Radiocarbon Dated Raised Beaches in Kong Karls Land, Svalbard, and Their Consequences for the Glacial History of the Barents Sea Area

AbstractRadiocarbon-dated whalebones from raised beaches record a relative sea-level history for Bröggerhalvöya, western Spitsbergen that suggest a two-step deglaciation on Svalbard at the end of the late Weichselian glaciation. The late Weichselian marine limit was reached at about 13,000 yr B.P. and was followed by relatively slow emergence until about 10,000 yr B.P. either in response to ice unloading in the Barents Sea, initial retreat of local fjord glaciers, or some combination of the two. Rare whale skeletons dating between 13,000 and 10,000 yr B.P. indicate that the Norwegian Sea was at least seasonally ice free during that interval. Deglaciation of Spitsbergen is recorded by the rapid emergence of Bröggerhalvöya after 10,000 yr B.P. This was followed by a transgression during the mid-Holocene, here named the Talavera Transgression, and another in modern times. Raised beach morphologies suggest striking differences in nearshore depositional processes before and after 10,000 yr B.P. that are probably related to changes in the rate of uplift and in sea-ice conditions.

Download Full-text

Features of the glacial formations structure and bottom relief forms related to them according to seismoacoustic profiling data and their role in the decision of discussion issues of the quarterly cover formation of the Barents Sea

10.29006/978-5-6045110-0-8/(5) ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 25-43

Author(s):

A.E. Rybalko ◽

◽

M.Yu. Tokarev ◽

Keyword(s):

Barents Sea ◽

The Arctic ◽

Arctic Seas ◽

Novaya Zemlya ◽

Marine Deposits ◽

The Barents Sea ◽

Pack Ice ◽

History Of ◽

Continental Origin ◽

Loose Sediments

Hot questions in the modern Quaternary geology of the Arctic seas associated with their glaciation are discussed in this article. The questions of the history of the occurrence of the problem of shelf glaciation or “drift” accumulation of boulder-bearing sediments are considered in detail. The results of seismic-acoustic studies and their interpretation with the aim of seismic stratigraphic and genetic partition of the cover of loose sediments of Quaternary age are considered in detail. Arguments are presented in favor of the continental origin of glaciers (Novaya Zemlya, Ostrovnoy and Scandinavian), which in the late Neopleistocene spread to the shelf of the Barents Sea and occupied its surface to depths of 120−150 m. Further development of glaciation was already due to the expansion of the area of shelves glaciers. The facies zoning of glacial-marine deposits is estimated, which is related to the distance from the front of the glaciers. It is concluded that already at the end of the Late Pleistocene, most of the modern Barents Sea was free from glaciers and from the annual cover of pack ice. Data on the absence of the area distribution of frozen sediment strata within the modern Barents Sea shelf are presented.

Download Full-text