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Ingólfsson, Ó. 2011. Fingerprints of Quaternary Glaciations on Svalbard

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Ingólfsson, Ó. 2011. Fingerprints of Quaternary Glaciations on Svalbard Geological Society, London, Special Publications Fingerprints of Quaternary glaciations on Svalbard Ó. Ingólfsson Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2011; v. 354; p. 15-31 doi: 10.1144/SP354.2 Email alerting click here to receive free e-mail alerts when new service articles cite this article Permission click here to seek permission to re-use all or part of request this article Subscribe click here to subscribe to Geological Society, London, Special Publications or the Lyell Collection Notes Downloaded by guest on May 28, 2011 © The Geological Society of London 2011 Fingerprints of Quaternary glaciations on Svalbard O´ . INGO´ LFSSON Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, Is-101 Reykjavı´k, Iceland and The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) (e-mail: [email protected]) Abstract: Marine and terrestrial archives can be used to reconstruct the development of glacially influenced depositional environments on Svalbard in time and space during the late Cenozoic. The marine archives document sedimentary environments, deposits and landforms associated with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) when Svalbard and the Barents Sea were covered by continental-scale marine-based ice sheet, the last deglaciation and the work of tidewater glaciers in interglacial setting as today. The terrestrial archives record large-scale Quaternary glacial sculpturing and repeated build-up and decay of the Svalbard–Barents Sea ice sheet. The finger- printing of Quaternary glaciations on Svalbard reflects the transition from a full-glacial mode, with very extensive coverage by the Svalbard–Barents Sea ice sheet and subsequent deglaciation, to an interglacial mode with valley, cirque and tidewater glaciers as active agents of erosion and deposition. Conceptual models for Svalbard glacial environments are useful for understanding developments of glacial landforms and sediments in formerly glaciated areas. Svalbard glacial environments, past and present, may serve as analogues for interpreting geological records of marine-terminating and marine-based ice sheets in the past. Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean that Nordaustlandet, but large valley glaciers and comprises all islands between 748N–818N and cirque glaciers are frequent along both the west 108E–358E (Fig. 1). The principal islands are Spits- and east coasts of Spitsbergen. Small ice caps also bergen, Nordaustlandet, Barentsøya, Edgeøya, exist on the eastern islands, Edgeøya and Barentsøya Kong Karls Land, Prins Karls Forland and Bjørnøya (Fig. 1). On Spitsbergen, glaciation is most extensive (Bear Island). The total area of Svalbard is in areas near the eastern and western coasts, where 62 160 km2. The West Spitsbergen Current, which many glaciers terminate in the sea. In contrast, gla- is a branch of the North Atlantic Current, reaches ciers in the central part of the island are smaller, the west coast of Svalbard, keeping water open mainly because of low precipitation (Humlum most of the year. The present climate of Svalbard 2002). A significant number of glaciers in Svalbard is Arctic, with mean annual air temperature of are of the surging type. The surges are relatively c. 26 8C at sea level and as low as 215 8Cin short intervals (,1to.10 a) of extraordinary fast the high mountains. Most of Svalbard is situated flow which transfer mass rapidly down-glacier, within the zone of continuous permafrost (Humlum punctuating much longer quiescent periods (,10 et al. 2003). Precipitation at sea level is low, only to .200 a) characterized by stagnation when ice c. 200 mm water equivalent (w.e.) in central Spits- builds up in an upper accumulation area forming a bergen and c. 400–600 mm w.e. along the western reservoir of mass for the next surge (Dowdeswell and eastern coasts of the island. The Svalbard et al. 1991, 1999; Lønne 2004; Sund 2006). Lefau- landscape, in particularly the island of Spitsbergen, connier & Hagen (1991) suggested that the majority is generally mountainous with the highest eleva- of Svalbard glaciers surged. The mass balance of tion of c. 1700 m a.s.l. on north-eastern Spitsbergen. many glaciers in Svalbard is partly controlled by Large glacially eroded fjords are numerous, parti- snowdrift during the winter (Humlum et al. 2005). cularly at the northern and western coasts of Spits- The equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) rises on a trans- bergen where the Wijdefjorden, Isfjorden and Van ect from west to east across Spitsbergen (Fig. 1), Mijenfjorden fjords have lengths of 108, 107 and reflecting the distribution of precipitation very well. 83 km, respectively. Some coastal areas are charac- On Prins Karls Forland and along the central west terized by strandflat topography: low-lying bedrock coast it lies at 300 m a.s.l., but reaches .700 m in plains often blanketed by raised beaches. the highlands of north-eastern Spitsbergen. About 60% of Svalbard is covered by glaciers There are two end-member modes of glacieri- (Hagen et al. 1993, 2003), with many outlet glaciers zation on Svalbard: a full-glacial mode, when terminating in the sea. Svalbard ice caps and gla- Svalbard and the Barents Sea were covered by a ciers cover about 36 600 km2, with an estimated large marine-based ice sheet, and an interglacial total volume of c. 7000 km3 (Hagen et al. 1993). mode (like today) when the Svalbard glacial Most of the ice volume is contained in the high- system is dominated by highland ice fields, ice land ice fields and ice caps on Spitsbergen and caps and numerous valley and cirque glaciers. The From:Martini, I. P., French,H.M.&Pe´rez Alberti, A. (eds) Ice-Marginal and Periglacial Processes and Sediments. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 354, 15–31. DOI: 10.1144/SP354.2 0305-8719/11/$15.00 # The Geological Society of London 2011. 16 O´ . INGO´ LFSSON Fig. 1. The Svalbard archipelago with distribution pattern of the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) given as 100 m contour intervals (modified from Hagen et al. 2003). The islands of Hopen (SE from the Svalbard archipelago) and Bjørnøya (midway between Norwegian mainland and Spitsbergen) are not on the map. full-glacial mode leaves pronounced fingerprints on Full-glacial-mode sediments and the continental shelf margins and slopes, and during landforms deglaciation sediments and landforms are deposi- ted on the continental shelf and in fjords around The timing of the onset of Cenozoic Northern Hemi- Svalbard. Most sedimentation occurs subglacially sphere high-latitude glaciations is not well known. in fjords and on the shelf, and ice-marginally on Ice rafted debris (IRD) and foraminiferal data from the continental break and slope. There is prevailing Arctic basin deep-sea sediment cores suggests that erosion inside the present coast, but a strong sig- episodical perennial sea ice might have occurred nal of glacial isostasy in response to deglaciation as early as the middle Eocene 47.5 million years where sets of raised beaches mark deglaciation ago (Ma) (Stickley et al. 2009). It is recognized and marine transgression. The interglacial mode is that sea-ice cover existed in the central Arctic basin characterized by fjord and valley sedimentation by the middle Miocene (Darby 2008; Krylov et al. below and in front of polythermal and surging 2008), but ice-sheet build-up over the Svalbard– glaciers. The interglacial mode of glacierization Barents Sea region probably did not initiate produces landform-sediment assemblages that can until the Pliocene–Pleistocene, 3.6–2.4 Ma (Knies be related to the tidewater glacier landsystem et al. 2009). Sejrup et al. (2005) suggested that (Ottesen & Dowdeswell 2006), the glaciated valley extensive shelf glaciations started around Svalbard landsystem (Eyles 1983) and the surging glacier at 1.6–1.3 Ma. The number of full-scale ice-sheet landsystem (Evans & Rea 1999). The glacial finger- glaciations over Svalbard–Barents Sea is not printing on Svalbard is primarily reflecting the known, but Solheim et al. (1996) suggest at least transition from a full-glacial mode to an intergla- 16 major glacial expansion events occurred over cial mode. the past 1 Ma. Laberg et al. (2010) reconstructed the FINGERPRINTS OF GLACIATIONS ON SVALBARD 17 late Pliocene–Pleistocene history of the Barents Sea are separated by shallow bank areas. Less dynamic ice sheet, based on three-dimensional seismic data ice probably existed on shallower banks (Landvik from the south-western Barents Sea continental et al. 2005; Sejrup et al. 2005; Ottesen et al. 2007). margin. They inferred that a temperate Barents Studies of large-scale margin morphology and Sea ice sheet with channelized meltwater flow seismic profiles have identified large submarine developed during the late Pliocene–Early Pleisto- trough-mouth fans (TMF) at the mouths of several cene. More polar ice conditions and a Barents major cross-shelf troughs (Fig. 2) (Vorren et al. Sea ice sheet that included large ice streams, with 1989; Sejrup et al. 2005). These are stacked units little or no channelized meltwater flow, occurred of glaciogenic debris flows interbedded with hemi- in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. There are both pelagic sediments displaying thickness maxima marine and terrestrial geological archives that high- along the shelf edge, and reflect direct sediment light full-glacial-mode conditions and subsequent delivery from an ice stream reaching the shelf deglaciation. edge (Vorren et al. 1989; Vorren & Laberg 1997). Andersen et al. (1996) defined five lithofacies Marine archives groups from cores retrieved from the western Svalbard continental slope. Laminated-to-layered The dimensions and dynamics of the Last Glacial mud and turbidites reflect post-depositional rework- Maximum (LGM) Svalbard–Barents Sea ice sheet ing of the shelf banks, caused by eustatic sea-level are reflected in the submarine sediments and land- fall during ice growth. Hemipelagic mud represents forms preserved on the seafloor of the deglaciated the background sediments and is evenly dispersed shelves and fjords (Ottesen et al.
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