Dynamic Holocene glacial history of St. Jonsfjorden, Svalbard

Farnsworth, Wesley R.; Inǵólfsson, Ólafur; Noormets, Riko; Allaart, Lis; Alexanderson, Helena; Henriksen, Mona; Schomacker, Anders

doi:10.1111/bor.12269

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…[2]) from an extended valley glacier, or possibly a tributary to a fjord glacier. This local ice-flow signature is similar to what has been noted for other sites on Svalbard, particularly on the west coast [10,63,[69][70][71][72] and has been assumed to reflect a predominantly low-activity, possibly even frozen-bed ice-sheet cover over these inter-fjord areas [2].…”

Section: Subglacial: Scarce Direct Traces Of Ice Coversupporting

confidence: 78%

200 ka of glacial events in NW Svalbard: an emergence cycle facies model and regional correlations

Alexanderson

Henriksen

Ryen

et al. 2018

Arktos

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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.

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Section: Subglacial: Scarce Direct Traces Of Ice Coversupporting

confidence: 78%

200 ka of glacial events in NW Svalbard: an emergence cycle facies model and regional correlations

Alexanderson

Henriksen

Ryen

et al. 2018

Arktos

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“…The early Holocene was a relatively warm period, with strong inflow of warm Atlantic Water, as well as reduced sea-ice formation and glacier extents on Spitsbergen (e.g., Svendsen & Mangerud 1997;Hald et al 2004;Forwick & Vorren 2007Baeten et al 2010;Rasmussen et al 2012;Røthe et al 2015;Farnsworth et al 2017;Mangerud & Svendsen 2018;van der Bilt et al 2018). An early Holocene seawater temperature reconstruction for Dicksonfjorden exemplifies an amplified effect of warming (+4-6°C) at high latitudes relative to global estimates (+1-3°C; Beierlein et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene environmental changes in Dicksonfjorden, west Spitsbergen, Svalbard

et al. 2019

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Multi-proxy analyses of two sediment cores from Dicksonfjorden were performed to reconstruct Holocene environmental conditions in this northern branch of Isfjorden, the largest fjord system in Svalbard. Factors affecting the depositional processes include shifts in sources of sediments, ice rafting and regional glacio-isostatic rebound. Sediments were derived from Palaeozoic siliciclastics and carbonates occurring at the fjord head and sides, respectively. Their relative contributions were controlled by falling relative sea level and the resulting progradation of the major stream and delta systems closer to the core sites. Deposition of clasts from sea-ice rafting persisted throughout most of the Holocene. Following a period of low, but continuous, clast fluxes (ca. 11 000-7000 calibrated years before the present), ice rafting was most intensive between ca. 7000 and 3000 calibrated years before the present. It can be related to extensive seasonal sea-ice formation caused by regional cooling. The prograding deltas also provided coarse sediments. Reduced ice rafting from ca. 3000 calibrated years before the present suggests enhanced formation of shorefast and/or permanent sea ice, suppressing sea-ice rafting in the fjord, in response to the cool climate and reduced heat flux from Atlantic Water. Episodic inflow of Atlantic Water and low turbidity of surface water can, however, account for a larger amount of marine organic matter produced in the outer fjord. The sedimentary record in Dicksonfjorden, where tidewater glaciers are absent, reflects similar climate and oceanographic variations as reconstructed in fjords on western Spitsbergen that are influenced by tidewater glaciers.

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“…Aside from Van Keulenfjorden, to our knowledge the only other report of mud pushed above the waterline at an advancing glacier margin in Svalbard is from the 2002-10 surge of Comfortlessbreen, which advanced ~700 m into the shallow water of Engelskbukta (King et al, 2016;Lønne, 2016). However, such processes have been inferred during past surges of Sefströmbreen (Boulton et al, 1996), Paulabreen (Kristensen et al, 2009a,b) and Osbornebreen (Evans and Rea, 2005;Farnsworth et al, 2017) based on terrestrial geomorphological evidence.…”

Section: Formation Of Mud Apron and Glaciotectonic Surge Morainesmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Many of these tidewater glaciers are inferred or known to be of surge-type, raising the question as to whether previous advances (LIA maximum or earlier) were glaciodynamic surges or were in response to climate forcing (e.g. Farnsworth et al, 2017;Philipps et al, 2017;Streuff et al, 2017a). 4 The best way to determine possible surging that predates observational records is by investigating sediment-landform assemblages, as surge behaviour is known to produce a diagnostic suite of landforms (Evans and Rea, 1999;Ottesen et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For tidewater glacier surges, this evidence is typically recorded on the sea floor (e.g. Solheim and Pfirman, 1985;Plassen et al, 2004;Ottesen et al, 2008Ottesen et al, , 2017Forwick et al, 2010;Flink et al, 2015Flink et al, , 2017Streuff et al, 2015Streuff et al, , 2017aBurton et al, 2016;Farnsworth et al, 2017). Field observations of the active phase of glacier surges are rare (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple Late Holocene surges of a High-Arctic tidewater glacier system in Svalbard

Lovell

Benn

Lukas

et al. 2018

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Most large tidewater glaciers in Svalbard are known to have surged at least once in the last few hundred years. However, very little information exists on the frequency, timing or magnitude of surges prior to the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum in ~1900. We investigate the sedimentlandform assemblages produced by multiple advances of the Nathorstbreen glacier system (NGS) in order to reconstruct its Late Holocene surge history. The glacier has recently undergone one of the largest surges ever observed in Svalbard, advancing ~16 km from 2008 2 to 2016. We present flow velocities and ice-marginal observations (terminus change, proglacial geomorphological processes) from the later stages of this surge. A first detailed assessment of the development of a glaciotectonic mud apron within the fjord during a surge is provided. Geomorphological and sedimentological examination of the terrestrial moraine areas formed prior to the most recent surge reveals that at least two advances were responsible for their formation, based on the identification of a previously unrecognised ice-contact zone recorded by the distribution of sediment facies in coastal exposures. We distinguish between an outer, older advance to the distal part of the moraine system and an inner, younger advance to a position ~2 km upfjord. Radiocarbon dating of shells embedded in glaciotectonic composite ridges formed by the onshore bulldozing of marine mud during the outer (older) of the two advances shows that it occurred at some point during the interval 700-890 cal. yr BP (i.e. ~1160 AD), and not during the LIA as previously assumed. We instead attribute the inner (younger) advance to the LIA at ~1890.

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Dynamic Holocene glacial history of St. Jonsfjorden, Svalbard

Cited by 25 publications

References 101 publications

200 ka of glacial events in NW Svalbard: an emergence cycle facies model and regional correlations

200 ka of glacial events in NW Svalbard: an emergence cycle facies model and regional correlations

Holocene environmental changes in Dicksonfjorden, west Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Multiple Late Holocene surges of a High-Arctic tidewater glacier system in Svalbard

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