Chronology of the last recession of the Greenland Ice Sheet

A new deglaciation chronology for the ice-free parts of Greenland, the continental shelf and eastern Ellesmere Island (Canada) is proposed. The chronology is based on a new compilation of all published radiocarbon dates from Greenland, and includes crucial new material from southern, northeastern an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: Bennike, O, Björck, Svante
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/334113
https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.670
Description
Summary:A new deglaciation chronology for the ice-free parts of Greenland, the continental shelf and eastern Ellesmere Island (Canada) is proposed. The chronology is based on a new compilation of all published radiocarbon dates from Greenland, and includes crucial new material from southern, northeastern and northwestern Greenland. Although each date provides only a minimum age for the local deglaciation, some of the dates come from species that indicate ice-proximal glaciomarine conditions, and thus may be connected with the actual ice recession. In addition to shell dates, dates from marine algae, lake sediments, peat, terrestrial plants and driftwood also are included. Only offshore and in the far south have secure late-glacial sediments been found. Other previous reports of late-glacial sediments (older than 11.5 cal. kyr BP) from onshore parts of Greenland need to be confirmed. Most of the present ice-free parts of Greenland and Nares Strait between Greenland and Ellesmere Island were not deglaciated until the early Holocene. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.