Henriette Linge

Late Pleistocene glacial and lake history of northwestern Russia

Five regionally significant Weichselian glacial events, each separated by terrestrial and marine interstadial conditions, are described from northwestern Russia. The first glacial event took place in the Early Weichselian. An ice sheet centred in the Kara Sea area dammed up a large lake in the Pechora lowland. Water was discharged across a threshold on the Timan Ridge and via an ice-free corridor between the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and the Kara Sea Ice Sheet to the west and north into the Barents Sea. The next glaciation occurred around 75–70 kyr BP after an interstadial episode that lasted c. 15 kyr. A local ice cap developed over the Timan Ridge at the transition to the Middle Weichselian. Shortly after deglaciation of the Timan ice cap, an ice sheet centred in the Barents Sea reached the area. The configuration of this ice sheet suggests that it was confluent with the Scandinavian Ice Sheet. Consequently, around 70–65 kyr BP a huge ice-dammed lake formed in the White Sea basin (the ‘White Sea Lake’), only now the outlet across the Timan Ridge discharged water eastward into the Pechora area. The Barents Sea Ice Sheet likely suffered marine down-draw that led to its rapid collapse. The White Sea Lake drained into the Barents Sea, and marine inundation and interstadial conditions followed between 65 and 55 kyr BP. The glaciation that followed was centred in the Kara Sea area around 55–45 kyr BP. Northward directed fluvial runoff in the Arkhangelsk region indicates that the Kara Sea Ice Sheet was independent of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and that the Barents Sea remained ice free. This glaciation was succeeded by a c. 20-kyr-long ice-free and periglacial period before the Scandinavian Ice Sheet invaded from the west, and joined with the Barents Sea Ice Sheet in the northernmost areas of northwestern Russia. The study area seems to be the only region that was invaded by all three ice sheets during the Weichselian. A general increase in ice-sheet size and the westwards migrating ice-sheet dominance with time was reversed in Middle Weichselian time to an easterly dominated ice-sheet configuration. This sequence of events resulted in a complex lake history with spillways being re-used and ice-dammed lakes appearing at different places along the ice margins at different times.

Rapid climate shifts in the southern African interior throughout the Mid to Late Holocene

A detailed climate proxy record based on δ18O, δ13O, and grey index of a well-dated stalagmite from Cold Air Cave in the Makapansgat Valley of north-eastern South Africa suggests that regional precipitation, temperatures and vegetation oscillated markedly and rapidly over the last ∼6500 years on centennial and multi-decadal scales. The mid-Holocene prior to 5200 years ago was humid and warm. A fundamental transition occurred 3200 years ago, leading to drier and cooler conditions that culminated at 1750 AD. Comparisons with ice core records suggest synchronous changes implicating rapid global teleconnections.

Stable isotope stratigraphy of Holocene speleothems: examples from a cave system in Rana, northern Norway

High-precision TIMS U-series dates and continuous stable oxygen and carbon isotope profiles of a 4000 year stalagmite record from Rana, northern Norway, are presented and compared with data from two other speleothems from the same cave. The dating results yield ages from 3875 ^ 34 to 296 ^ 3 years before AD2000, with 2s errors from 0.5 to 1%. The overall growth rate is 35 mm/ka, corresponding to a temporal resolution of 29 years/mm. The stalagmite is tested for isotopic equilibrium conditions, where all ‘Hendy’ tests, except one, indicate isotopic equilibrium or quasi equilibrium deposition. Both the stable oxygen and carbon isotope records reveal a strong and abrupt enrichment in the near-top measurements. This corresponds in time to the opening of a second cave entrance in the late 1960s, which caused changes in the cave air circulation. The stable oxygen isotope signal is enriched compared to the modern value over the last 300 years, indicating a negative response to temperature changes. Likewise, the stable carbon isotope record is enriched in this period. However, both of the stable isotope records are shown to be significantly enriched compared to the isotope ranges displayed by other stalagmites in the same cave, and this questions the reliability of the proxy records derived from the presented stalagmite. Still, a general good correspondence of large scale fluctuations is found between the three stable oxygen isotope records from this cave. The stable carbon isotope records show large variations within the cave and are believed to be governed by soil-zone conditions, percolation pathways and possibly driprates. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Cosmogenic 10Be exposure age dating across Early to Late Weichselian ice‐marginal zones in northwestern Russia

Rock samples from the Kanin Peninsula and the Timan Ridge were analysed for in situ cosmogenic 10Be for exposure age dating purposes. Crystalline rocks were sampled at four sites on the Kanin Peninsula, either from bedrock outcrops or from glacial erratics, giving overall similar 10Be ages. Outcropping sandstone and crystalline erratics were available from three sites at the Timan Ridge. The highly weathered sandstone gives substantially younger 10Be ages than the adjacent erratics. The exposure ages from the Kanin Peninsula suggest that the last deglaciation of this area took place between 55 and 37 10Be kyr ago, in agreement with a preceding Kara Sea glaciation (55–45 kyr BP). The northwest coast of the peninsula was probably just outside the maximum limit of the last Scandinavian glaciation (20–17 kyr BP). Glacial erratic exposure ages from the Timan Ridge suggest that the 55–45 kyr BP Kara Sea glaciation reached the northern part of the ridge. The exposure dates do not show conclusive evidence regarding the existence of a Timan Ridge ice cap.

Widespread erosion on high plateaus during recent glaciations in Scandinavia

Glaciers create some of Earth’s steepest topography; yet, many areas that were repeatedly overridden by ice sheets in the last few million years include extensive plateaus. The distinct geomorphic contrast between plateaus and the glacial troughs that dissect them has sustained two long-held hypotheses: first, that ice sheets perform insignificant erosion beyond glacial troughs, and, second, that the plateaus represent ancient pre-glacial landforms bearing information of tectonic and geomorphic history prior to Pliocene–Pleistocene global cooling (~3.5 Myr ago). Here we show that the Fennoscandian ice sheets drove widespread erosion across plateaus far beyond glacial troughs. We apply inverse modelling to 118 new cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al measurements to quantify ice sheet erosion on the plateaus fringing the Sognefjorden glacial trough in western Norway. Our findings demonstrate substantial modification of the pre-glacial landscape during the Quaternary, and that glacial erosion of plateaus is important when estimating the global sediment flux to the oceans.The contribution of surface processes to the long-term evolution of plateau surfaces on high-latitude passive margins is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that recent glacial erosion on plateaus in western Scandinavia was widespread and may have contributed substantially to the sediment flux to the oceans.