Holocene Relative Sea-Level History of Novaya Zemlya, Russia, and Implications for Late Weichselian Ice-Sheet Loading

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Zeeberg, JaapJan, Lubinski, David J., Forman, Steven L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2001
• Subjects: Russkaya; Vaygach; glacier; Ice Sheet; Novaya Zemlya; Vaygach Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.2001.2256; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922562?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922562?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400010267

Abstract We present six new radiocarbon-dated emergence curves that provide a detailed record of postglacial emergence of northern Novaya Zemlya and ages which constrain the emergence of Vaygach Island in the southern archipelago. Radiocarbon ages on Hiatella sp. from a lateral moraine in Russkaya Gavan' and abundances of foraminifea in a marine core from Nordenskiold Bay, 300 km south of our study area, indicate that coastal deglaciation occurred prior to ∼10,000 cal yr B.P. However, postglacial emergence commenced ∼7000 cal yr B.P., with stabilization of global sea level. The total emergence is 13–11 m above sea level (asl) with apparent uplift rates of 1–2 mm/yr for the past 2000 yr, indicating modest glacier loads (<1 km), early (>11,000 cal yr B.P.) deglaciation, or both. The isobase pattern, showing no east–west tilt across Novaya Zemlya, and offshore moraines suggest a separate ice-dispersal center over Novaya Zemlya for the later stages of the Late Weichselian glacial cycle and possibly earlier.