Holocene cirque glacier activity in western Spitsbergen, Svalbard: sediment records from proglacial Linnévatnet

• Published in: The Holocene
• Main Authors: Snyder, J. A., Werner, A., Miller, G. H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2000
• Subjects: Paleontology; Earth-Surface Processes; Ecology; Archeology; Global and Planetary Change; glacier; Svalbard; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/095968300667351697; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/095968300667351697

Holocene glacial variations of a presently ice-free cirque in western Spitsbergen are inferred from sediment records from the proglacial lake Linnévatnet. Glaciation is indicated in the core records by increased intensity of laminae derived from the cirque inflow and by increase in sediment accumulation rate. Radiocarbon ages on terrestrial plant macrofossils limit the onset of glaciation in the cirque to within the last six centuries. No evidence for earlier glaciation is recognized in the core records, indicating that the threshold for glaciation in the cirque was not reached during prior Neoglacial advances. Local climate events favouring glacier expan sion were either of greater magnitude or of longer duration during the ‘Little Ice Age’ than at any other time during the Holocene.