Radiocarbon Dating of a Palaeosol Buried by Sediments of a Former Ice-Dammed Lake, Leirbreen, Southern Norway

Abstract

Harris, C., Caseldine, C. J. & Chambers, W. J. 1987. Radiocarbon dating of a palaeosol buried by sediments of a former ice-dammed lake, Leirbreen, southern Norway. Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. Vol. 41, 81–90. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951. Results of chemical, palynological and ¹⁴C analysis of a palaeosol buried by proglacial lake sediments are presented. The palaeosol resembled a thin Arctic Brown Soil. Chemical analyses and ¹⁴C dates indicated that the soil was relatively young and immature at its time of burial. Soil pollen showed a sparsely vegetated surface dominated by Graminaceae and Ranunculaceae during soil development. It is concluded that burial of the soil occurred as result of ‘Little Ice Age’ expansion of Leirbreen, probably around 200 years ago. The palaeosol is not considered to represent a Preboreal soil, but rather a phase of pedogenesis initiated sometime after 1400 Calendar years B.P.