Holocene stratigraphy and vegetation history in the Scoresby Sund area, East Greenland

Abstract

The Holocene stratigraphy in Scoresby Sund is based on climatic change as reflected by fluctuations in fjord and valley glaciers, immigration and extinction of marine molluscs, and the vegetation history recorded in pollen diagrams from five lakes. The histories are dated by C-14, and indirectly by emergence curves showing the patterns of isostatic uplift. From c. 10100-10400 to 9400 yr BP the major fjord glaciers showed oscillatory retreat with abundant moraine formation, the period of the Milne Land Moraines. The vegetation in the ice-free areas was a sparse type of fell field vegetation but with thermophilous elements indicating temperatures similar to the present. From 9400 yr BP the fjord glaciers retreated rapidly in the narrow fjords, the few moraines formed are referred to the Rødefjord stages and indicate topographically conditioned stillstands. At 8000 yr BP the low arctic Betula nana immigrated into the area, and in the period until 5000 yr BP dense dwarf shrub heath grew in areas where it is now absent. In the fjords the subarctic Mytilus edulis and Pecten islandica lived, suggesting a climate warmer than the present. From c. 5000 yr BP the dense dwarf shrub heath began to disappear in the coastal areas, and a 'poor' heath dominated by the high arctic Salix Arctica and Cassiope tetragona expanded. These two species, which are now extremely common, apparently did not grow in the area until c. 6000 yr BP. In lakes in the coastal area minerogenic sedimentation at c. 2800 yr BP, reflecting the general climatic deterioration.