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Late Weichselian and Holocene Relative Sea-level History of Bröggerhalvöya, Spitsbergen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steven L. Forman ,
Daniel H. Mann  and
Gifford H. Miller
Steven L. Forman
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309
Daniel H. Mann
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, AK-60, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Gifford H. Miller
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309
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Abstract

Radiocarbon-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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , January 1987 , pp. 41 - 50
Copyright
University of Washington

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