Sedimentation history of the northern North Sea Margin during the last 150 ka

Abstract

The Norwegian Channel Ice Stream (NCIS) is one the defining features of the Fennoscandian icesheet. Still little is known of the detailed dynamics of this ice stream in relation to regional changes in ice cover, paleoceanographic and climatic changes. Sedimentological data from core MD99-2283 in combination with seismic data allow a detailed chronological reconstruction of the outbuilding of the margin and the ice extent in southern Scandinavia through the last 150 ka. An integrated stratigraphy of the margin is presented and compared to the glacial history. Changes in the regional ice cover are reflected in the accumulation rates, the clay mineralogy, the coarse chalk fraction and the number of IRD >2 mm in core MD99-2283, while the sedimentation on the North Sea Fan as derived from seismic data provides direct evidence for the glacial activity at the shelf edge. Tentative evidence was found for two Early Weichselian glacial advances in southern Scandinavia and possibly Scotland at around 110 and 80 ka BP. From 42 cal ka BP the ice cover expanded in southern Fennoscandia and led to increased deposition on the margin and the occurrence of local melt water outbursts. Significantly increased accumulation rates, coarse chalk, local meltwater output and smectite occur during the ice expansion in the North Sea from around 34 cal ka BP. The main outbuilding phase of the NSF during the last glacial cycle occurred after 30 cal ka BP. From around 24 cal ka BP the NCIS became highly active and advanced at least three times prior to the final retreat from the shelf edge around 19.0 cal ka BP.