Sea-level change in Vestfirdir, Iceland

• Main Authors: Hansom, James D., Briggs, David J.
• Other Authors: Maizels, Judith, Caseldine, Chris
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Kluwer Academic 1991
• Subjects: Smáhamrar; Storegga; Vestfirðir; Iceland
• Online Access: http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/99933/; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3150-6_6

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.