Interactions between the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Liverpool Land coastal ice cap during the last two glaciation cycles

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Adrielsson, Lena, Alexanderson, Helena
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2005
• Subjects: Greenland; Jameson Land; Liverpool Land; Scoresby; Scoresby Sund; Sund; Ugleelv; East Greenland; glacier; Ice cap; Ice Sheet; polar desert
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.900; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.900; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.900

Abstract The sedimentary record from the Ugleelv Valley on central Jameson Land, East Greenland, adds new information about terrestrial palaeoenvironments and glaciations to the glacial history of the Scoresby Sund fjord area. A western extension of a coastal ice cap on Liverpool Land reached eastern Jameson Land during the early Scoresby Sund glaciation (≈the Saalian). During the following glacial maximum the Greenland Ice Sheet inundated the Jameson Land plateau from the west. The Weichselian also starts with an early phase of glacial advance from the Liverpool Land ice cap, while polar desert and ice‐free conditions characterised the subsequent part of the Weichselian on the Jameson Land plateau. The two glaciation cycles show a repeated pattern of interaction between the Greenland Ice Sheet in the west and an ice cap on Liverpool Land in the east. Each cycle starts with extensive glacier growth in the coastal mountains followed by a decline of the coastal glaciation, a change to cold and arid climate and a late stage of maximum extent of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.