Radiocarbon and seismic evidence of ice-sheet extent and the last deglaciation on the mid-Norwegian continental shelf

Abstract

Reconstruction of the ice extent and glacier chronology on the continental shelf off mid-Norway has been severely hampered by the lack of dates from the glacial deposits. Seismic interpretation and new accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon dates show that the ice sheet extended to the edge of the continental shelf at the last glacial maximum. The two youngest till units near the shelf edge were deposited about 15,000 and 13,500 BP. The results indicate that the ice sheet partly reached the shelf break as late as 13,000 BP, followed by a deglaciation of most of the continental shelf in less than 1000 years.