The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change
ABSTRACT Norse immigrants from Europe settled in southern Greenland in around AD 985 and managed to create a farming community during the Medieval Warm Period. The Norse vanished after approximately 500 years of existence in Greenland leaving no documentary evidence concerning why their culture foun...
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2008
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247407006948 2024-09-15T18:08:19+00:00 The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change Mikkelsen, Naja Kuijpers, Antoon Arneborg, Jette 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247407006948 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247407006948 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 44, issue 1, page 45-50 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 journal-article 2008 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247407006948 2024-06-26T04:04:12Z ABSTRACT Norse immigrants from Europe settled in southern Greenland in around AD 985 and managed to create a farming community during the Medieval Warm Period. The Norse vanished after approximately 500 years of existence in Greenland leaving no documentary evidence concerning why their culture foundered. The flooding of fertile grassland caused by late Holocene sea-level changes may be one of the factors that affected the Norse community. Holocene sea-level changes in Greenland are closely connected with the isostatic response of the Earth's crust to the behaviour of the Greenlandic ice sheet. An early Holocene regressive phase in south and west Greenland was reversed during the middle Holocene, and evidence is found for transgression and drowning of early-middle Holocene coast lines. This drowning started between 8 and 7ka BP in southern Greenland and continued during the Norse era to the present. An average late Holocene sea level rise in the order of 2–3 m/1000 years may be one of the factors that negatively affected the life of the Norse Greenlanders, and combined with other both socio-economic and environmental problems, such as increasing wind and sea ice expansion at the transition to the Little Ice Age, may eventually have led to the end of the Norse culture in Greenland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland greenlander* greenlandic Ice Sheet Polar Record Sea ice Cambridge University Press Polar Record 44 1 45 50 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Norse immigrants from Europe settled in southern Greenland in around AD 985 and managed to create a farming community during the Medieval Warm Period. The Norse vanished after approximately 500 years of existence in Greenland leaving no documentary evidence concerning why their culture foundered. The flooding of fertile grassland caused by late Holocene sea-level changes may be one of the factors that affected the Norse community. Holocene sea-level changes in Greenland are closely connected with the isostatic response of the Earth's crust to the behaviour of the Greenlandic ice sheet. An early Holocene regressive phase in south and west Greenland was reversed during the middle Holocene, and evidence is found for transgression and drowning of early-middle Holocene coast lines. This drowning started between 8 and 7ka BP in southern Greenland and continued during the Norse era to the present. An average late Holocene sea level rise in the order of 2–3 m/1000 years may be one of the factors that negatively affected the life of the Norse Greenlanders, and combined with other both socio-economic and environmental problems, such as increasing wind and sea ice expansion at the transition to the Little Ice Age, may eventually have led to the end of the Norse culture in Greenland. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mikkelsen, Naja Kuijpers, Antoon Arneborg, Jette |
spellingShingle |
Mikkelsen, Naja Kuijpers, Antoon Arneborg, Jette The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change |
author_facet |
Mikkelsen, Naja Kuijpers, Antoon Arneborg, Jette |
author_sort |
Mikkelsen, Naja |
title |
The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change |
title_short |
The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change |
title_full |
The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change |
title_fullStr |
The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Norse in Greenland and late Holocene sea-level change |
title_sort |
norse in greenland and late holocene sea-level change |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247407006948 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247407006948 |
genre |
Greenland greenlander* greenlandic Ice Sheet Polar Record Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Greenland greenlander* greenlandic Ice Sheet Polar Record Sea ice |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 44, issue 1, page 45-50 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247407006948 |
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Polar Record |
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44 |
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1 |
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45 |
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50 |
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1810445646839152640 |