The pre-Holocene marine limit on Hopen, Svalbard |
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| Authors: | ROLF ZALE LARS BRYDSTEN |
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| Institution: | Dept. of Physical Geography. University of Umeå, S-901 87 Umeå. Sweden |
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| Abstract: | A pre-Holocene marine level is found at 109 m a.s.1. on Hopen. Fragments of Mya truncata and Hiatella arctica occurring on a raised coastal spit at that altitude have been radiocarbon dated to >45,000 BP. The amino acid epimerization of these shells, a clearly mixed sample, correlates with samples from Kongsøya that are of Eemian or Early Weichselian age (alloisoleucine/isoleucine ratios, hydrolysed fraction, between 0.084 and 0.213). No direct evidence, such as striations or roche moutonées, of overriding glacier ice has been found, and no erratics were found above the pre-Holocene marine limit. The existing Holocene shoreline displacement curve, with its upper limit at 60 m a.s.1., is supported by four new radiocarbon dates. |
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