Øystein S. Lohne

Record‐breaking height for 8000‐year‐old tsunami in the North Atlantic

One of the largest Holocene sub-marine slides mapped on Earth is the Storegga slide offshore Norway [Bugge, 1987] (Figure 1). Approximately 3500 km3 material slid out and generated a huge tsunami dated to about 7300 14C yr BP [Bondevik et al., 1997a], or ca 8150 calendar years BP. The tsunami is known from onshore deposits in Norway [Bondevik et al., 1997a], on the Faroe Islands [Grauert et al., 2001], and in Scotland [Dawson et al., 1993]. Of these, the tsunami deposits in western Norway reaches the highest elevation, indicating a runup of 10–12 m. In this article, we demonstrate that at the Shetland Islands between Norway and Scotland (Figure 1), this tsunami reached onshore heights at least 20 m above the sea level of that time.

Glacial history of Norway

Abstract The Scandinavian Ice Sheet formed around 12.6 Ma and expanded considerably from 2.7 Ma. During the Weichselian the western margin reached the coast during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5d and the continental shelf during MIS 5b, MIS 4 and MIS 2. It was almost gone during MIS 5c and 5a, and was much reduced during periods of MIS 3, notably the Alesund interstadial. There was a re-advance during the Younger Dryas.

Chapter 22 - Glacial History of Norway

The Scandinavian Ice Sheet formed around 12.6 Ma and expanded considerably from 2.7 Ma. During the Weichselian the western margin reached the coast during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5d and the continental shelf during MIS 5b, MIS 4 and MIS 2. It was almost gone during MIS 5c and 5a, and was much reduced during periods of MIS 3, notably the Alesund interstadial. There was a re-advance during the Younger Dryas.