Stratigraphy of a Late Pleistocene ice‐cored moraine at Kap Herschell, Northeast Greenland

Abstract

At Kap Herschell, in the outer fjord zone of central northeast Greenland, exposed sections in a Late Pleistocene ice‐cored moraine revealed four major stratigraphic units deposited during the complex Kap Herschell Stade. All contain fragmented and redeposited marine shells that most likely belong to an Eemian or Early Weichselian marine episode. The oldest unit consists of buried ground ice with folded and sheared debris bands. Isotopic analyses show that the slope of the regression line for δ2H vs. δ18O of the ice is about 8.5. which suggests correlation with the Global Meteoric Water Line (GMWL). Data strongly suggest that the ground ice at Kap Herschell is a remnant of a Late Pleistocene glacier. It was probably generated at low altitudes (< 1000 m) in the inner fjord region or in the nunatak zone. The ground ice is unconformably overlain by all younger stratigraphic units, the oldest of which is a diamicton probably deposited as ablation till from the ice. A complex unit composed of mainly glaciolacustrine deposits and subordinate beds of fluvial and deltaic origin overlies the till and ground ice. Luminescence dating of the lacustrine sediments indicates maximum ages younger than 43 ka BP, suggesting deposition during isotope stages 3 or 2. The glaciolacustrine deposits suffered strongly from glaciotectonic deformation, caused by renewed glacier advance through the fjord. It reached the inner shelf and led to deposition of a discordant till at Kap Herschell, most probably during the Late Weichselian.