Late Quaternary glacial and environmental history of Kongsøya, Svalbard

Abstract

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.

Cosmogenic radionuclide dating indicates ice-sheet configuration during MIS 2 on Nordaustlandet, Svalbard

“…7), because the highest Late Weichselian marine limits were measured on Kongsøya at 94-98 and 120 m a.sl. on Svenskøya (Salvigsen 1981;Ingo´lfsson et al 1995).…”

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

“…The event is thus likely placed in marine isotope stage (MIS) 6 or late MIS7. Deposits on Kongsøya (unit B; Ingólfsson et al [7]) and at Kapp Ekholm (Formation B; Forman [85]) have been Fig. 19 Composite log of Kongsfjordhallet (sites 101-104) with sediment ages, event stratigraphy, facies interpretation and facies succession within each unit (Fig.…”

“…"Event K-II (units 3-5, ca 130 ka)"]. Unit D at Kongsøya may belong to the same event, but it is poorly dated [7] (Fig. 20).…”

“…At some sites, two or three coarseningupward sequences can be found in direct succession [e.g. [7][8][9], each sequence interpreted to represent a glaciation with glacioisostatic down-warping succeeded by a deglaciation with marine deposition in deeper to gradually shallower water during crustal emergence [6,[9][10][11]. As eustatic sea level was lower in the glacial periods [12], only regional glaciations have sufficient impact to explain a glacioisostatic uplift large enough for marine deposits to be found above present-day sea level [6,13].…”

Infrared and Red Stimulated Luminescence Dating of Late Quaternary Nearshore Sediments from Spitsbergen, Svalbard

“…There are numerous exposures on Svalbard that contain evidence of multiple pre-Late Weichselian deglacial events (Miller, 1982;Miller et aI., 1989;Ingolfsson et al, 1995;Mangerud et aI., 1998). Site 15, on Breggcrhalveya, west Spitsbergen exposes marine-deglacial sequences for the penultimate and pre-penultimate glaciations that yield mollusks with distinct amino acid racemization ratios (Miller et aI., 1989).…”