Soil Formation on the Peninsula Tugtuligssuaq,Melville Bay,North West Greenland

Jakobsen, Bjarne Holm: Soil Formation on the Peninsula Tugtuligssuaq, Melville Bay, North West Greenland. Geografisk Tidsskrift 88:86–93 Copenhagen, 1988

The geography of soils has been studied on the peninsula Tugtuligssuaq. Melville Bay. N. W. Greenland. Soil formation and pedogenesis in relation to soil age and paleoclimate are discussed.     

西格陵兰Disko湾表层沉积硅藻组合研究

本文分析了西格陵兰Disko湾的表层沉积物硅藻,发现并统计了分属于39个属的78个硅藻种及其变种。应用对应分析方法,对Disko湾表层沉积硅藻组合进行了分类:组合Ⅰ为Fragilariopsis cylindrus-Fragilariopsis oceanica组合,主要分布在西格陵兰Disko湾南部的近岸和外海处;组合Ⅱ为Detonula confervaceae休眠孢子-Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii组合,都分布在Dis-ko湾北部海域。其中,根据海流等环境要素的不同,组合Ⅰ又可进一步划分为两个亚区:组合Ⅰa为F.cylindrus-F.oceanica-Pauliella taeniata组合,主要分布于沿岸海区;组合Ⅰb为F.cy-lindrus-F.oceanica-Thalassiosira antarcticavar.borealis休眠孢子-Thalassiosiracf.antarcticavar.borealis组合,分布于外海区域。     

Bottom sediments in Ho Bugt—a wadden sea environment

Pejrup, Morten: Bottom sediments in Ho Bugt—a wadden sea environment. Geografisk Tidsskrift 81: 11–16, Copenhagen, June 1981.

Twenty eight samples of bottom sediment from Ho Bugt, located at the west coast of Jutland, have been anlysed, and the variations within the fine and the coarse fractions described in detail. A method for classifying estuarine- and wadden-sea sediments is presented. The classification together with special characteristics found for the coarse fraction is used as a basis for a sediment chart for the northern part of Ho Bugt.     

Holocene talus accumulation rates,—and their influence on rock glacier growth. A case study from Igpik,Disko—West Greenland

Frich, Povl and Brandt, Erik: Holocene talus accumulation rates,—and their influence on rock glacier growth. A case study from Igpik, Disko—West Greenland. Geografisk Tidsskrift 85: 32–44 Copenhagen, October 1985.

The Igpik area is located ten km east of Godhavn on the south-coast of the island Disko. Geologically the area is dominated by Tertiary basalt formations.

A general geomorphological classification of this area, which covers approximately three square kms, has been made. Based on radiocarbon ages of former marine levels in the Disko Bugt area, the beginning of talus accumulation has been determined for two talus cones situated on raised beaches. They have ages of 5800 and 7900 ¹⁴C y. B.P. Using theodolite readings, the volumes of three different talus cones have been determined and two average talus accumulation rates have been calculated for the cones located on raised beaches. These values are transformed into an average Holocene rockwall retreat rate of 0.0005 and 0.0015 m/year, respectively. The total volume of two lobate rock glaciers is calculated to be 2.2 mill, cu.m and as they are located inside 9000 years old local moraines, the average Holocene mass-transfer through the third talus cone has been estimated to 1.4 10⁶ tons×m/sq.km/y. Finally the results are discussed, with reference to other areas, and as a possible threshhold for the initiation of rock glaciers.     

Preliminary Studies of Soils in North-East Greenland between 74° and 75° Northern Latitude

Jakobsen, Bjarne Holm: Preliminary Studies of Soils in North- East Greenland between 74° and 75° Northern Latitude. Geografisk Tidsskrift 92:111–115. Copenhagen 1992.

The geography of soils has been studied in north-east Greenland between latitudes 74° and 75° N. The study ranges from the outer coast to the interior of the ice-free land area. Well-drained soils show a characteristic sequence determined by the east-west climatic gradient. Fossil soil characteristics and secondary formed features supply information on the palaeoclimate.     

Re-exposed basement landforms in the Disko region, West Greenland — disregarded data for estimation of glacial erosion and uplift modelling

Classifications of large-scale landscapes in Greenland have traditionally been based on type and intensity of glacial erosion, with the general idea that present landforms are mainly the result of erosion from ice sheets and glaciers. However, on southern Disko and in areas offshore in Disko Bugt, a basement surface has preserved remnants of weathered gneiss and pre-Paleocene landforms, recently exhumed from Paleocene basalt. Isolated hills and lineaments have been mapped in a digital terrain model and aerial photographs. Offshore have hills been mapped from seismic lines. The medium size bedrock forms on southern Disko as tors, clefts and roche moutonées have been studied in the field. Remnant saprolites were inventoried, sampled and analysed according to grain size and clay mineralogy. The basement surface retains saprolites up to 8 m thick in close relation to the cover rocks. The landforms in the basement rocks belong essentially to an etched surface only slightly remodelled by glacial erosion and, below the highest coastline, also by wave action. The outline of hills is governed by two lineament directions, ENE–WSW representing the schistocity of the gneiss and NW–SE fracture zones. These structures are thus interpreted to have been exploited by the deep weathering while the frequent N–S lineaments have not and thus might be younger. Main ice-flow has been from the NE and has resulted in plucking of SW facing lee sides, however the resulting bedrock forms are mainly controlled by structures and orientation of joints. The identification of re-exposed sub-Paleocene etch forms on Disko and the hills of similar size offshore, forming a hilly relief, have implications for identification of a hilly relief south of Disko Bugt, its relation to younger planation surfaces as well as for conclusions of uplift events.     

Ancient Eskimo dwelling sites and Holocene relative sea-level changes in southern Disko Bugt, central West Greenland

A coordinated geological-archaeological investigation has been carried out in southern Disko Bugt with the primary purpose of elucidating Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) changes. Two RSL curves representing the Early-Middle Holocene emergence of respectively southeastern and southwestern Disko Bugt have been constructed. Elevations of paleo-Eskimo sites of different ages have been surveyed and supplemented with similar elevations compiled from the literature. Detailed investigations have been carried out at two partly submerged Dorset I sites. At both sites, the stratigraphy of the foreshore has been recorded in terrain profiles.
It is concluded that the RSL history of southern Disko Bugt was one of steady emergence during Early-Middle Holocene followed by submergence in Late Holocene. The stratigraphy of the foreshore at the two Dorset I sites indicates that RSL has been at least 2-2.5 m below sea-level, and that the Transgression to present sea-level started after ca 1 ka B.P.     

A Compilation of Radiocarbon Dates from Disko Bugt,Central West Greenland/Meteorological Observations in 1996 at the Arctic Station,Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Central West Greenland/A Discussion on Pingos in Mellemfjord,Disko, Central West Greenland/Open System Pingos in Mellemfjord,Disko, Central West Greenland: A Reply to Gurney and Worsley

188 new and previously published radiocarbon dates on Holocene material from Disko Bugt, central West Greenland, are presented together with relevant informations (laboratory number, place name, dated material, geografic coordinates, altitude and δ¹³C-value) about the dates.

In October 1990 an automatic weather station was established at the Arctic station (65 °15′N,53 °31′W), Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Central West Greenland. The Station register parameters each 20 min., and the parameters have been described in an earlier paper in this journal by Nielsen et al. (1995). The present paper summarises main points of the climate during 1996.

Open system, or more correctly, hydraulic pingos, are genetically poorly understood. A continuing problem concerns their need for a perennial groundwater supply (intra- or sub-permafrost). This has to be maintained despite the existence of continuous permafrost in many areas where they are located. Recent work on Disko Island has suggested a new type of hydraulic pingo developing only in a “marsh environment”. It is argued that the marsh setting is not relevant to the formation of these features and that they are simply hydraulic pingos.

Abstract

A group of marsh initiated open system pingo remnants from the Iterdlagssûp kûgssua valley mouth, in Mellemfjord, Disko Island, Central West Greenland was described in Christiansen (1995). Gurney and Worsley (1997) state that the location of this group of pingo remnants in the Iterdlagssûp kûgssua valley mouth is of no relevance to their genesis, and that they presumably were the result of an assumed late Holocene sea level regression, causing permafrost to be established in the valley bottom. In this reply the arguments by Gurney and Worsley (1997) on the Iterdlagssûp kûgssua valley pingos are commented, and it is argued by way of sea level information, frost penetration and water supply that the special setting must indeed have caused pingo initiation and growth. Furthermore, the area has experienced a relative sea level rise during the late Holocene.     

Palaeomagnetism of middle Proterozoic (c. 1.25 Ga) dykes from central North Greenland

From a nunatak in central North Greenland (81.5°N, 44.7°W) nine sites of Middle Proterozoic basic dykes, cutting Archaean basement, were palaeomagnetically investigated. After AF and thermal cleaning the nine dyke sites and three adjacently baked gneiss sites give a stable characteristic remanent mean direction of D = 265°, I = 21.5° ( N = 12, α ₉₅= 5.6°), the direction being confirmed by a detailed and positive baked contact test.
The polarity of the dykes in the nunatak area is opposite to that of the Zig-Zag Dal Basalts and the Midsommersø Dolerites in eastern North Greenland some 200–300 km away, the volcanics of which are assumed to be of similar age (about 1.25 Ga). The remanent directions of the two sets of data are antiparallel within the 95 per cent significance level of confidence.
When rotating Greenland 18° clockwise back to North America by the 'Bullard fit', the pole of the central North Greenland dolerites (NDL) falls at (14.3°N, 144.3°W). The reversed pole (14.3°S, 35.7°E) fits well on to the loop between 1.2 and 1.4 Ma on the apparent polar wander swath of Berger & York for cratonic North America.
The palaeomagnetic results from the Middle Proterozoic basic dykes from central North Greenland thus strengthen previous palaeomagnetic results from the Midsommersø Dolerites and Zig-Zag Dal Basalts from the Peary Land Region in eastern North Greenland, suggesting that Greenland was part of the North American craton at least for the period between c . 1.3 and 1 Ma (and probably up to the end of Cretaceous time). The major geographical meridian of Greenland was orientated approximately E–W, and the palaeo-latitude of Greenland was about 10°–15°.     

Sediment Transport in a Proglacial Valley,Sermilik, East Greenland

Hasholt, Bent: Sediment Transport in a Proglacial Valley, Sermilik, East Greenland, Geografisk Tidsskrift 92:105–110, Copenhagen 1992.

Detailed investigations of sediment transport have been carried out in a proglacial valley at the Mitdluagkat Glacier in East Greenland. The results from 1989, 1990 and 1991 have been compared with earlier measurements of sediment transport. The hydrologie regime will be described and the effect of the development of an icing on the fluvial transport will be discussed.     

Satellite Monitoring of the Biomass Production in Southern Greenland

Birger Ulf Hansen: Satellite Monitoring of the Biomass Production in Southern Greenland. Geografisk Tidsskrift 88:94–99. Copenhagen, 1988.

Based on satellite data from Southern Greenland the application of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for monitoring biomass production has been evaluated. Field measurements of spectral reflectance data are quantitatively correlated with clipped samples of total above-ground biomass production. The relation between NDVI measured on the ground and biomass production is discussed. The seasonal and geographical variation in NDVI is correlated with the climate and water balance. The potential production is estimated as the product of mean NDVI and the length of the growing season. The results suggest that operational satellite monitoring of NDVI provides valuable assistance in agricultural management and forward planning of the potential breeding capacity in an arctic/subarctic environment.     

A REVIEW OF LICHEN GROWTH AND APPLIED LICHENOMETRY IN SOUTHWEST AND SOUTHEAST GREENLAND

This paper presents a critical review of previous lichenometric and lichen growth studies in southern parts of West and East Greenland. These studies include classic work from around Søndre Strømfjord, Sukkertoppen, Sermilik and Angmagssalik. Particular emphasis is placed on those studies examining the role played by climatic continentality on the growth rate of crustose lichens in Greenland. The latter part of the paper presents new data on lichen growth rates from Sermilik, between 2001 and 2006, in 22 different lichen species. Measurements show that different species grow at different rates and growth rates vary from site to site. In this study Rhizocarpon geographicum generally grows slowly (<0.2 mm a⁻¹) while other species such as Pseudephebe minuscula grow more rapidly (1.0 mm a⁻¹) in the same environment. Comparison with other studies shows that taxa-specific growth rates are slightly greater in West than in East Greenland – probably as a result of the slightly more favourable climate and higher precipitation levels. It is suggested that recent climate change, most marked in southern Greenland, will probably result in changed growth curves (over time) for species such as Rhizocarpon geographicum . However, only more precise growth curves and lichenometric dating curves can demonstrate such a phenomenon.     

基于FY-3的格陵兰岛冰盖表面冻融探测方法研究

格陵兰岛的冰盖对全球气候有着极为重要的意义,冰盖的冻融情况可直观展示北极地区的气候变化状况。利用我国FY-3气象卫星的微波成像仪(Microwave Radiation Imager,MWRI)数据,基于增加干湿雪差异性的交叉极化比率(Cross-Polarized Gradient Ratio,XPGR)算法,通过支持向量机(Support Vector Machine,SVM)的超平面进行格陵兰岛冰盖表面冻融探测,与已有的阈值方法相比,理论上精度较高。与微波辐射计(Special Sensor Microwave Image,SSM/I)(阈值为–0.025)的数据结果进行对比验证,结果表明:XPGR结合SVM的格陵兰岛冰盖表面冻融探测方法是可行的。     

Holocene palaeoecology of southwest Greenland inferred from macrofossils in sediments of an oligosaline lake

We retrieved a lake sediment record from an oligosaline, meromictic lake in southwest Greenland. The record spans the last 8,200 cal. years and was radiocarbon dated and analysed for macroscopic remains of plants and animals. The record extends the known history of several invertebrate species back in time, and provides minimum ages for their immigration to Greenland after the last deglaciation. Shells of the ostracod Ilyocypris bradyi were found in sediments dated to the time interval c. 7,000–6,500 cal. years BP. Shells of this species were found previously in a nearby oligosaline lake, where its occurrence was dated to about the same short time interval. The species is a thermophilous, non-arctic taxon that is absent from the present day Greenland fauna, and we suggest that its former occurrence in west Greenland marks the peak of the Holocene thermal maximum. This is in agreement with other records from Greenland.     

Hydrographic conditions in the Fram Strait, summer 1982

Hydrographic (CTD) observations obtained with R/V'Lance'in July-August 1982 across the Fram Strait are presented. The extent and the presence of traditional water masses such as Atlantic Water, Polar Water and Greenland Sea Deep Water are discussed. The complicated hydrographical structure in the upper water masses due to eddies and fronts near the ice edge is noted. An intermediate water mass characterized by a salinity minimum is found all across the Strait, and is suggested to originate in the Greenland Sea. The deep water in the south-west part of the Strait shows strong horizontal salinity and temperature gradients, and the structure of the corresponding station profiles indicates large hydrographical activity. This is in contrast to the east-north-east part, where the horizontal gradients are much weaker and the profiles much smoother. Thus most of the deep-and bottom-water communication between the Greenland/ Norwegian Seas and the Arctic Ocean seems to take place west of the 0° meridian.     

Total mercury in hair of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from Greenland and Svalbard

Concentrations (ppm = ug/g dry weight) of total mercury (Hg) were determined in hair of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus) from northwestern Greenland (N = 22; period of sampling: 1978-1989), eastern Greenland (N = 44: 1984-1989) and Svalbard (N = 31; 1980). For subadults (2-6 years of life), adults (7-10 years). and old bears (>10 years), concentrations of total Hg in hair were not found to be dependent on age or sex. A decreasing trend in Hg concentrations was found from west to east. The mean concentrations of total Hg in hair (cubs of the year and yearlings excluded) were: northwestern Greenland, x = 8.38 ppm (min.-max.: 4.71-14.19 ppm. N = 21); eastern Greenland: x = 4.58 ppm (min.-max.: 2.50-8.83 ppm. N = 41); and Svalbard, x = 1.98 ppm (min.-max.: 1.02-4.55 ppm, N = 29). Concentrations found in northwestern Greenland were similar to those reported by others from the hair of polar bears sampled within management zone F of the eastern Canadian High Arctic. Concentrations of total Hg in polar bear hair from eastern Greenland were similar to concentrations found by others in contemporary (1988) material collected during spring in western Svalbard. However, the mean concentration of total Hg in the 1980 Svalbard material, which was collected during July-September, was significantly lower than concentrations found in samples taken during late winter and spring in eastern Greenland and at Svalbard, respectively. Presumably the relatively low concentrations found in the 1980 Svalbard sample arc attributable to the period of moult and hence a larger proportion of newly grown hair in the individual samples. In a subsample consisting of internal tissues from 19 polar bears from eastern Greenland (1984-1987), concentrations of total Hg in hair correlated positively with concentrations of total Hg (wet weight) in muscle (N = 6), liver (N = 19) and kidney (N = 19) tissue. For liver and kidney tissue these relationships were statistically significant.     

HOLOCENE CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN THE DENMARK STRAIT REGION - A LAND-SEA CORRELATION OF NEW AND EXISTING CLIMATE PROXY RECORDS

ABSTRACT. Two well dated Holocene sediment records bordering the Denmark Strait region have been used to reconstruct past climate variability. The content of biogenic silica, classic and organic material and moss in a lacustrine record from Lake N14 has been used to infer past variability in precipitation and temperature in southern Greenland. Sedimentologic and petrologic composition of sand in a shelf sediment record from the Djúpáll trough is used to infer past variability in the northwestern storm activity on northwestern Iceland, which probably also affected the inflow of polar waters from the East Greenland Current. Our evaluation of these records with a number of previous studies from the region documents Holocene climatic optimum conditions peaking between 8000 and 6500 calendar years before present (cal yr BP). Mid-Holocene climate deterioration set in around 5000 cal yr BP followed by a further marked setback around 3500 cal yr BP. A stacking of climate variability on a centennial timescale from previous studies in the area shows a fairly good correspondence to the timing of marked cold and warm events as evidenced from the Lake N14 and the Djúpáll trough records. Cooler periods are explained as the response to marked incursions of ice-laden polar water from the Arctic Ocean to the Denmark Strait region. Cool northerly and northwesterly winds along the East Greenland coast in relation to frequent strong atmospheric low pressure in the Barents Sea, coupled with strong high pressure over Greenland, would have favoured southward export of polar waters. A comparison with the proxy records of nuclide production (¹⁴C and ¹⁰Be) suggests that solar activity may have had some influence on the atmospheric pressure distribution in the Denmark Strait region.     

COSMOGENIC 10BE-AGES FROM THE STORE KOLDEWEY ISLAND, NE GREENLAND

Earlier work in northeast Greenland has suggested a limited advance of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, this concept has recently been challenged by marine geological studies, indicating grounded ice on the continental shelf at this time. New ¹⁰Be‐ages from the Store Koldewey island, northeast Greenland, suggest that unscoured mountain plateaus at the outer coast were covered at least partly by cold‐based ice during the LGM. It is, however, still inconclusive whether this ice was dynamically connected to the Greenland Ice Sheet or not. Regardless of the LGM ice sheet extent, the ¹⁰Be results from Store Koldewey add to a growing body of evidence suggesting considerable antiquity of crystalline unscoured terrain near present and Pleistocene ice sheet margins.     

Palaeomagnetism of the Proterozoic Zig-Zag Dal Basalt and the Midsommersø Dolerites, eastern North Greenland

Summary. Palaeomagnetic investigations are reported from 24 sites in the Proterozoic Zig-Zag Dal Basalt Formation and 12 sites in the Midsominersø Dolerites of eastern North Greenland. The Zig-Zag Dal Basalt is a typical tholeiitic flood basalt sequence, and dolerite intrusions in the underlying sandstones are thought to be genetically related to the basalts.
After a detailed AF demagnetization programme 19 sites in the basalts and 10 sites in the dolerites reveal one stable component of magnetization, probably of TRM and/or CRM origin residing in small single domain titano-magnetite grains. The degree of anisotropy has not affected the direction of the remanent magnetization. The maximum axis of the anisotropy ellipsoid is parallel to the flow direction of the magma, whereas the minimum axis is perpendicular to the flow plane.
Only one polarity of the geomagnetic field was found. The mean palaeomagnetic pole positions for the two rock types are not significantly different (basalt: 12.2°S, 62.8°E with A ₉₅= 3.8°; dolerites: 6.9°S, 62.0°E with A ₉₅ = 5.1°). After correction for Phanerozoic drift of Greenland the two mean poles compare closely to a relevant North American APW-curve for 1250–1350 Ma, in good agreement with Rb-Sr isochron ages of 1250 Ma obtained for the intrusives. The palaeogeographical position of Greenland was near equator with the major geographical axis orientated E-W.