A bowhead whale vertebra embedded in marine limit beach sediment on Barentsøya, Svalbard

• A cross-valley beach terrace in Iladalen in the south-eastern corner of Barentsøya (Svalbard) is interpreted as built by long-shore sediment transport and deposition, with its maximum height at 88 m a.s.l., marking the marine limit (ML) at deglaciation. A whale vertebra (most probably from a bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus) was found embedded in the upper part of the littoral sediments at a height of 80 m a.s.l., thus only about 8 m below the ML, and dated to 10,762 ± 137 cal. BP. This age is just a few hundred years after the generally accepted deglaciation age of the coastal parts of Barentsøya at c. 11,000 yrs. BP and its age and altitudinal position fits well with the relative sea level curve constructed for the north-eastern tip of Edgeøya, some 29 km ESE from Iladalen.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geology (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)