Age and extent of the Barents and Kara ice sheets in Northern Russia

Abstract

The youngest ice marginal zone between the White Sea and the Ural mountains is the W‐E trending belt of moraines called the Varsh‐Indiga‐Markhida‐Harbei‐Halmer‐Sopkay, here called the Markhida line. Glacial elements show that it was deposited by the Kara Ice Sheet, and in the west, by the Barents Ice Sheet. The Markhida moraine overlies Eemian marine sediments, and is therefore of Weichselian age. Distal to the moraine are Eemian marine sediments and three Palaeolithic sites with many C‐14 dates in the range 16–37 ka not covered by till, proving that it represents the maximum ice sheet extension during the Weichselian. The Late Weichselian ice limit of M. G. Grosswald is about 400 km (near the Urals more than 700 km) too far south. Shorelines of ice dammed Lake Komi, probably dammed by the ice sheet ending at the Markhida line, predate 37 ka. We conclude that the Markhida line is of Middle/Early Weichselian age, implying that no ice sheet reached this part of Northern Russia during the Late Weichselian. This age is supported by a series of C‐14 and OSL dates inside the Markhida line all of >45 ka. Two moraine loops protrude south of the Markhida line; the Laya‐Adzva and Rogavaya moraines. These moraines are covered by Lake Komi sediments, and many C‐14 dates on mammoth bones inside the moraines are 26–37 ka. The morphology indicates that the moraines are of Weichselian age, but a Saalian age cannot be excluded. No post‐glacial emerged marine shorelines are found along the Barents Sea coast north of the Markhida line.