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Geomorphological evidence for an ongoing transgression on northwestern Svalbard

Westlund, Kristian LU (2014) In Dissertations in Geology at Lund University GEOL01 20141
Department of Geology
Abstract
Rise and fall of the global sea level during Pleistocene and Holocene are mainly caused by glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic factors directly linked to the cyclic increase and decrease of the Earth’s ice sheets. Apart from the dominating glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic factors, several other components have influenced the global sea level, which complicates the regional sea level curves of the world. One place with such a complicated relative sea level curve is northwestern Svalbard, which was covered by ice sheets during the Weichselian glaciations and started to emerge when it was deglaciated around 13 14C ka BP. Since the 1950s numerous authors have argued that there is an ongoing transgression taking place at northwestern... (More)
Rise and fall of the global sea level during Pleistocene and Holocene are mainly caused by glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic factors directly linked to the cyclic increase and decrease of the Earth’s ice sheets. Apart from the dominating glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic factors, several other components have influenced the global sea level, which complicates the regional sea level curves of the world. One place with such a complicated relative sea level curve is northwestern Svalbard, which was covered by ice sheets during the Weichselian glaciations and started to emerge when it was deglaciated around 13 14C ka BP. Since the 1950s numerous authors have argued that there is an ongoing transgression taking place at northwestern Svalbard based upon sedimentary and geomorphological ground and the dating of whale bones.
The development of geomorphological features such as lagoons, estuaries and deltas forming in protected areas, are all linked to fluctuations in sea level and can be used to determine whether or not a sea level rise is taking place. A combined map, satellite image and aerial photo analysis has been done to determine whether or not there is an ongoing transgression taking place at northwestern Svalbard and if the coastline can be considered a representative transgressive coast. The study supports the hypothesis of a slow, ongoing transgression but does not offer conclusive evidence for the same. Hence the coastline cannot be considered a typical example of a transgressive coast. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Höjningar och sänkningar av den globala havsnivån under pleistocen och holocen har framför allt styrts av glacio-isostatiska och glacio-eustatiska faktorer, direkt kopplade till de cykliska ökningarna respektive minskningarna av Jordens istäcken. Förutom de dominerande glacio-isostatiska och glacio-eustatiska faktorerna har flera andra komponenter påverkat havsnivån, vilket komplicerar de regionala havsnivåkurvorna på olika platser i världen. Ett sådant område med en komplicerad relativ havsnivåkurva är nordvästra Svalbard. Där inleddes en land-höjning efter att regionens istäcken började smälta under slutet av weichselglaciationen, ca 13 14C ka BP. Sedan 1950-talet har flera forskare argumenterat för att det pågår en transgression på... (More)
Höjningar och sänkningar av den globala havsnivån under pleistocen och holocen har framför allt styrts av glacio-isostatiska och glacio-eustatiska faktorer, direkt kopplade till de cykliska ökningarna respektive minskningarna av Jordens istäcken. Förutom de dominerande glacio-isostatiska och glacio-eustatiska faktorerna har flera andra komponenter påverkat havsnivån, vilket komplicerar de regionala havsnivåkurvorna på olika platser i världen. Ett sådant område med en komplicerad relativ havsnivåkurva är nordvästra Svalbard. Där inleddes en land-höjning efter att regionens istäcken började smälta under slutet av weichselglaciationen, ca 13 14C ka BP. Sedan 1950-talet har flera forskare argumenterat för att det pågår en transgression på nordvästra Svalbard, baserat på sedi-mentära och geomorfologiska tecken samt datering av valben.
Utvecklingen av geomorfologiska fenomen, såsom laguner, estuarier och deltan som bildas i skyddade områden, är nära kopplad till förändringar i havsnivå och kan användas för att fastställa huruvida en havsnivåhöjning pågår. En kombinerad kart-, satellit- och flygbildsanalys har gjorts för att undersöka om det pågår en transgression på nord-västra Svalbard samt om kustlinjen kan anses vara en representativ transgressiv kustlinje. Studien stödjer hypotesen om en långsam, pågående transgression, men helt entydiga resultat har inte kunnat uppnås. Därför kan inte heller kustlinjen anses vara ett typiskt exempel på en transgressiv kust. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Westlund, Kristian LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Geomorfologiska bevis för en pågående transgression på nordvästra Svalbard
course
GEOL01 20141
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
sea level, Svalbard, geomorphology, lagoons, estuaries, havsnivå, geomorfologi, laguner, estuarier
publication/series
Dissertations in Geology at Lund University
report number
394
language
English
id
4463314
date added to LUP
2014-06-24 16:07:37
date last changed
2014-06-24 16:07:37
@misc{4463314,
  abstract     = {{Rise and fall of the global sea level during Pleistocene and Holocene are mainly caused by glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic factors directly linked to the cyclic increase and decrease of the Earth’s ice sheets. Apart from the dominating glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic factors, several other components have influenced the global sea level, which complicates the regional sea level curves of the world. One place with such a complicated relative sea level curve is northwestern Svalbard, which was covered by ice sheets during the Weichselian glaciations and started to emerge when it was deglaciated around 13 14C ka BP. Since the 1950s numerous authors have argued that there is an ongoing transgression taking place at northwestern Svalbard based upon sedimentary and geomorphological ground and the dating of whale bones.
The development of geomorphological features such as lagoons, estuaries and deltas forming in protected areas, are all linked to fluctuations in sea level and can be used to determine whether or not a sea level rise is taking place. A combined map, satellite image and aerial photo analysis has been done to determine whether or not there is an ongoing transgression taking place at northwestern Svalbard and if the coastline can be considered a representative transgressive coast. The study supports the hypothesis of a slow, ongoing transgression but does not offer conclusive evidence for the same. Hence the coastline cannot be considered a typical example of a transgressive coast.}},
  author       = {{Westlund, Kristian}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Dissertations in Geology at Lund University}},
  title        = {{Geomorphological evidence for an ongoing transgression on northwestern Svalbard}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}