Abstract
Iceland was heavily glaciated at the Last Glacial Maximum – glaciers extended towards the shelf break. Ice thickness reached 1,500±500 m. The rapid deglaciation, starting 17.5–15.4 cal. kyr BP, was controlled by rising global sea level. The marine part of the ice sheet collapsed 15.4–14.6 cal. kyr BP and glaciers retreated inside the present coastline. In Younger Dryas, 12.6–12.0 cal. kyr BP, the ice sheet readvanced and terminated near the present coastline. After 11.2 cal. kyr BP the ice sheet retreated rapidly and relative sea level fell towards and eventually below present sea level at 10.7 cal. kyr BP. At 8.7 cal. kyr BP glaciers terminated proximal to their present margins. During the mid-Holocene climate optimum some of the present-day ice caps were probably absent. Ice caps expanded after 6.0–5.0 cal. kyr BP, and most glaciers reached their Holocene maxima during the Little Ice Age (AD 1300–1900).
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