Holocene sea‐level reconstruction in the Young Sound region, Northeast Greenland

Abstract

A relative sea-level curve over the Holocene is constructed for the Young Sound region in northeastern Greenland. The reconstruction is derived by dating the heights of raised beach ridges in coastal plains using optically stimulated luminiscence (OSL), and by dating palaeoterrestrial surface levels now buried beneath the intertidal frame using the 14 C technique. The relative sea-level curve reveals a rapid fall of at least 10 mm a À1 from ca. 9500 to 7500 a ago, which slowed to 2 mm a À1 until it reached the present sea level ca. 3000 a ago. This part of the curve is based on the raised beach ridge data. Thereafter, relative sea level continued to fall, to reach a minimum level at about 0.5 m below the present sea level ca. 2300 a ago. Since then, relative sea level has experienced a slow rise of about 0.2 mm a À1 . This part of the curve uses the data from the palaeoterrestrial surfaces. The study supplements other estimates of Holocene relative sea-level changes and supports the observations of a decreasing trend in the timing of the cross point and in minimum relative sea level from South to North Greenland.

Coastal lagoons and beach ridges as complementary sedimentary archives for the reconstruction of Holocene relative sea‐level changes

“…Coastal lagoons and beach‐ridge systems are both very common geomorphological features in SW Scandinavia and parts of the Baltic Sea (Schou, ; Müller and Mathesius, ; Müller and Voss, ; Yu et al ., ; Lampe, ; Nielsen et al ., ; Uścinowicz, ; Bjørnsen et al ., ; Reimann et al ., ; Clemmensen et al ., ; Hansen et al ., ; Hede et al ., ; Rosentau et al ., ; Sander et al ., ,b) as well as in other parts of the world (e.g. Carter, ; Thom and Roy, ; Engels and Roberts, ; Tamura et al ., ; Pedersen et al ., ; Hein et al ., ). Coastal lagoons develop in morphological depressions in the flooded parts of the inherited topography, while wide beach‐ridge systems commonly form over extended periods of time as prograding sequences along beach shorelines with a high sediment supply (Taylor and Stone, ; Clemmensen and Nielsen, ; Clemmensen et al ., ; Tamura, ).…”

Insight into the late Holocene sea-level changes in the NW Atlantic from a paraglacial beach-ridge plain south of Newfoundland

“…Although care must be taken in the derivation of paleo-sea-level positions from depositional landforms due to challenges related to the chronologies and indicative meanings of individual deposits (Donnelly and Giosan, 2008), the potential of beach ridges to serve as markers of Holocene sea-level change has been widely demonstrated (Rodriguez and Meyer, 2006;Nielsen and Clemmensen, 2009;Pedersen et al, 2011;Tamura, 2012). These studies commonly rely on the upper shoreface/beachface facies contact in beach-ridge plains as a marker of past sea levels.…”

Deltas, freshwater discharge, and waves along the Young Sound, NE Greenland

“…The pro-glacial and fluvial valleys show alluvial fans, and these landscape features alternate with glacial and periglacial forms (Funder 1989; Christiansen and Humlum 1993; Hjort 1997; Christiansen et al 2002). The lower parts of the areas show sedimentary coastal features like deltas, spits, salt marshes, and beach-ridge plains (Kroon et al 2011; Pedersen et al 2011). …”