Glacial history and marine environmental change during the last interglacial‐glacial cycle, western Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Superimposed glacial and marine sediment exposed in coastal cliffs on Broggerhalvoya, west Spitsbergen, contain four emergence cycles (episodes D, C, B, and A) that are related to glacial-isostatic depression and subsequent recovery of the crust. Tills are found in episodes C and B; in each case glaciation began with an advance of local glaciers, followed by regional glaciation. The marine transgression following episode C deglaciation reached 70 to 80 m above sea level. Glacial-marine and sublittoral sands within episode C contain a diverse and abundant microfauna requiring marine conditions more favorable than during the Holocene. We define this interval as the Leinstranda Interglacial. Based on the fauna, sedimentology and geochronology (radiocarbon, amino acid racemization, and uranium-series disequilibrium) we conclude that the Leinstranda Interglacial occurred during isotope substage 5e. Episode B deglaciation occurred late in isotope stage 5 (c. 70 ± 10 ka ago), and was followed by a marine transgression to about 50 m above sea level. The associated foraminifera, mollusca, and vertebrate fauna require seasonally ice-free conditions similar to those of the Holocene, but less ameliorated than during the Leinstranda Interglacial. A significant influx of Atlantic water into the Norwegian Sea, augmented by a local insolation maximum late in isotope stage 5, are required to produce shallow-water conditions similar to those of the Holocene. There is no evidence for major glacial activity during the Middle Weichselian (isotope stages 4 and 3), and we conclude that ice margins were not significantly different from those of the late Weichselian, but the record for this interval is scant. The extent of ice at the Late Weichselian maximum was less than during either of the two preceding episodes (B or C). Late Weichselian deglaciation (episode A) began prior to 13 ka B.P. Oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns conducive to large-scale glaciation of western Spitsbergen are not well understood, but those patterns that prevailed during isotope stages 4,3, 2, and 1 did not produce a major glacial advance along this coast.

[1]  T. B. Kellogg.  Paleoclimatology and paleo‐oceanography of the Norwegian and Greenland seas: glacial‐interglacial contrasts , 2008 .

[2]  J. Nagy.  Quaternary glaciomarine deposits and foraminifera from Edgeøya, Svalbard , 2008 .

[3]  G. Boulton.  Glacial history of the Spitsbergen archipelago and the problem of a Barents Shelf ice sheet , 2008 .

[4]  R. W. Feyling-Hanssen.  The Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in marine deposits from the Oslofjord area , 2008 .

[5]  P. Belanger.  Paleo‐oceanography of the Norwegian Sea during the past 130,000 years: coccolithophorid and foraminferal data , 2008 .

[6]  J. Mangerud,et al.  The Kapp Ekholm section, Billefjorden, Spitsbergen: a discussion , 2008 .

[7]  H. Sejrup.  Molluscan and foraminiferal biostratigraphy of an Eemian‐Early Weichselian section on Karmøy, southwestern Norway , 2008 .

[8]  J. Punning,et al.  Pleistocene glaciation chronology of Spitsbergen , 2008 .

[9]  G. Gard.  Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy of late Quaternary Arctic sediments , 2008 .

[10]  H. Sejrup,et al.  A continuous Eemian‐Early Weichselian sequence containing pollen and marine fossils at Fjøsanger, western Norway , 2008 .

[11]  O. Salvigsen,et al.  The Weichselian glaciation in Svalbard before 15,000 B.P.* , 2008 .

[12]  G. Miller,et al.  Amino acid ratios in Quaternary molluscs and foraminifera from western Norway: correlation, geochronology and paleotemperature estimates , 2008 .

[13]  Kam‐biu Liu.  Quaternary history of the temperate forests of China , 1988 .

[14]  G. Gard.  Late quaternary calcareous nannofossil biozonation, chronology and palaeo-oceanography in areas north of the faeroe-iceland ridge , 1988 .

[15]  T. Vorren,et al.  Stable isotope stratigraphy and paleoceanography during the Last Deglaciation on the continental shelf off Troms, northern Norway , 1987 .

[16]  H. Sejrup,et al.  The Late Weichselian glacial maximum in western Svalbard , 1987 .

[17]  G. Miller,et al.  Late Weichselian and Holocene Relative Sea-level History of Bröggerhalvöya, Spitsbergen , 1987, Quaternary Research.

[18]  J. D. Hays,et al.  Age Dating and the Orbital Theory of the Ice Ages: Development of a High-Resolution 0 to 300,000-Year Chronostratigraphy , 1987, Quaternary Research.

[19]  J. Brigham‐Grette,et al.  Quaternary stratigraphy of the Fladen area, central North Sea: a multidisciplinary study , 1987 .

[20]  D. Muhs,et al.  An evaluation of uranium-series dating of fossil echinoids from southern California Pleistocene marine terraces , 1985 .

[21]  W. Broecker,et al.  Does the ocean–atmosphere system have more than one stable mode of operation? , 1985, Nature.

[22]  G. Miller,et al.  Aminostratigraphy of European marine interglacial deposits , 1985 .

[23]  J. N. Rosholt.  Uranium-trend systematics for dating Quaternary sediments , 1985 .

[24]  G. Miller,et al.  Time-Dependent Soil Morphologies and Pedogenic Processes on Raised Beaches, Broggerhalvoya, Spitsbergen, Svalbard Archipelago , 1984 .

[25]  J. N. Rosholt.  Radioisotope dilution analyses of geological samples using 236U and 229Th , 1984 .

[26]  R. W. Feyling-Hanssen,et al.  A Tertiary-Quaternary section at Sarsbukta, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, and its foraminifera , 1984 .

[27]  André Berger,et al.  Milankovitch and Climate , 1984, NATO ASI Series.

[28]  A. Elverhøi,et al.  The Barents Sea ice sheet: a sedimentological discussion , 1983 .

[29]  G. Miller.  QUATERNARY DEPOSITIONAL EPISODES, WESTERN SPITSBERGEN, NORWAY: AMINOSTRATIGRAPHY AND GLACIAL HISTORY , 1982 .

[30]  J. Andrews,et al.  Comment and Reply on ‘Comparison of uranium-series, radiocarbon, and amino acid data from marine molluscs, Baffin Island, Arctic Canada’ , 1982 .

[31]  P. E. Hare,et al.  A glacio-isostatic facies model and amino acid stratigraphy for late Quaternary events in Spitsbergen and the Arctic , 1982, Nature.

[32]  J. Nagy,et al.  Foraminiferal distribution in the western Barents Sea, Recent and Quaternary , 1982 .

[33]  H. Sejrup,et al.  Cassidulina reniforme and C. obtusa (Foraminifera), taxonomy, distribution, and ecology , 1980 .

[34]  M. Grosswald.  Late Weichselian Ice Sheet of Northern Eurasia , 1980, Quaternary Research.

[35]  D. Gregory,et al.  On the Quaternary foraminiferal species Elphidium? ustulatum Todd 1957; its stratigraphic and paleoecological implications , 1979 .

[36]  T. B. Kellogg.  Paleoclimatology and paleo-oceanography of the Norwegian and Greenland Seas: The last 450,000 years , 1977 .

[37]  M. Buzas,et al.  Emendation of Cassidulina and Islandiella helenae new species , 1976 .

[38]  T. Crowley,et al.  Glacial North Atlantic 18,000 Years Ago: A climap Reconstruction , 1976 .

[39]  R. W. Feyling-Hanssen.  The foraminifer Elphidium excavatum (Terquem) and its variant forms , 1972 .

[40]  R. W. Feyling-Hanssen.  Late-pleistocene deposits at Kapp Wijk, Vestspitsbergen , 1955 .