Late Weichselian and Holocene sedimentary palaeoenvironment and glacial activity in the high-arctic van Keulenfjorden, Spitsbergen

Abstract

High-arctic fjords, for example, van Keulenfjorden on Spitsbergen, provide valuable palaeoenvironmental archives as they typically contain landforms and sediment sequences that document past changes in glacial activity with high temporal resolution. Van Keulenfjorden was covered with a grounded glacier during the last glacial, and it was deglaciated between c. 11.8 and 11.3 cal. ka BP. The retreat of the ice front accelerated from approximately 80 to 190 m/a during the deglaciation. The maximum late Holocene glacier extent occurred after surge-like advances of the glacier Nathorstbreen between 2790 and 2610 cal. yr BP (i.e. during a period with the coldest climatic conditions on Svalbard). This maximum extent was reached approximately 2600 years earlier than inferred for most fjords on Svalbard, suggesting that surge-like glacier advances on Svalbard can occur under variable climatic conditions. The time interval between the advances of Nathorstbreen around 2.7 ka BP was approximately 100–150 years. This is comparable to the last and only historically known quiescent phase of Nathorstbreen of c. 120 years between the late 19th century and the most recent surge from 2003 to 2012

Sedimentological characteristics of ice-wedge polygon terrain in Adventdalen (Svalbard) – environmental and climatic implications for the late Holocene

“…According to the lower (3322 ± 80 years BP) and upper 14 C datings (3095 ± 172 years BP) this change with significant environmental consequences in the area must have occurred around 3.2 ka BP. This time frame is consistent with other records in Svalbard that indicate a deterioration of the warm conditions: evidence of glacier expansion starting at 3 ka BP until 2.5 ka BP has been inferred from proglacial lake sediments (Svendsen and Mangerud, 1997) and fjords in western Svalbard (Kempf et al, 2013).…”

Submarine landform assemblages and sedimentary processes related to glacier surging in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

“…Deglaciation of the shelf and fjords on west Spitsbergen began around 20,500 AE 500 cal a BP and was interrupted by multiple glacier halts and/or re-advances (e.g. [3,31,32,43,46,65]). The deglaciation of Kongsfjorden proper was documented as a two-stage recession initiated $ 13,000 cal a BP, leading to ice-free conditions by approximately 9000 cal a BP [52].…”

“…Maximum Late Holocene glacier extents occurred either due to climatic cooling during the Little Ice Age or due to glacier surges (e.g. [15,35,46,53,58,63,66,67]). …”

“…Many Svalbard glaciers have been identified as surge-type (e.g. [15,35,53,63,66,67]), with surges well-documented from the past c. 180 years, but only two older examples (Paulabreen and Nathorstbreen; [35,36,46,49,53]). …”

Late Weichselian and Holocene palaeoceanography of Storfjordrenna, southern Svalbard

“…Svendsen and Mangerud, 1997;Forwick and Vorren, 2009;Taldenkova et al, 2012;Kempf et al, 2013) and slightly enhanced iceberg calving and/or ice rafting over the core site. The IRD record shows few irregular small peaks in the late Holocene (Fig.…”