A HIGH-RESOLUTION, 800-YEAR GLACIOMARINE RECORD FROM RUSSKAYA GAVAN', A NOVAYA ZEMLYA FJORD, EASTERN BARENTS SEA

Abstract

Sediment core ASV-987 from Russkaya Gavan’, a tidewater fjord on the northwestern coast of Novaya Zemlya, provides the first multicentury record of sedimentary and hydrographic glaciomarine environments in Russian Arctic with a century-scale resolution. Age is constrained by seven 14C ages securing an especially robust control for the period between c. AD 1370 and 1600. Based on sediment structure, grain size, depositional rates, foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopes in foraminiferal tests, we reconstruct the changes in fjord sedimentation and circulation in relation to the history of a tidewater glacier connected to the main Novaya Zemlya ice complex. We conclude that a noticeable glacier advance occurred c. AD 1400, contemporaneous with a change in North Atlantic atmospheric circulation inferred from GISP-2 ion-contents data. A major glacier retreat from Russkaya Gavan’ occurred by c. AD 1600, succeeded by low sedimentary inputs. Intervals with depleted stable isotopic values, including the core top, may indicate intensified glacier melting. Stronger melting in the 1900s is consistent with an increase in sedimentation rates.