Late Quaternary environmental history of central Prins Karls Forland, western Svalbard

Abstract

This paper presents the results from stratigraphic and geomorphologic investigations in the Poolepynten area, Prins Karls Forland, western Svalbard. Field mapping, soil profile development and 14 C dating reveal the existence of at least two generations of raised beach deposits. Well-developed raised beaches rise to the Late Weichselian marine limit at 36 m a.s.l. Discontinuous pre-Late Weichselian beach deposits rise from the Late Weichselian marine limit to approximately 65 m a.s.l. Expansion of local glaciers in the area during the Late Weichselian is indicated by a till that locally overlies pre-Late Weichselian raised beach deposits. Stratigraphic data from coastal sections reveal two shallow marine units deposited during part of oxygen isotope stage 5. The two shallow marine units are separated by a subglacially deposited till that indicates an ice advance from Prins Karls Forland into the Forlandsundet basin some time during the latter part of stage 5. Discontinuous glaciofluvial deposits and a cobble-boulder lag could relate to a Late Weichselian local glacial advance across the coastal site. Late Weichselian/early Holocene beach deposits cap the sedimentary succession. Palaeotemperature estimates derived from amino acid ratios in subfossil marine molluscs indicate that the area has not been submerged or covered by warm based glacier ice for significant periods of time during the time interval ca. 70 ka to 10 ka.

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

“…[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].…”

“…Similar observations have been made in marine or littoral units at, e.g. Leinstranda [10] and Poolepynten [14,69] and a fairly extensive dating program with laterally and vertically distributed samples must be recommended when working with this type of sediments and questions.…”

Complete mitochondrial genome of a Pleistocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear

“…Thus, our results clearly demonstrate that the jaw is from an individual that had a feeding ecology similar to presentday polar bears, at the top of the Arctic marine food chain. Furthermore, analyses of the stratum containing the subfossil jawbone uncovered a bivalve and foraminifera fauna reflecting an arctic, open marine environment influenced by glacier input and advection of warm North Atlantic water as today (11,14).…”

“…Diagnostic polar bear traits and morphometric measurements of this well-preserved mandible, comparing it to brown bear and other available subfossil polar bear remains as well as a large collection of extant polar bears from Svalbard, proved that it falls within the range of modern polar bears and suggested that it belonged to an adult male (11). Accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C age determination from a canine tooth attached to the jawbone dated it to older than 45 thousand years (ky) old (11). Based on long-term studies of the stratigraphy and depositional history of the Poolepynten area and infrared-stimulated luminescence of the sediments (14), the specimen was estimated to be 130-110 ky old, which is significantly older than any other known polar bear subfossils (i.e., To whom correspondence should be addressed.…”

“…Accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C age determination from a canine tooth attached to the jawbone dated it to older than 45 thousand years (ky) old (11). Based on long-term studies of the stratigraphy and depositional history of the Poolepynten area and infrared-stimulated luminescence of the sediments (14), the specimen was estimated to be 130-110 ky old, which is significantly older than any other known polar bear subfossils (i.e., To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cl243@buffalo.edu.…”