Final deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and implications for the Holocene global sea-level budget

• The last deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) from similar to 21,000 to 13,000 yr ago is well constrained by several hundred Be-10 and C-14 ages. The subsequent retreat history, however, is established primarily from minimum-limiting C-14 ages and incomplete Baltic-Sea varve records, leaving a substantial fraction of final SIS retreat history poorly constrained. Here we develop a high-resolution chronology for the final deglaciation of the SIS based on 79 Be-10 cosmogenic exposure dates sampled along three transects spanning southern to northern Sweden and Finland. Combining this new chronology with existing Be-10 ages on deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum shows that rates of SIS margin retreat were strongly influenced by deglacial millennial-scale climate variability and its effect on surface mass balance, with regional modulation of retreat associated with dynamical controls. Ice-volume estimates constrained by our new chronology suggest that the SIS contributed 8 m sea-level equivalent to global sea-level rise between similar to 14.5 ka and 10 ka. Final deglaciation was largely complete by similar to 10.5 ka, with highest rates of sea-level rise occurring during the Bolling-Allerod, a 50% decrease during the Younger Dryas, and a rapid increase during the early Holocene. Combining our SIS volume estimates with estimated contributions from other remaining Northern Hemisphere ice sheets suggests that the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) contributed 14.4 +/- 5.9 m to global sea-level rise since 13 ka. This new constraint supports those studies that indicate that an ice volume of 15 m or more of equivalent sea-level rise was lost from the AIS during the last deglaciation.

Ämnesord

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

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

Nyckelord

sea level

ice sheets

Holocene

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)