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Karl Ljung

Karl Ljung

Lecturer

Karl Ljung

Severnaya Zemlya, Arctic Russia: a nucleation area for Kara Sea ice sheets during the Middle to Late Quaternary

Author

  • Per Möller
  • D. Lubinski
  • Ó. Ingólfsson
  • S.L Forman
  • M-S. Siedenkrantz
  • D. Yu. Bolshiyanov
  • H. Lokrantz
  • O. Antonov
  • ´M. Pavlov
  • Karl Ljung
  • J.J. Zeeberg
  • A. Andreev

Summary, in English

Quaternary glacial stratigraphy and relative sea-level changes reveal at least four expansions of the Kara Sea ice sheet over the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago at 79 degrees N in the Russian Arctic, as indicated from tills interbedded with marine sediments, exposed in stratigraphic superposition, and from raised-beach sequences that occur at altitudes up to 140 m a.s.l. Chronologic control is provided by AMS C-14, electron-spin resonance, green-stimulated luminescence, and aspartic-acid geochronology. Major glaciations followed by deglaciation and marine inundation occurred during MIS 10-9, MIS 8-7, MIS 6-5e and MIS 5d-3. The MIS 6-5e event, associated with the high marine limit, implies ice-sheet thickness of > 2000m only 200km from the deep Arctic Ocean, consistent with published evidence of ice grounding at similar to 1000m water depth in the central Arctic Ocean. Till fabrics and glacial tectonics record repeated expansions of local ice caps exclusively, suggesting wet-based ice cap advance followed by cold-based regional ice-sheet expansion. Local ice caps over highland sites along the perimeter of the shallow Kara Sea, including the Byrranga Mountains, appear to have repeatedly fostered initiation of a large Kara Sea ice sheet, with exception of the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2), when Kara Sea ice did not impact Severnaya Zemlya and barely graced northernmost Taymyr Peninsula.

Department/s

  • Quaternary Sciences

Publishing year

2006

Language

English

Pages

2894-2936

Publication/Series

Quaternary Science Reviews

Volume

25

Issue

21-22

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Geology

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0277-3791