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This paper reviews the deglaciation history and palaeoclimate from 22 to 9.5 14Cka BP in the Andfjord‐Vagsfjord area. Eight main glacial events are recorded: The Egga‐I (>22 14Cka BP), the Bjerka, the Egga‐II (>14.6 14Cka BP), the Flesen (14.5 14Cka BP), the D (13.8–13.2 14Cka BP), the Skarpnes (12.2 14Cka BP), the Tromsø–Lyngen (10.7–10.3 14C ka BP) and the Stordal (10.0–9.5 14Cka BP). Onset of the final deglaciation occurred about 14.6 14Cka BP. Most of the western part of the Fennoscandian and Barents Sea Ice Sheets receded from the outer continental shelf 15–14 14Cka BP. The delivery and melting of icebergs at this time to the Norwegian‐Greenland Sea resulted in a low oxygen isotope event recorded in a number of cores in the region. Atlantic water intruded the area 13.2 14Cka BP, and an atmospheric warming commenced 12.9/12.8 14Cka BP. A marked glacial recession occurred before the Skarpnes event. During Allerød time, the glaciers retreated to the fjord heads or even farther inland. The Fennoscandian outlet glaciers readvanced (locally more than 40 km), reached their Younger Dryas outer limit after 10.7 14Cka BP and retreated from this position before about 10.3 14Cka BP.

In many areas of Svalbard, the Neoglacial terminal deposits represent the Holocene glacial maximum. The glaciers began the retreat from their Neoglacial maximum positions around 1900 AD. Based on high resolution acoustic data and sediment cores, sedimentation patterns in four tidewater glacier‐influenced inlets of the fjord Isfjorden (Tempelfjorden, Billefjorden, Yoldiabukta and Borebukta), Spitsbergen, were investigated. A model for sedimentation of tidewater glaciers in these High Arctic environments is proposed. Glacigenic deposits occur in proximal and distal basins. The proximal basins comprise morainal ridges and hummocky moraines, bounded by terminal moraines marking the maximum Neoglacial ice extent. The distal basins are characterized by debris lobes and draping stratified glacimarine sediments beyond, and to some extent beneath and above, the lobes. The debris lobe in Tempelfjorden is composed of massive clayey silt with scattered clasts. Distal glacimarine sediments comprise stratified clayey silt with low ice‐rafted debris (IRD) content. The average sedimentation rate for the glacimarine sediments in Tempelfjorden is 17 mm/yr for the last ca. 130 years. It is suggested that the stratified sediments in Tempelfjorden are glacimarine varves. The high sedimentation rate and low IRD content are explained by input from rivers, in addition to sedimentation from suspension of glacial meltwater. The debris lobes in Borebukta are composed of massive clayey silt with high clast content. Distal glacimarine sediments in Yoldiabukta comprise clayey silt with high IRD content. The average sedimentation rate for these sediments is 0.6 mm/yr for the last 2300 years.

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Late Weichselian and Holocene sediment flux and sedimentation rates in a continental-shelf trough, Andfjord, and its inshore continuation, Vågsfjord, North Norway, have been analysed. The study is based on sediment cores and high-resolution acoustic data. Andfjord was deglaciated between 14.6 and 13 14 C kyr BP (17.5 and 15.6 calibrated (cal.) kyr BP), the Vågsfjord basin before 12.5 14 C kyr BP (14.7 cal. kyr BP), and the heads of the inner tributary fjords about 9.7 14 C kyr BP (11.2 cal. kyr BP). In Andfjord, five seismostratigraphical units are correlated to a radiocarbon dated lithostratigraphy. Three seismostratigraphical units are recognised in Vågsfjord. A total volume of 23 km 3 post-glacial glacimarine and marine sediments was mapped in the study area, of which 80% are of Late Weichselian origin. Sedimentation rates in outer Andfjord indicate reduced sediment accumulation with increasing distance from the ice margin. The Late Weichselian sediment flux and sedimentation rates are significantly higher in Vågsfjord than Andfjord. Basin morphology, the position of the ice front and the timing of deglaciation are assumed to be the reasons for this. Late Weichselian sedimentation rates in Andfjord and Vågsfjord are comparable to modern subpolar glacimarine environments of Greenland, Baffin Island and Spitsbergen. Downwasting of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, and winnowing of the banks owing to the full introduction of the Norwegian Current, caused very high sedimentation rates in parts of the Andfjord trough at the Late Weichselian-Holocene boundary. Holocene sediment flux and sedimentation rates in Andfjord are about half the amount found in Vågsfjord, and about one-tenth the amount of Late Weichselian values. A strong bottom current system, established at the Late Weichselian-Holocene boundary, caused erosion of the Late Weichselian sediments and an asymmetric Holocene sediment distribution.

Hard and mixed seafloor substrates are an important benthic habitat in coastal northern Norway and they are known to be colonized by relatively diverse communities of sessile epifauna. These assemblages are highly susceptible to physical damage and stresses imposed by organic material from industrial and municipal sources. However, despite increasing prevalence of stressors, the diversity and distribution of benthic substrates and biological communities in coastal Arctic and sub-Arctic regions remain poorly documented. In response, this study has characterized the composition of mixed and hard bottom substrates and associated sessile epifauna in fjords in Finnmark, northern Norway, using remote sensing and an innovation low-cost towed camera method. The study fjords supported a dense covering (0.1 to 0.68 individuals m–2) of sponge taxa common to deep-water ostur sponge habitats (Geodia sp., Mycale lingua, Polymastia sp., Phakellia ventilabrum, and Axinella infundibuliformis). In addition, aggregations of the soft coral (Duva florida), the tunicate (Ascidia sp.), the seastar (Ceramaster granularis) and anemone (Hormathia digitata) were prominent fauna. The small-scale spatial patterns of the epifaunal communities in this study were primarily influenced by the local hydrodynamic regime, depth, the topographical slope and the presence of hard bedrock substrates. This description of the composition, distribution and the identification of environmental drivers of epibenthic communities is valuable for the development of predictive habitat models to manage the benthic impact of multiple stressor on these ecological valuable and vulnerable Arctic habitats.

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