Ice‐distal landscape and sediment signatures evidencing damming and drainage of large pro‐glacial lakes,northwest Russia |
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| Authors: | ASTRID LYSÅ MARIA A JENSEN EILIV LARSEN OLA FREDIN IGOR N DEMIDOV |
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| Institution: | 1. Geological Survey of Norway, N‐7491 Trondheim, Norway;2. The University Centre in Svalbard, P.O. Box 156, N‐9171 Longyearbyen, Norway |
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| Abstract: | Lyså, A., Jensen, M. A., Larsen, E., Fredin, O. & Demidov, I. N.* 2010: Ice‐distal landscape and sediment signatures evidencing damming and drainage of large pro‐glacial lakes, northwest Russia. Boreas, Vol. 40, pp. 481–497. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00197.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Sediments from river sections and the morphology of the upper reaches of Severnaya Dvina and Vychegda in northwest Russia show evidence of the existence of large ice‐dammed lakes in the area twice during the Weichselian. During the Late Weichselian, three separate ice‐dammed lakes (LGM lake(s)) existed, the largest one at about 135 m a.s.l. having a volume of about 1510 km3. Stepwise and rapid lake drainage is suggested to have taken place within less than 1000 years. The locations of various passpoints controlled the drainage, and when the lake was at its maximum level water spilled southeastwards into the Volga basin. Later, but before the lake water finally drained into the White Sea, water was routed northeastwards into the southeastern part of the Barents Sea. The oldest lake, the White Sea lake, existed around 67–57 ka ago, slightly in conflict with earlier palaeogeographic reconstructions regarding the chronology. The extent of the lake was constrained by, in addition to the Barents Sea ice‐sheet margin in the north, thresholds in the drainage basin. Later, one threshold was eroded and lowered during the LGM lake drainage. Given a lake level of about 115 m a.s.l., a lake area of about 2.5 × 104 km3 and a water volume of about 4800 km3, the lake drainage northwards and into the ocean probably impacted the ocean circulation. |
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