Sea-level change in Vestfirdir, Iceland
Recent observations in the Vestfirðir area of Iceland have revealed a wealth of raised marine features from ca 70 m a.s.l. to 1m a.s.l. that may reveal a different isostatic uplift pattern from that of the rest of Iceland. At 8.5 m a.s.l. at Hvítahlíð, microplanktonrich marine silts are capped by a...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | , |
| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
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Kluwer Academic
1991
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/99933/ https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3150-6_6 |
| Summary: | Recent observations in the Vestfirðir area of Iceland have revealed a wealth of raised marine features from ca 70 m a.s.l. to 1m a.s.l. that may reveal a different isostatic uplift pattern from that of the rest of Iceland. At 8.5 m a.s.l. at Hvítahlíð, microplanktonrich marine silts are capped by a peat layer with a radiocarbon age of 6,910 B.P. At Smáhamrar nearby, a suite of raised beaches between ca 70m a.s.l. and present sea level are older than 8,875 B.P. It appears that sea-level dropped rapidly from 70m to 1m some time before ca 10,000 B.P. However, arise of sea-level to 8.5m occurred at about 9,000 B.P., and peat began to accumulate on beaches at about 8,800 B.P. The ensuing regression was temporarily halted at 6,900 B.P. by a high energy marine event, possibly caused by waves from the 7,000 B.P. Storegga landslide, which deposited a beach ridge full of marine taxa on top of freshwater peats at ca 6m a.s.l. As new regional deglaciation chronologies emerge for Iceland, there is a need to re-evaluate the relative sea-level histories of these regions. |
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