Radiocarbon-dating of transitions between marine and lacustrine sediments and their relation to the development of lakes

In three different areas in western Norway, large errors are obtained in the radiocarbon dates from lacustrine sediments close to marine/lacustrine sediment boundaries. Differences occur between radiocar-bon and pollenanalytic dates and between dates at isolation/ingression contacts for lakes of the same altitude above the present sea level. Younger radiocarbon dates are also obtained below older ones in undisturbed sediments. When divergent dates occur, the radiocarbon dates always seem to be the youngest. Large differences are also found between NaOH soluble and insoluble fractions of the same sediment samples. Insoluble fractions generally yield younger dates than the soluble. Differences are not found, however, for dates younger than about 8,000 B.P. The dating errors are connected to periods with more oligotrophic conditions with isoetides. Their roots penetrate older sediments. Due to contamination of the organic part of the sediment from partly decomposed roots, some radiocarbon dates will be too young. The isoetide vegetation and the dating errors disappear when the lakes become dystrophic.     

Modelling Diverse Processes in the Petrogenesis of a Composite Batholith: the Central Bohemian Pluton, Central European Hercynides

The multiple intrusions making up the Central Bohemian Plutonin the Central European Hercynides have petrographic and geochemicalfeatures consistent with the presence of four main granitoidsuites. Major-element, trace-element and Sr–Nd isotopiccompositions are used to model their petrogenesis. Partial meltingof metabasic rocks or of a CHUR-like mantle source are interpretedto have produced melts parental to the most primitive calc-alkalineSázava suite. Interaction of basic with more acidic magmasfollowed by extensive amphibole–plagioclase-dominatedfractionation accounts for the production of trondhjemites.Alternatively, the trondhjemites correspond to small-degreemelts of a metabasic source. AFC (assimilation–fractionalcrystallization) modelling with a paragneiss as a contaminantand increasing D_Nd values simulates the characteristics of theBlatná suite. Closed-system fractionation of stronglyenriched mantle-derived magmas or their interaction with leucograniticmelts is deduced for the petrogenesis of the shoshonitic     

The Storegga tsunami along the Norwegian coast, its age and run up

The statigraphy in 25 coastal lakes shows that most of the Norwegian coastline was impacted by a large tsunami about 7200 ¹⁴C BP. The methodology has been to core a staircase of lake basins above the contemporary sea level in several areas and to map the tsunami deposit to its maximum elevation. The tsunami was identified in the sedimentary record as an erosional unconformity overlain by graded or massive sand with shell fragments, followed by redeposited organic detritus. The greatest recorded runup along the coast (10–11 m above high tide) is found in areas most proximal to the Storegga slide scar on the Norwegian continental slope (Sunnmøre). To the north and south, runup is less, about 6–7 m at Bjugn (250 km north of Sunnmøre) and about 3–5 m in Austrheim (200 km to the south of Sunnmerre). This runup pattern supports the suggestion that the tsunami was generated by the Second Storegga Slide. The recorded runup heights are consistent within and between the investigated areas, and imply that the tsunami wave was not significantly influenced by the local topography, suggesting a very long wave length. The mapped runup estimates are in good agreement with a numerical model of the tsunami generated by the Second Storegga slide, and indicate that the slide was a single major event rather than a set of smaller slides.     

Hydrographic changes in the southern Kattegat (Scandinavia) during the early Holocene transgression

Detailed sedimentological, micropalaeontological, mineralogical and geochemical investigations as well as ¹⁴C datings were carried out on a core from the southern part of the Kattegat Sea. According to the micropalaeontological interpretations, sea level rose by approximately 20 m in the period c. 9610 BP to 8200 BP. The core therefore provides evidence of the hydrographical conditions in the southern Kattegat during the early Holocene transgression. In the sediment there is geochemical evidence of strong stratification in the water column possibly related to inflow of saline water around 9080 BP. After the sediments dated to 8200 BP there is a hiatus followed by very young (<300 BP?) sediments. It is suggested that this hiatus might be associated with the opening of the Danish Straits.     

Holocene shore displacement and shorelines in Hordaland, western Norway

A new shore displacement curve from Fonnes, ca. 50 km NW of Bergen, and a revised curve from Bømlo, ca. 80 km S of Bergen, are presented, based on pollen and phytoplankton analysis of organic sediments in present and ancient lake basins. The transitions between marine and lacustrine sediments have been radiocarbon-dated. The Fonnes and Bømlo curves are closely related and show a rapid regression between 10,000 and 8,700 years B.P., from 30 m above sea level to ca. 4 m above sea level. A transgression took place between 8,500 and 7,200 years B.P. when the shore level rose to ca. 11 m above sea level. Between 7,200 and 6,000 years B.P. the shore level was almost constant, before a slow regression took place. The earlier interpretation of the Tapes transgression including two shore level oscillations at Bømlo is rejected. A method is presented for constructing an equidistant shoreline diagram on the basis of three radiocarbon-dated shore displacement curves from three areas arranged in a triangle (Fonnes, Sotra, Ostereidet). When followed along the projection plane, a working model of the shore displacement curve from Fonnes and an approximation of the change in shoreline gradient during the Holocene indicate that the transgression maximum is metachronous.