A bowhead whale vertebra embedded in marine limit beach sediment on Barentsøya, Svalbard
A cross-valley beach terrace in Iladalen in the south-eastern corner of Barentsøya (Svalbard) is interpreted as built by long-shore sediment transport and deposition, with its maximum height at 88 m a.s.l., marking the marine limit (ML) at deglaciation. A whale vertebra (most probably from a bowhea...
| Published in: | Polar Research |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/854756ac-d1f9-4f8f-92cf-98f42c1ee80d https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v43.9724 |
| Summary: | A cross-valley beach terrace in Iladalen in the south-eastern corner of Barentsøya (Svalbard) is interpreted as built by long-shore sediment transport and deposition, with its maximum height at 88 m a.s.l., marking the marine limit (ML) at deglaciation. A whale vertebra (most probably from a bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus) was found embedded in the upper part of the littoral sediments at a height of 80 m a.s.l., thus only about 8 m below the ML, and dated to 10,762 ± 137 cal. BP. This age is just a few hundred years after the generally accepted deglaciation age of the coastal parts of Barentsøya at c. 11,000 yrs. BP and its age and altitudinal position fits well with the relative sea level curve constructed for the north-eastern tip of Edgeøya, some 29 km ESE from Iladalen. |
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