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

Abstract

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.

Stratigraphic evidence for a high marine shore‐line during the late Weichselian deglaciation on the Kullen Peninsula, southern Sweden

“…yr BP) the active ice-margin was situated about 50 km east of Kullen (Lagerlund and Houmark-Nielsen, 1993). At the time of the deglaciation the higher parts of the Kullen area emerged as an island in a predecessor of the present-day Kattegat Sea, which was only slightly brackish due to the discharge of vast amounts of meltwater from the down-wasting Scandinavian ice-sheet (Bergsten, 1994). The marine limit (or highest shore-line) at Kullen was determined to 51 m a.s.l.…”

Late Saalian marine clay successions in southwestern Sweden

“…A similarly high frequency of H. orbiculare was recorded in the Late Saalian of the Anholt core (Seidenkrantz & Knudsen 1994). In contrast, specimens of H. orbiculare are rare in Late Weichselian deposits from the southeastern Kattegat (Bergsten & Nordberg 1992) and from deposits on land in southwestern Sweden (Knudsen 1982;Klingberg 1989Klingberg , 1996Bergsten 1994). Schafer & Cole (1978) (Polyak & Mikhailov 1996).…”

“…The number of specimens in 100 g of sediment varies between 1000 and 8000. The foraminifera reflect arctic conditions during the Late Saalian, as shown by the predominance of Elphidium excavatum and Cassidulina reniforme, which are the dominant species in glaciomarine and marine environments in the Late Weichselian Kattegat and in raised sediments along the west coast of Sweden (e.g., Klingberg 1989;Bergsten 1994).…”

Marine conditions in central Sweden during the early Preboreal as inferred from a stable oxygen isotope gradient

“…FeylingHanssen (1982), Fält (1982), Knudsen (1982), Bergsten (1991Bergsten ( , 1994, Klingberg (1989Klingberg ( , 1998 and Majoran (1999). The fauna recorded was dominated by arctic and subarctic species during the Younger Dryas, and boreal species in the Preboreal, but fully ameliorated conditions were not achieved until 9600 yr BP (Knudsen et al, 1996).…”

“…The final drainage of the BIL is dated to shortly before the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition (e.g. Wohlfarth et al, 1993;Bergsten, 1994;Andrén et al, 1999;Björck, 1999), which marks the start of a period of rapid ice retreat that released large amounts of meltwater into the sea. This subsequent Baltic Sea stage is called the Yoldia Sea stage (ca.…”