Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:56:49.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Margin of the Last Barents-Kara Ice Sheet at Markhida, Northern Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jan Tveranger ,
Valery Astakhov  and
Jan Mangerud
Jan Tveranger
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Bergen, Allègaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Valery Astakhov
Affiliation:
Institute of Remote Sensing Methods for Geology (VNIIKAM), Birzhevoy proyezd 6, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia
Jan Mangerud
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Bergen, Allègaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Markhida Moraine is a broad zone of ice marginal landforms and deposits running E-W across the Pechora lowland in northern Russia. It was formed along the southern margin of an ice sheet advancing onto the coast from the Kara Sea. Previous researchers (Grosswald, 1980, 1983, 1994a: Grosswald et al., 1974) concluded that the moraine was formed during a readvance of the Barents-Kara ice sheet after 9000 14C yr B.P. This conclusion was based on the occurrence of deformed lacustrine sediments dated 9000 to 10,000 14C yr B.P. between two presumed basal tills in the type section at Markhida. A reinvestigation of the section by the authors revealed only one basal till overlain by lacustrine sediments and diamictons, yielding radiocarbon dates between 9000 and 10,000 14C yr B.P. Luminescence dating from the sand underlying the till gave Middle Weichselian ages. Deformation structures and fabric in the sediments overlying the till solely reflect gravity-driven processes, not glaciotectonic deformation as claimed by previous investigators. We conclude that most of these sediments were finally deposited during very slow (retarded) melting of a large body of buried glacier ice and the underlying permafrost. Thus, the Markhida Moraine, as an ice marginal feature, was formed prior to 10,000 14C yr B.P., probably during the Late Weichselian, but possibly as early as the Middle Weichselian.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , November 1995 , pp. 328 - 340
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arslanov, Kh. A. Lavrov, A. S. Nikiforova, L. D. Zaitseva, G. A., and Chernov, S. B. (1975). On paleogeography and geochronology of the Late Glacial in the Northern Pechora Lowland. Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta 12 , 86–93. [In Russian] Google Scholar
Arslanov, Kh. A. Lavrov, A. S. Lyadov, V. V. Nikiforova, L. D. Potapenko, L. K., and Tertychnaya, T. V. (1980). The radiocarbon chronology and paleogeography of the Mid-Valdai interval and last ice sheet in the North-East of the Russian Plain. In “Geokhronologia chetvertichnogo perioda.” Nauka, Moscow. [Internal translation, University of Bergen, 1994, by Zamoruyev, A. and Astakhov, V..Google Scholar
Arslanov, Kh. A. Lavrov, A. S., and Nikiforova, L. D. (1981). About the stratigraphy, geochronology and climate change during the Middle and Late Pleistocene on the North-Eastern Russian Plain. In Pleistotsenovye oledenenia Vostochno-Evropeiskoy ravniny (Velichko, A. A. and Faustova, M. A, Eds.), pp. 37–52. Nauka, Moscow. [In Russian] Google Scholar
Arslanov, Kh. A. Lavrov, A. S. Potapenko, L. M. Teriychnaya, T. V., and Chernov, S. B. (1987). New data on geochronology and paleogeography of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of the Northern Pechora Lowland. Novye dannye po geokhronologii chetvertichnogo perioda, pp. 101–111. Nauka, Moscow. [Internal translation, University of Bergen, 1993, by Zamoruyev, A. and Astakhov, V.]Google Scholar
Astakhov, V. (1984). The Urals. In “Stratigrafia SSSR. The Quaternary system.” (Krasnov, L. I., Ed.) 2nd half-volume, pp. 193–226. Nedra, Moscow. [In Russian] Google Scholar
Astakhov, V. I. and Isayeva, L. L. (1988). The “Ice Hill”: An example of retarded deglaciation in Siberia. Quaternary Science Reviews 7 , 29–40.Google Scholar
Astakhov, V. (1992). The last glaciation in West Sibirea. Geological Survey of Sweden, Series Ca 81 , 21–30.Google Scholar
Astakhov, V. (1994). “The Last Glaciation in Russia’s European Arctic.” Centre for Studies of Environment and Resources, University of Bergen, Report 13/94.Google Scholar
Boulton, G. S. (1971). Till genesis and fabric in Svalbard, Spitsbergen. In “Till, a Symposium.” (Goldthwaite, R. P., lid.), pp. 41–72. Ohio State Univ. Press, Columbus, OH.Google Scholar
Elverhøi, A. Fjeldskaar, W. Solheim, A. Nyland-Berg, M., and Russwurm, L. (1993). The Barents Sea ice sheet—a model of its growth and decay during the last ice maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 12 , 863–873.Google Scholar
Faustova, M. A., and Velichko, A. A. (1992). Dynamics of the last glaciation in northern Eurasia. Geological Survey of Sweden, Series Ca 81 , 113–118.Google Scholar
Gataullin, V. Polyak, L. Epstein, O., and Romanyuk, B. (1993). Glacigenic deposits of the Central Deep: A key to Late Quaternary evolution of the eastern Barents Sea. Boreas 22 , 47–58.Google Scholar
Grosswald, M. G. (1980). Late Weichselian ice sheets of northern Eurasia. Quaternary Research 13 , 1–32.Google Scholar
Grosswald, M. G. (1983). “Ice sheets of the continental shelves.” Nauka, Moscow. 216 pp. [In Russian].Google Scholar
Grosswald, M. G. (1994a). Extent and melting history of the Late Weichselian ice sheet, the Barents-Kara continental margin. In “Ice in the Climate System.” (Peltier, W. R., Ed.), NATO ASI Series, Vol. I 12, pp. 1–20, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Grosswald, M. G. (1994b). The drumlin fields of the Novaya Zemlya-Urals region and the Kara center of glaciation. Polar Geography and Geology 18 , 15–32.Google Scholar
Grosswald, M. G. Lavrov, A. S., and Potapenko, L. M. (1974). The glacial stade Markhida-Velt: A double surge of the Barents Ice Sheet? Materialy glatsiologicheskikh issledovaniy 24 , 173–188. [In Russian] Google Scholar
Guslitser, B. I. Duryagina, D. A., and Kochev, V. A. (1985). The age of the topography-forming tills in the lower Pechora basin and the limit of the last ice-sheet. Trudy Institute of Geology, Komi Branch of the Academy of Sciences USSR 54 , 97–107. [Internal translation, University of Bergen, 1994, by Zamoruyev, A. and Astakhov, V.]Google Scholar
Lavrov, A. S. Nikiforova, L. D., and Potapenko, L. M. (1986). Dynamics of the Pleistocene ice sheets, vegetation and climate in the north-eastern European part of the USSR. In “Novye materialy po paleogeografft i straigrafii Pleistotsena,” pp. 69–78. Bashkir Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Ufa. [In Russian] Google Scholar
Mangerud, J. Bolstad, M. Elgersma, A. Helliksem, D. Landvik, J. Y. Lønne, I. Lycke, A. K. Salvigsen, O. Sandahl, T., and Svendsen, J. I. (1992). The last glacial maximum on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Quaternary Research 38 , 1–31.Google Scholar
Mejdahl, V. (1988). The plateau method for dating partially bleached sediments by thermoluminescence. Quaternary Science Reviews 7 , 347–348.Google Scholar
Mejdahl, V. Shlukov, A. I. Shakovets, S. A. Voskovskaya, L. T., and Lyashenko, M. G. (1992). The effect of shallow traps—A possible source in TL dating. Ancient TL 10 , 22–25.Google Scholar
Mejdahl, V., and Bøtter-Jensen, L. (1994). Luminescence dating of archeological materials using single aliquots. Quaternary Geochronology 13 , 551–554.Google Scholar
Mejdahl, V., and Christiansen, H. H. (1994). Procedures used for luminescence dating of sediments. Quaternary Geochronology 13 , 403–406.Google Scholar
Yakovlev, S. A. (1956). The fundamentals of the Quaternary geology of the Russian Plain. Trudy VSEGEI 17, (new series), 314 pp. [In Russian] Google Scholar