The relationship between ice sheets and submarine mass movements in the Nordic Seas during the Quaternary

Abstract

Quaternary evolution of high-latitude margins has, to a large degree been shaped by the advance and retreat of ice sheets. Our understanding of these margins and the role of ice sheets is predominantly derived from the polar North Atlantic during the Late Weichselian. This region has formed the basis for conceptual models of how glaciated margins work and evolve through time with particular focus on trough-mouth fans, submarine landslides and channel systems. Here, by reviewing the current state of knowledge of the margins of the Nordic Seas during the Quaternary we provide a new set of models for different types of glaciated margin and their deposits. This is achieved by tracking the growth and decay of the Greenland, Barents Sea and Scandinavian Ice Sheets over the last 2.58 Ma and how these ice sheets have influenced sedimentation along their margins. The reconstructed histories show 1) the completeness of records along each ice sheet margin is highly variable. 2) Climatic deterioration and the adoption of 100 kyr cyclicity has had progressive impacts on each ice sheet and the resulting sedimentation and evolution of its related margin. These reconstructions and records on other margins worldwide enable us to identify first order controls on sediment delivery at ice sheet scales, propose new conceptual models for trough-mouth fans and glaciated margin development. We are also able to show how the relationship between large submarine landslide occurrence and ice sheet histories changes on different types of margin