Chronology of the deglaciation of the Zackenberg area, NE Greenland

<p>The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) plays a key role in the global climate system. Its response to recent warming concerns the scientific community due to its potential contribution to the global sea-level rise, oceanographic changes and the related heat distribution in the atmosphere. Therefore, a better understanding of the GrIS response to past glacial oscillations can provide insights into its sensitivity to rapidly changing climates. Past natural GrIS dynamics are still poorly constrained, and there are important knowledge gaps in the spatio-temporal pattern of its past fluctuations, especially on the NE margins, in response to climate variability. Here, we present new records of past GRIS extents and a detailed space-time reconstruction of the deglaciation process in the Zackenberg Valley (74ºN, 20ºE), NE Greenland, based on geomorphological mapping combined with a new dataset of 39 <sup>10</sup>Be cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) ages of moraine boulders, polished surfaces, and erratic boulders. Our dataset records glacial oscillations from the Last Glacial Cycle to the Early Holocene. Geomorphic evidence at the summit surfaces reveal that glaciers were significantly thicker (>800 m) at ca. 80 ka, when valleys and fjords were ice-covered and only the highest peaks remained ice-free. The Zackenberg outlet glacier must have been slightly smaller during the Last Glacial Maximum, although no glacial records of this period were found. Samples from moraine boulders indicate rapid and massive deglaciation of the Zackenberg Valley slopes by ca. 14 ka, during the Bølling-Allerød interstadial. Ice thinning exposed the upper and intermediate slopes surrounding the valley floor, while stabilization phases within the long-term glacial retreat favoured the development of several moraine ridges. At the end of the Younger Dryas, by ca. 12 ka, a glacier readvance favoured the development of the lowest moraine ridges of the slopes, connected with the outermost moraine system on the valley floor. Within the limits of this moraine, a debris-covered glacier formed due to the intense paraglacial readjustment of rock slopes and moraines triggered by glacier thinning. This process favoured the degradation of the moraine ridges on the slopes, supplying large amounts of debris to the shrinking glacier. By ~10.5 ka, the last remnants of glacial ice disappeared from the Zackenberg Valley floor, exposing polished bedrock outcrops and leaving scattered erratic boulders. Higher temperatures also favoured the irregular collapse of the debris-covered glacier, transforming this area into a hummocky terrain. This deglaciation chronology shows a particularly intense recession during the Bølling-Allerød and Early Holocene, a path that is broadly similar to that observed in other sites across NE Greenland.</p>

Reflection of Scandinavian Ice Sheet Fluctuations in Norwegian Sea Sediments during the Past 150,000 Years

The record of glacier fluctuations in western Scandinavia, as reconstructed from continental data, has been correlated with records of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) from well-dated sediment cores from the Norwegian Sea covering the past 150,000 yr B.P. The input of IRD into the ocean is used as a proxy for ice sheet advances onto the shelf and, thus, for the calibration of a glaciation curve. The marine results generally support land-based reconstructions of glacier fluctuations and improve the time-control on glacial advances. The Saalian ice sheet decayed very rapidly approximately 125,000 yr B.P. In the Early Weichselian, a minor but significant IRD maximum indicates the presence of icebergs in isotope substage 5b (especially between 95,000 and 83,000 yr B.P.). Reduced amounts of calcareous nannofossils indicate that surface waters were influenced by meltwater discharges during isotope substages 5d and 5b. An extensive build-up of inland ice began again during isotope stage 4, but maximum glaciation was reached only in early stage 3 (58,000-53,000 yr B.P.). Marine sediments have minimum carbonate content, indicating strong dilution by lithogenic ice-rafted material. Generally, the IRD accumulation rate was considerably higher in stages 4-2 than in stage 5. A marked peak in IRD accumulation rates from 47,000 to 43,000 yr B.P. correlates well with a second Middle Weichselian ice sheet advance dated by the Laschamp/Olby paleomagnetic event. Minimum ice extent during the Ålesund interstade (38,500-32,500 yr B.P.) and several glacial oscillations during the Late Weichselian are also seen in the IRD record. Of several late Weichselian glacial oscillations on the shelf, at least four correspond to the North Atlantic Heinrich events. Ice sheet behavior was either coupled or linked by external forcing during these events, whereas internal ice sheet mechanisms may account for the noncoherent fluctuations.