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Relative Sea-Level Changes and Ice Sheet History in Finderup Land, North Greenland

Strunk, Astrid ; Larsen, Nicolaj K. LU ; Nilsson, Andreas LU ; Seidenkrantz, Marit Solveig ; Levy, Laura B. ; Olsen, Jesper and Lauridsen, Torben L. (2018) In Frontiers in Earth Science 6.
Abstract

Rising global sea level caused by melting ice sheets poses a major challenge in a persistently warming climate. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is among the main contributors, and in order to make accurate predictions of future ice retreat and sea level rise, it is imperative to understand how the ice sheet responded to global warming in the past. Reconstructions of relative sea level (RSL) are a key constraint in models of past ice sheet fluctuations, however, high-precision data has until now been sparse in North Greenland. In this study, we present a RSL reconstruction for Finderup Land, North Greenland based on five isolation lakes located between 19.6 and 81.2 m a.s.l. The transition between marine and lacustrine sediments has been... (More)

Rising global sea level caused by melting ice sheets poses a major challenge in a persistently warming climate. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is among the main contributors, and in order to make accurate predictions of future ice retreat and sea level rise, it is imperative to understand how the ice sheet responded to global warming in the past. Reconstructions of relative sea level (RSL) are a key constraint in models of past ice sheet fluctuations, however, high-precision data has until now been sparse in North Greenland. In this study, we present a RSL reconstruction for Finderup Land, North Greenland based on five isolation lakes located between 19.6 and 81.2 m a.s.l. The transition between marine and lacustrine sediments has been identified using XRF, lithological interpretation, and foraminiferal analysis. Age constraints are based on 14C dating of foraminifera and paleomagnetic age correlation. Our results show that Finderup Land was ice free by 10.8 ± 0.2 cal ka BP with a subsequent rapid RSL fall occurring from 9.5 ± 0.2 to 8.0 cal ka BP, at which point the RSL started to approach present level. Furthermore, we establish the marine limit to be minimum at 81.2 m a.s.l. We compare our data to modeled RSL predictions for the area and our results indicate a faster RSL fall, which in turn reflects that the ice retreat was more rapid than estimated and possibly, that the ice sheet in North and Northeast Greenland was larger than previous estimates suggest.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Glacial isostatic adjustment, Greenland Ice Sheet, Holocene, Isolation lakes, Relative sea level
in
Frontiers in Earth Science
volume
6
article number
129
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85054886809
ISSN
2296-6463
DOI
10.3389/feart.2018.00129
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
64a5fa36-981d-4249-8276-4b70679ed80b
date added to LUP
2018-11-05 11:10:55
date last changed
2022-04-25 18:36:16
@article{64a5fa36-981d-4249-8276-4b70679ed80b,
  abstract     = {{<p>Rising global sea level caused by melting ice sheets poses a major challenge in a persistently warming climate. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is among the main contributors, and in order to make accurate predictions of future ice retreat and sea level rise, it is imperative to understand how the ice sheet responded to global warming in the past. Reconstructions of relative sea level (RSL) are a key constraint in models of past ice sheet fluctuations, however, high-precision data has until now been sparse in North Greenland. In this study, we present a RSL reconstruction for Finderup Land, North Greenland based on five isolation lakes located between 19.6 and 81.2 m a.s.l. The transition between marine and lacustrine sediments has been identified using XRF, lithological interpretation, and foraminiferal analysis. Age constraints are based on <sup>14</sup>C dating of foraminifera and paleomagnetic age correlation. Our results show that Finderup Land was ice free by 10.8 ± 0.2 cal ka BP with a subsequent rapid RSL fall occurring from 9.5 ± 0.2 to 8.0 cal ka BP, at which point the RSL started to approach present level. Furthermore, we establish the marine limit to be minimum at 81.2 m a.s.l. We compare our data to modeled RSL predictions for the area and our results indicate a faster RSL fall, which in turn reflects that the ice retreat was more rapid than estimated and possibly, that the ice sheet in North and Northeast Greenland was larger than previous estimates suggest.</p>}},
  author       = {{Strunk, Astrid and Larsen, Nicolaj K. and Nilsson, Andreas and Seidenkrantz, Marit Solveig and Levy, Laura B. and Olsen, Jesper and Lauridsen, Torben L.}},
  issn         = {{2296-6463}},
  keywords     = {{Glacial isostatic adjustment; Greenland Ice Sheet; Holocene; Isolation lakes; Relative sea level}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Earth Science}},
  title        = {{Relative Sea-Level Changes and Ice Sheet History in Finderup Land, North Greenland}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2018.00129}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/feart.2018.00129}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}