A prediction of minimum age for the Weichselian maximum glaciation in North Iceland

The Weichselian glaciation in Norht lceland is locally divided into three main stages:(1) The maximum stage, when North Iceland was ice-covered northwards to the island of Grimsey; (2) the ice-lake stage, when a series of ice-dammed lakes were formed in Fijóskadalur; and (3) the Langhöll Stadial, ¹⁴C age about 10,000 B.P., an advance restricted to the valleys on both sides of Eyjafjördur, after the final emptying of the youngest lake in Fnjöskadalur, By combining changes in strandine gradients with time, an age of about 20,700 B.P. for the oldest ice-dammed lake is predicted. As this a ge is greater than the assumed age, 18,000 B.P., of the maximum extent of the Weichselian glaciation, it is unlikely that the maximum occurred at that time. Possibly, the maximum extent of the Weichselian glaciation in North lceland took place concurrenly with some of the early s tadials that have been identified in Arctic Canada, in East Greenland and on Svalbard.