Description: Geomorphological and sedimentary records of Holocene coastal deposits may serve as archives for the local reconstruction of trends in coastal evolution and of the key forcing parameters controlling long-term change. We here present new observations on the sedimentology, chronology, and surface properties of a coupled beach ridge and coastal lagoon system located on the northern shore of San Matías Gulf, NE Patagonia, Argentina. The study is based on remotely sensed data, sediment cores, and a large number of samples dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The field site is located in a topographical depression within a cliffed shoreline composed of friable sand and gravel stones. The oldest preserved lagoonal deposits formed in the protected inner part of the system c. 2300 years ago. An up to 4-km-wide strandplain prograded rapidly between c. 1000 and 500 years in the more exposed western part of the system. Lagoonal deposition occurred primarily during the last 500 years. The chronology and spatial arrangement of landforms appear to result from a switch-over in sediment delivery probably caused by local implications of major shifts in climate regime. Even though we were not able to identify or benchmark the precise triggers of geomorphological change at Caleta de los Loros, our study presents an example of the potential importance of environmental changes on the rapid and non-linear development of coastal sedimentary systems.

Description: Permafrost region subsurface organic carbon (OC) pools are a major component of the terrestrial carbon cycle and vulnerable to a warming climate. Thermokarst lagoons are an important transition stage with complex depositional histories during which permafrost and lacustrine carbon pools are transformed along eroding Arctic coasts. The effects of temperature and salinity changes during thermokarst lake to lagoon transitions on thaw history and lagoon deposits are understudied. We analyzed two 30-m-long sediment cores from two thermokarst lagoons on the Bykovsky Peninsula, Northeast Siberia, using sedimentological, geochronological, hydrochemical, and biogeochemical techniques. Using remote sensing we distinguished between a semi-closed and a nearly closed lagoon. We (1) characterized the depositional history, (2) studied the impact of marine inundation on ice-bearing permafrost and taliks, and (3) quantified the OC pools for different stages of thermokarst lagoons. Fluvial and former Yedoma deposits were found at depth between 30 and 8.5 m, while lake and lagoon deposits formed the upper layers. The electrical conductivity of the pore water indicated hypersaline conditions for the semi-closed lagoon (max: 108 mS/cm), while fresh to brackish conditions were observed beneath a 5 m-thick surface saline layer at the nearly closed lagoon. The deposits had a mean OC content of 15 ± 2 kg/m3, with higher values in the semi-closed lagoon. Based on the cores we estimated a total OC pool of 5.7 Mt-C for the first 30 m of sediment below five mapped lagoons on the Bykovsky Peninsula. Our results suggest that paleo river branches shaped the middle Pleistocene landscape followed by late Pleistocene Yedoma permafrost accumulation and early Holocene lake development. Afterward, lake drainage, marine flooding, and bedfast ice formation caused the saline enrichment of pore water, which led to cryotic talik development. We find that the OC-pool of Arctic lagoons may comprise a substantial inventory of partially thawed and partially refrozen OC, which is available for microbial degradation processes at the Arctic terrestrial-marine interface. Climate change in the Arctic leading to sea level rise, permafrost thaw, coastal erosion, and sea ice loss may increase the rate of thermokarst lagoon formation and thus increase the importance of lagoons as biogeochemical processors of former permafrost OC.

Description: Beach and shoreface sediments deposited in the more than 800-km long ice-dammed Lake Komi in northern European Russia have been investigated and dated. The lake flooded the lowland areas between the Barents-Kara Ice Sheet in the north and the continental drainage divide in the south. Shoreline facies have been dated by 18 optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates, most of which are closely grouped in the range 80-100 ka, with a mean of 88 +/- 3 ka. This implies that that the Barents-Kara Ice Sheet had its Late Pleistocene maximum extension during the Early Weichselian, probably in the cold interval (Rederstall) between the Brørup and Odderade interstadials of western Europe, correlated with marine isotope stage 5b. This is in strong contrast to the Scandinavian and North American ice sheets, which had their maxima in isotope stage 2, about 20 ka. Field and air photo interpretations suggest that Lake Komi was dammed by the ice advance, which formed the Harbei-Harmon-Sopkay Moraines. These has earlier been correlated with the Markhida moraine across the Pechora River Valley and its western extension. However, OSL dates on fluvial sediments below the Markhida moraine have yielded ages as young as 60 ka. This suggests that the Russian mainland was inundated by two major ice sheet advances from the Barents-Kara seas after the last interglacial: one during the Early Weichselian (about 90 ka) that dammed Lake Komi and one during the Middle Weichselian (about 60 ka). Normal fluvial drainage prevailed during the Late Weichselian, when the ice front was located offshore.

Description: The last glacial maximum (LGM) of the Scandinavian ice sheet in the Arkhangelsk region has been identified morphologically as ridges and hummocks in an otherwise flat topography. Stratigraphically the limit is marked by the presence of till above Mikhulinian (last interglacial) sediments inside the ridges and by the absence of till outside the ridges. During the LGM, ice flowed into the region from the north and northwest forming a lobe in the Dvina--Vaga depression. The continuation northward, northeast of Arkhangelsk, is still somewhat uncertain, but evidence suggests that the outer margin of the Scandinavian ice sheet was situated in the Mezen drainage basin. Luminescence and radiocarbon dates suggest that the maximum position was attained after some 17 ka ago, and that deglaciation started close to 15 ka ago. This age for the maximum position is younger than the maximum position in the western peripheral areas of the Scandinavian ice sheet. This may be accounted for by initial ice build-up in the west followed by a successive migration of the ice divide(s) to the east as ice growth continued. Deglaciation was either by lateral retreat or isolation of dead ice masses causing areal downwasting.