avalanche activity. Pedological analyses of fossil podsols in the Zackenberg delta, including ¹⁴C AMS dating of selected organic rich B‐horizons, show continued podsol development during the Holocene Climatic Optimum and into the subsequent colder period of the late Holocene, until 3000–2400 yr BP. A Neo‐Eskimo house ruin found on the lower part of the delta, presently being eroded by the sea, is dated to AD 1800. It presumably was abandoned prior to AD 1869, and suggests that some of the last Eskimos that lived in northeast Greenland might have occupied the Zackenberg delta. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Glacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet and a local ice cap in Qaanaaq,northwest Greenland

In this study, we present new information on the glacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and a local ice cap in Qaanaaq, northwest Greenland. We use geomorphological mapping, ¹⁰Be exposure dating of boulders, analysis of lake cores, and ¹⁴C dating of reworked marine molluscs and subfossil plants to constrain the glacial history. Our ¹⁴C ages of reworked marine molluscs reveal that the ice extent in the area was at or behind its present‐day position from 42.2 ± 0.4 to 30.6 ± 0.3k cal a BP after which the GrIS expanded to its maximum position during the Last Glacial Maximum. We find evidence of early ice retreat in the deep fjord (Inglefield Bredning) at 11.9 ± 0.6 ka whereas the Taserssuit Valley was deglaciated ~4 ka later at 7.8 ± 0.1k cal a BP. A proglacial lake record suggests that the local ice cap survived the Holocene Thermal Maximum but moss kill‐dates reveal that it was smaller than present for a period of time before 3.3 ± 0.1k until 0.9 ± 0.1k cal a BP, following which the ice in the area expanded towards its Little Ice Age extent. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.