Glacio-isostatic Rebound (glacio-isostatic + rebound)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Landscape and Coast Development of A Lowland Fjord Margin Following Deglaciation, East Greenland

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES A: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2001
Louise Hansen
The landscapes of western Jameson Land bordering Hall Bredning fjord comprise upper river basins, glacial landscapes, lower river basins and a near-shore zone. The upper river basins are incised into bedrock and display no cover of young sediments whilst the glacial landscapes, located closer to the coast, are dominated by Pleistocene deposits and an irregular topography with hills and ridges. The lower river basins, dissecting the glacial landscapes, are connected to the upper river basins and contain well-defined Holocene delta terraces. The near-shore zone, which includes the present coast, displays a few raised shorelines. Geomorphological observations combined with stratigraphic work and 14C dates provide a chronological framework for the development of landscape and shoreline, as presented by a four-stage reconstruction. The first stage covers the deglaciation of western Jameson Land at the Weichselian-Holocene transition after a collapse of the main fjord glacier in Hall Bredning. The sea inundated the low-lying areas on Jameson Land forming small side-entry fjord basins that possibly follow the track of older valleys. This was followed by a second stage, the paraglacial period, when large meltwater production and sediment transport resulted in a fast infilling of the side-entry fjord basins by deltas. These are now exposed in terraces in the lower river basins at 70,80 m a.s.l. During a third stage, the relaxation period, fluvial activity decreased and the land surface was increasingly occupied by a cover of tundra vegetation. A glacio-isostatic rebound resulted in a relative sea level fall and fluvial incision. During stages two and three the coast was exposed to shallow marine processes that aided the alignment of the coast. Stages one to three presumably lasted for less than 2000 years. During stage four, the stable period, lasting for several thousand years till the present, there were minor adjustments of shoreline and landscape. The four-step reconstruction describes the sedimentary response of a lowland fjord margin to dramatic changes in climate and sea level. The distribution of erosion and sedimentation during this development was mainly controlled by topography. The reconstruction of the latest environmental development of Jameson Land puts new light on Jameson Land's long and complex Quaternary stratigraphic record. The reconstruction may also be used as a model for the interpretation of deposits in similar areas elsewhere. [source]


Relative sea-level observations in western Scotland since the Last Glacial Maximum for testing models of glacial isostatic land movements and ice-sheet reconstructions,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 6 2006
Ian Shennan
Abstract Observations of relative sea-level change and local deglaciation in western Scotland provide critical constraints for modelling glacio-isostatic rebound in northern Britain over the last 18,000 years. The longest records come from Skye, Arisaig and Knapdale with a shorter, Holocene, record from Kintail. Biostratigraphic (diatom, pollen, dinoflagellate, foraminifera and thecamoebian), lithological and radiocarbon analyses provide age and elevation parameters for each sea-level index point. All four sites reveal relative sea-level change that is highly non-monotonic in time as the local vertical component of glacio-isostatic rebound and eustasy (or global meltwater influx) dominate at different periods. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The Holocene shore displacement of Gästrikland, eastern Sweden: a contribution to the knowledge of Scandinavian glacio-isostatic uplift,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 6 2005
Mikael Berglund
Abstract The shore displacement in Gästrikland, east-central Sweden, has been investigated by means of AMS radiocarbon dating of sediment cores from isolated basins. Twenty dates from 11 sites are presented. Pollen and diatom analyses, and archive material from the Geological Survey of Sweden, have been used to identify isolation intervals in the cores and as chronological support to the 14C dates. An important pollen stratigraphical time-marker is a distinct mid-Holocene increase in Tilia. For the mid-Holocene, pollen stratigraphy is used rather than the 14C dates for the age determination. The deglaciation of Gästrikland, according to the new 14C dates, took place ca. 11,000,cal.,yr,BP (ca. 9500 14C,yr,BP). Through the Holocene the shore displacement is regressive. The regression was initially rapid (on average ca. 3.5,m per 100,yr 11,000,7500,cal.,yr,BP, probably much more rapid at the earliest stage), then slowed down considerably and was from ca. 5000,cal.,yr,BP (probably already from 7000,cal.,yr,BP) relatively constant, ca. 0.8,0.9,m per 100,yr. There are important differences between the shore level curve from Gästrikland and curves from other areas, indicating some irregularities in the regional glacio-isostatic rebound. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Response of the Rhine,Meuse fluvial system to Saalian ice-sheet dynamics

BOREAS, Issue 3 2008
FREEK S. BUSSCHERS
A new reconstruction of the interaction between the Saalian Drente glaciation ice margin and the Rhine,Meuse fluvial system is presented based on a sedimentary analysis of continuous core material, archived data and a section in an ice-pushed ridge. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) was applied to obtain independent age control on these sediments and to establish a first absolute chronology for palaeogeographical events prior to and during the glaciation. We identified several Rhine and Meuse river courses that were active before the Drente glaciation (MIS 11-7). The Drente glaciation ice advance into The Netherlands (OSL-dated to fall within MIS 6) led to major re-arrangement of this drainage network. The invading ice sheet overrode existing fluvial morphology and forced the Rhine,Meuse system into a proglacial position. During deglaciation, the Rhine shifted into a basin in the formerly glaciated area, while the Meuse remained south of the former ice limit, a configuration that persisted throughout most of the Eemian and Weichselian periods. An enigmatic high position of proglacial fluvial units and their subsequent dissection during deglaciation by the Meuse may partially be explained by glacio-isostatic rebound of the area, but primarily reflects a phase of high base level related to a temporary proglacial lake in the southern North Sea area, with lake levels approximating modern sea levels. Our reconstruction indicates that full ,opening' of the Dover Strait and lowering of the Southern Bight, enabling interglacial marine exchange between the English Channel and the North Sea, is to be attributed to events during the end of MIS 6. [source]


Neotectonics, sea-level changes and biological evolution in the Fennoscandian Border Zone of the southern Kattegat Sea

BOREAS, Issue 2 2002
JØRN BO JENSEN
Shallow seismic data and vibrocore information, sequence stratigraphic and faunal evidence have been used for documentation of Late Weichselian reactivation of faulting in the south central Kattegat, southern Scandinavia. The study area is situated on the Fennoscandian Border Zone, where tectonic activity has been recurrent since Early Palaeozoic time and still occurs, as shown by present earthquake activity. New data from the area south of the island of Anholt show that after deglaciation fast isostatic rebound resulted in reactivation of a NW-SE striking normal fault system. This tectonic episode is dated to a period starting shortly before 15.0 cal. ka BP and ending around 13.5 cal. ka BP, after regression had already reached a level of about 30 m b.s.l. The vertical displacement associated with the faulting was in the order of 20 m. More generally, the results support the previously reported late Weichselian sea-level highstand, which was followed by forced regression until the eustatic sea-level rise surpassed the rate of glacio-isostatic rebound in early Preboreal. Our findings further imply that drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake through the Øresund at c. 15 cal. ka BP (Bergsten & Nordberg 1992) may have been triggered by tectonic activity in this region. [source]