Christian Hjort
Professor emeritus
The Quaternary record of eastern Svalbard - an overview
Author
Summary, in English
The eastern part of the Svalbard archipelago and the adjacent areas of the Barents Sea were subject to extensive erosion during the Late Weichselian
glaciation. Small remnants of older sediment successions have been preserved on Edgeoya, whereas a more complete succession on Kongsoya contains sediments from two different ice-free periods, both probably older than the Early Weichselian. Ice movemeht indicators in th eregion suggest that the Late Weichselian ice radiated from a centre east of Kong Karls Land. On Bj~rnOya, on the edge of the Barents Shelf, the lack of raised shorelines or glacial striae from the east indicates that the western parts of the ice
sheet were thin during the Late Weichselian. The deglaciation of Edgeoya and Barentsoya occurred ca 10,300 BP as a response to calving of the marine based portion of the ice sheet. Atlantic water, which does not much influence the coasts of eastern Svalbard today, penetrated the northwestern Barents Sea shortly after the deglaciation. At that time, the coastal environment was characterised by extensive longshore sediment transport and deposition of
spits at the mouths of shallow palaeo-fjords.
glaciation. Small remnants of older sediment successions have been preserved on Edgeoya, whereas a more complete succession on Kongsoya contains sediments from two different ice-free periods, both probably older than the Early Weichselian. Ice movemeht indicators in th eregion suggest that the Late Weichselian ice radiated from a centre east of Kong Karls Land. On Bj~rnOya, on the edge of the Barents Shelf, the lack of raised shorelines or glacial striae from the east indicates that the western parts of the ice
sheet were thin during the Late Weichselian. The deglaciation of Edgeoya and Barentsoya occurred ca 10,300 BP as a response to calving of the marine based portion of the ice sheet. Atlantic water, which does not much influence the coasts of eastern Svalbard today, penetrated the northwestern Barents Sea shortly after the deglaciation. At that time, the coastal environment was characterised by extensive longshore sediment transport and deposition of
spits at the mouths of shallow palaeo-fjords.
Department/s
- Quaternary Sciences
Publishing year
1995
Language
English
Pages
95-103
Publication/Series
Polar Research
Volume
14
Issue
2
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Geology
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0800-0395