The Late Weichselian and Holocene shoreline displacement on the west-central coast of Svalbard

Abstract

Three well-developed raised marine shorelines along Nordenskioldkysten have been studied and correlated with the shoreline displacement since the last deglaciation. The marine limit of 64 m in the area is of Late Weichselian age and has been dated to 10,900- I1,OOO years B.P. An intermediate level at 50 m is estimated to be 10,600-10,000 years old and demonstrates a sea level stagnation probably caused by a glacier readvance in eastern Svalbard during the Younger Dryas. A Holocene transgression culminating shortly after 6,000 years B.P. has been stratigraphically demonstrated, and it probably correlates with the Tapes transgression of Scandinavia. No pre-Late Weichselian marine levels are found, and the large rebound can be attributed only to a Late Weichselian glaciation.