Severnaya Zemlya, Arctic Russia: a nucleation area for Kara Sea ice sheets during the Middle to Late Quaternary

• Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Main Authors: Moller, P., Lubinski, D.J., Ingolfsson, O., Forman, S.L., Seidenkrantz, M.S., Bolshiyanov, D.Y., Lokrantz, H., Antonov, O., Pavlov, M., Ljung, K., Zeeberg, J.J., Andreev, A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: history; last glacial maximum; luminescence; marginal zone; northern eurasia; pleistocene; sediments; siberia; taymyr peninsula; western yamal peninsula; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Kara Sea; Raised Beach; Severnaya Zemlya; Taymyr; Yamal Peninsula; Ice cap; Ice Sheet; Sea ice; Taymyr Peninsula; Siberia
• Online Access: https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/severnaya-zemlya-arctic-russia-a-nucleation-area-for-kara-sea-ice; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.02.016

Quaternary glacial stratigraphy and relative sea-level changes reveal at least four expansions of the Kara Sea ice sheet over the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago at 79°N in the Russian Arctic, as indicated from tills interbedded with marine sediments, exposed in stratigraphic superposition, and from raised-beach sequences that occur at altitudes up to 140 m a.s.l. Chronologic control is provided by AMS 14C, electron-spin resonance, green-stimulated luminescence, and aspartic-acid geochronology. Major glaciations followed by deglaciation and marine inundation occurred during MIS 10-9, MIS 8-7, MIS 6-5e and MIS 5d-3. The MIS 6-5e event, associated with the high marine limit, implies ice-sheet thickness of >2000 m only 200 km from the deep Arctic Ocean, consistent with published evidence of ice grounding at 1000 m water depth in the central Arctic Ocean. Till fabrics and glacial tectonics record repeated expansions of local ice caps exclusively, suggesting wet-based ice cap advance followed by cold-based regional ice-sheet expansion. Local ice caps over highland sites along the perimeter of the shallow Kara Sea, including the Byrranga Mountains, appear to have repeatedly fostered initiation of a large Kara Sea ice sheet, with exception of the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2), when Kara Sea ice did not impact Severnaya Zemlya and barely graced northernmost Taymyr Peninsula.