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

Autor: Per Möller
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Polar Research, Vol 43, Pp 1-6 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0800-0395
1751-8369
DOI: 10.33265/polar.v43.9724
Popis: A cross-valley beach terrace in Iladalen, in the south-east of the island of Barentsøya, Svalbard, is interpreted as having been built by long-shore sediment transport and deposition, with its maximum height at about 88 m a.s.l., marking the marine limit 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 ca. 80 m a.s.l., that is, about 8 m below the marine limit at deglaciation The bone is dated to 10 762 ± 137 cal yr BP, just a few hundred years after the generally accepted deglaciation of the coastal parts of Barentsøya, about 11 000 years ago. The vertebra’s age and altitudinal position fit well with the relative sea-level curve constructed for the north-eastern tip of the island of Edgeøya, some 29 km east–south-east of Iladalen.
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