Late Quaternary glacial and environmental history of Kongsøya, Svalbard |
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| Authors: | ÓLAFUR INGÓLFSSON FINNBOGI RÖGNVALDSSON HELENE BERGSTEN LARS HEDENÄS GEOFFREY LEMDAHL JUAN M LIRIO HANS PETTER SEJRUP |
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| Institution: | Earth Sciences Centre, University of Goteborg, Guldhedsgatan 5a, S-413 81 Goteborg, Sweden;Fjölbraularskóli Vesturlands, Is-300Akranes, Iceland;Department of Cryptogamic Botany, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Quaternary Geology. Lund University, Tornavägen 13, S-223 63 Lund, Sweden;Instituto Antartico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, 1010 Buenos Aires, Capital, Argentina;Geological Institute, University of Bergen, Allégl. 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway. |
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| Abstract: | On western Kongsøya, Svalbard, three coarsening-upwards sequences of marine to littoral sediments, separated by tills, are recognised in sections at ca 50-92 m above present sea level. These sequences show major glaciations in the northern Barents Sea, resulting in substantial glacioisostatic downpressing of Kongsøya. Till fabrics indicate ice movements controlled by the local topography, while glaciotectonic deformations suggest that ice moved from an ice divide northeast of Kongsøya. independent of the local topography. The stratigraphical evidences show two pre-Holocene ice-free periods, when the climate was similar to or slightly warmer than at present. The age of these periods is not clear. It is suggested that the elder ice free interval is older than isotope stage 5e. The younger ice free interval could be of Eemian or Early Weichselian age. The uppermost succession of sublittoral-littoral sediments is of early Holocene age. It relates to the high (≥100 m) postglacial marine limit, dated to approximately 10,000 bp. |
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