Alexanderson, H., Landvik, J. Y. & Ryen, H. T. 2010: Chronology and styles of glaciation in an inter‐fjord setting, northwestern Svalbard. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00175.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. A 30‐m‐thick sedimentary succession at Leinstranda on the southwestern coast of Brøggerhalvøya, northwestern Svalbard, spans the two last glacial–interglacial cycles and reveals information on glacial dynamics, sea‐level changes and the timing of these events. We investigated the deposits using standard stratigraphical and sedimentological techniques, together with ground‐penetrating radar, and established an absolute chronology based mainly on optically stimulated luminescence dating. We identified facies associations that represent depositional settings related to advancing, overriding and retreating glaciers, marine and littoral conditions and periglacial surfaces. The environmental changes show an approximate cyclicity and reflect glaciations followed by high sea levels and later regression. The luminescence chronology places sea‐level highstands at 185 ± 8 ka, 129 ± 10 ka, 99 ± 8 ka and 36 ± 3 ka. These ages constrain the timing of recorded glaciations at Leinstranda to prior to c. 190 ka, between c. 170 and c. 140 ka (Late Saalian) and between c. 120 ka and c. 110 ka (Early Weichselian). The glaciations include phases with glaciers from three different source areas. There is no positive evidence for either Middle or Late Weichselian glaciations covering the site, but there are hiatuses at those stratigraphic levels. A high bedrock ridge separates Leinstranda from the palaeo‐ice stream in Kongsfjorden, and the deposits at Leinstranda reflect ice‐dynamic conditions related to ice‐sheet evolution in an inter‐fjord area. The environmental information and the absolute chronology derived from our data allow for an improved correlation with the marine record, and for inferences to be made about the interaction between land, ocean and ice during the last glacial–interglacial cycles.

Late Quaternary sedimentary units at Kongsfjordhallet, NW Svalbard, represent five cycles of glaciations and subsequent deglaciations during high relative sea levels. The high sea level events are interpreted as glacioisostatically induced and imply preceding regional glaciations, which we constrain in time by luminescence and radiocarbon ages to just prior to ~ 195, ~ 130, ~ 85, ~ 60, and ~ 15 ka. Combined with the stratigraphical record from nearby Leinstranda we identify six, possibly seven, major glacial advances during the last 200 ka in the Kongsfjorden region. Two of these occurred during the Saalian and at least four during the Weichselian. The results are based on detailed sedimentological, stratigraphical and chronological investigations of the uppermost 15 m of the 40-m-high Kongsfjordhallet coastal sections. The succession is dominated by sediments of marine and littoral origin, representing partial shallowing-upward sequences due to isostatic rebound. Only one subglacial till was recognised. Interestingly, alluvial and periglacial deposits, not commonly recognised in this type of setting, occur in the sequence. These include weathered coarse alluvium, sandy channel fills as well as cryoturbated sediments and solifluction deposits, which are positive evidence of a non-glacial environment. The sequence of sediments that represents an emergence cycle has been formalised in a facies model.