Morphology of Younger Dryas subglacial and ice-proximal submarine landforms, inner Vestfjorden, northern Norway

The sea-floor morphology of two pronounced across-fjord bedrock thresholds located at the mouths of Ofotfjorden and Tysfjorden, northern Norway, has been analysed based on swath bathymetry and seismic data. The Younger Dryas ice front was located here during the recession of one of the large palaeo-ice streams of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The thresholds are several kilometres long and wide, rising to several hundred metres above the adjacent sea floor, and the slopes are steep, up to 25°. The Ofotfjorden threshold is draped by acoustically discontinuous to chaotic sediments partly infilling the bedrock relief. A pattern of well-developed, subglacial bedforms (e.g. crag-and-tail formations, drumlins and glacial lineations) on top of both thresholds suggests fast-flowing ice. A series of smaller transverse ridges is identified on both thresholds and probably records ice-front oscillations during the final deglaciation. The distal parts of the sediments have been remobilized by slides that occurred after glacial retreat from the thresholds. Earthquake activity due to the isostatic rebound following ice retreat from this area was the most likely triggering mechanism for the slides. The location of the ice front on a prominent bedrock threshold indicates that the basin configuration was important in locating the maximum position of the climatically induced re-advance, i.e. a topographic control on the maximum Younger Dryas position in the Ofotfjorden and Tysfjorden area is suggested.     

Magnetic mineralogy of the sediments in Lake Ådran, eastern Sweden, and an interpretation of early Holocene water level changes

A number of magnetic parameters have been measured on samples from a master sequence in Lake Adran, eastern Sweden. Based on the results, frequency dependent magnetic susceptibility, high isothermal rem-anence magnetization and different magnetic ratios have been calculated. The results from the master sequence have also been compared with magnetically analysed soil samples from the lake catchment. The results of the magnetic analyses show that the sediments in Lake Ådran originate from two sources, one regional and one local. The different sources can be related to water level changes during the Ancylus and Litorina stages. Sediments originating from the regional source are characterized by high ferrimagnetic to antiferromagnetic ratios (high S-ratios) and are assumed to have been deposited when the water level was well above the threshold. Sediments derived from the catchment, having lower S-ratios, are assumed to have been deposited when the basin was cut off from the regional water circulation. On the basis of the magnetic results, combined with pollen and diatom analyses, tentative water level changes for the Lake Adran basin are compiled.     

Infrared stimulated luminescence dating of an Eemian (MIS 5e) site in Denmark using K‐feldspar

Buylaert, J.‐P., Huot, S., Murray, A.S. & Van den haute, P.: Infrared stimulated luminescence dating of an Eemian (MIS 5e) site in Denmark using K‐feldspar. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00156.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of K‐feldspars may be an alternative to quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating when the quartz OSL signal is too close to saturation or when the quartz luminescence characteristics are unsuitable. In this paper, Eemian (MIS 5e) coastal marine sands exposed in a cliff section on the coast of southern Jutland (Denmark) are used to test the accuracy and precision of IRSL dating using K‐feldspars. This material has been used previously to test quartz OSL dating ( Murray & Funder 2003 ): a small systematic underestimation of <10% compared to the expected age of ～130 ka was reported. In our study, a single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose (SAR) IRSL protocol is used to determine values of equivalent dose (D_e) and the corresponding fading rates (g values). A significant age underestimation (of up to ～35%) is observed; this is attributed to anomalous fading. Using a single site‐average fading rate of 3.66 ± 0.09%/decade to correct the IRSL ages for all samples provides good agreement between the average fading‐corrected K‐feldspar age (119 ± 6 ka) and the independent age control (132–125 ka). This is despite the reservations of Huntley & Lamothe (2001) that their fading correction method is not expected to work on samples older than ～20–50 ka. This fading‐corrected feldspar result is not significantly different from the overall revised quartz age (114 ± 7 ka) also presented here. We conclude that fading‐corrected IRSL ages measured using K‐feldspar may be both precise and accurate over a greater age range than might be otherwise expected.     

Palaeohydrology and global continental changes - panta rhei?

Branson, J., Brown, A. G. & Gregory, K. J. (cds.) 1996: Glubai Continental Changes: The Context of Palaeohydrology     

Weichselian in Sweden before 15,000 B.P.

A brief summary is given of the present state of knowledge about the Weichselian glaciations and interstadials in sweden. The following stages are discussed: (1) The first Weichselian glaciation (W1). This glaciation has not been identified. Probably only northern Sweden was ice-covered. (2) The Jämtland Interstadial , dated at > 50,000 B.P. and correlated with the Finnish Peräpohjola and the Danish Brörup Interstadials. - (3) The second Weichselian glaciation (W II). There are several uncertainteis concerning this glaciation. Sweden was probably ice-covered down to the latitude of Stockholm. – (4) A Middle Weichsedlian interstadial , or complex of interstadials. Some radiocarbon dates indicate, although very uncertain, that most of Sweden may have been free of ice some time rather well known. – Some main problems which have to be investigated are also identified.     

Genesis of the Woodstock drumlin field, southern Ontario, Canada

The Woodstock drumlin field was formed about 15,000 years ago during the Port Bruce Stadial of the Late Wisconsinan. It consists of three sections, each composed of texturally different till sheets (Tavistock A, B and C Tills) deposited during marginal oscillations of the Huron ice lobe advancing from the Lake Huron depression. A statistically significant relation between till texture and drumlin morphometry has been determined. Features composed of clayey-silt Tavistock A Till are smaller and more elongate than those built up of sandy-silt Tavistock C Till, which reflects a different susceptibility of the drumlin deposits to the moulding action of the glacier. Based on the field data it is suggested that the drumlinizing glacier was temperate all the way up to its margin and basal sliding occurred also at its outermost peripheries. In the drumlin region immediately behind end moraines the shear strength/shear stress ratio was around I and increased progressively in the upstream direction. In the proposed mechanism of drumlin formation the key factor is pore water dissipation (1) through the permeable substratum and (2) into dilatantly expanding granular deposits, both resulting in the necessary increase of the basal till strength.     

Glacial history of western Norway 15,000–10,000 B.P.

The deglaciation patterns of the Bergen and Nordfjord-Sunnmøre areas in western Norway are described and correlated. In the Bergen area the coast was first deglaciated at 12,600 B.P., with a succeeding re-advance into the North Sea around 12,200 B.P. Later, during the Allerød, the inland ice retreated at least 50 km, but nearly reached the sea again during the Younger Dryas re-advance, ending at 10,000 B.P. Sunnmøre was ice-free during an interstadial 28,000–38,000 B.P. Later the inland ice reached the sea. The final deglaciation is poorly dated in Sunnmøre, while further south in Nordfjord, it started slightly before 12,300 B.P., followed by a major retreat. No large re-advance of the inland ice occurred during the Younger Dryas. However, in the Sunnmøre-Nordfjord area many local glaciers formed outside the inland ice during the Younger Dryas. Limnic sediments outside one such cirque glacier have been cored and dated, proving that the glacier did not exist at 12,300-11,000 B.P., and that it was formed and disappeared in the time interval 11,000–10,000 B.P. (Younger Dryas). The erosion rate of the cirque glacier was 0.9 mm/year.