Bergsten, H. 1999 (March): Weichselian geology and palaeoenvironmental history of the central Taymyr Peninsula, Siberia, indicating no glaciation during the last global glacial maximum. Boreas, Vol. 28, Oslo. ISSN 0300-9483. The Taymyr Peninsula constitutes the eastern delimitation of a possible Kara Sea basin ice sheet. The existence of such an ice sheet during the last global glacial maximum (LGM), i.e. during the Late Weichseliad Upper Zyryansk. is favoured by some Russian scientists. However, a growing number of studies point towards a more minimalistic view concerning the areal extent of Late WeichselianLJpper Zyryansk Siberian glaciation. Investigations carried out by us along the central Byrranga Mountains and in the Taymyr Lake basin south thereof, reject the possibility of a Late WeichseliadUpper Zyryansk glaciation of this area. Our conclusion is based on the following: Dating of a continuous lacustrine sediment sequence at Cape Sabler on the Taymyr Lake shows that it spans at least the period 39-17 ka BP. Even younger ages have been reported, suggesting that this lacustrine environment prevailed until shortly before the Holocene. The distribution of these sediments indicates the existence of a paleo-Taymyr lake reaching c. 60 m above present sea level. A reconnaissance of the central part of the Byrranga Mountains gave no evidence of any more recent glacial coverage.The only evidence of glaciationan indirect oneis deltaic sequences around 100-120 m a.s.1.. suggesting glacio-isostatic depression and a large input of glacial meltwater from the north. However, I4C and ESR datings of these marine sediments suggest that they are of Early WeichselianiLower Zyryansk or older age. As they are not covered by till and show no glaciotectonic disturbances, they support our opinion that there was no Late WeichselianiLower Zyryansk glaciation in this area. We thus suggest that the Taymyr Peninsula was most probably glaciated during the early part of the last glacial cycle (when there was only small-to mediumscale glaciation in Scandinavia), but not glaciated during the later part of that cycle (which had the maximum ice-sheet coverage over north-westem Europe). This fits a climatic scenario suggesting that the Taymyr area, like most of Siberia, would come into precipitation shadow during times with large-scale ice-sheet coverage of Scandinavia and the rest of north-western Europe.

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A synthesis is presented of the environmental and climatic variations that are inferred to have occurred in southern Sweden (up to latitude 59"N) and Denmark during the Weichselian Late-glacial (1 4-9 kaBP). The chronology and characteristics of the main phases of deglaciation, sea-level change, periglacial activity, soil development, vegetation cover and climate change are summarised. A curve representing the main changes in temperature, including quantitative estimates based upon beetle data and using the 'mutual climatic range' method, is presented.Journal of Quaternary Science

From stratigraphic investigations of 38 piston and vibro cores, four fine‐grained Late Weichselian sediment units can be defined in the southern Kattegat. A continuous stratigraphic record of the Late Weichselian sediments cannot be established from single cores due to the uneven distribution of the units, but by compilation of relative stratigraphies a composite record can be determined for sediments deposited between approximately 13,500 and 10,000 BP. The sediments contain both lithological and biostratigraphical evidence that the Baltic Ice Lake was suddenly drained through the Öresund Strait at about 12,700 BP. This drainage route appears to have been unchanged until about 10,300 BP when a passage opened in south central Sweden through which the final drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake took place. The Younger Dryas cold event appears to have had only marginal effects on the marine benthic life in the region. The data also indicate that drainage of fresh Baltic water through the Öresund Strait was the driving force for an inflow of marine water from the Skagerrak North Atlantic Ocean into the southern Kattegat, as occurring at the present. This paper is a contribution to IGCP 253, Termination of the Pleistocene.

Two raised marine sequences from Prins Karls Forland, western Svalbard, interpreted to have been deposited during part of isotope substage 5e (Eemian) and substage 5a, were studied for foraminifera content. Time constraints are given by 14C ages, infrared stimulated luminescence age estimates and amino acid ratios in subfossil marine molluscs. A diamicton (unit B) separates the two marine sequences and reflects an advancement of local glaciers sometime late in isotope stage 5. The two marine sequences contain diverse benthic foraminiferal faunas, indicating periods of a relatively warm and seasonally ice‐free marine shelf environment. Compared to the lowermost sequence (unit A), the upper marine sequence (unit C) seems to reflect a more shallow environment that could have resulted from the global lowering of the sea level towards the end of isotope stage 5. Our results further emphasise the problem of biostratigraphic distinction between interglacial and interstadial deposits at high latitudes, with temperature conditions for substage 5a close to those of substage 5e and present conditions.

Bergsten, H. 1994. A high-resolution record of Lateglacial and early Holocene marine sediments from southwestern Sweden; with special emphasis on environmental changes close to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and the influence of fresh water from the Baltic basin. lourndl of Quaternary Science, Vol. 9, pp. 1-12.ABSTRACT: A high-resolution study of a marine depositional record (43 m long), dated by accelerator mass spectrometry, from Goteborg (Gothenburg), southwestern Sweden, shows biostratigraphical and sedimentological changes of environmental significance during the Lateglacial and early Holocene. High accumulation rates are recorded from the onset of the deglaciation of the area, ca. 13 500 yr BP, until 10300 yr BP, by which time approximately 100 m of marine sediments were deposited. The early Holocene is represented by 10 m only of sediment.The influence on the Skagerrak-Kattegat coastal area of the dramatic, final drainage of the Journal d Quaternary ScmceBaltic Ice Lake, at 10300 yr BP, is re-evaluated. Its impact on the distal Swedish west coast was limited and sediments that were previously related to this drainage are reinterpreted. Here, it is suggested they reflect resuspension and redeposition of sediments from the large inland Lake Vanern basin between ca. 9500 and 9000 yr BP. At 10200 yr BP a general climatic change and a sudden incursion of warm and saline Atlantic water into the Norwegian Sea occurred and the Skagerrak altered environmental conditions, with more temperate bottom-water conditions in the investigation area.

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On western Kongsoya. 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 Kongs0ya. Till fabrics indicate ice movements controlled by the local topography. while glaciotectonic deformations suggest that ice moved from an ice divide northeast of Kongscaya. 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 5c. 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 (rlOOm) postglacial marine limit, dated to approximately 10, OOO BP.