POSTGLACIAL SEA-LEVEL HISTORY OF EDGEOYA AND BARENTSOYA, EASTERN SVALBARD

Four relative sea-level curves from Edgeoya and Barentsoya are constru cted based on 81 radiocarbon age determinations on carefully selected and levelled samples in raised beaches, mostly driftwood embedded in b each gravel. All the dates, covering the period from the deglaciation to the present, are calibrated to calendar years, and the sea-level cu rves are defined by fitting the data with a least square regression cu rve. The dates are internally very consistent, and the results are som e of the most precise sea-level curves from the Arctic. The four curve s are quite similar, and from the marine limit at 85-90 m a.s.l. they show a rapid emergence (ca 40 mm/year), formed about 11,000 cal yrs BP (approximate to 10,000(14)C yrs BP). A minimum rate of emergence clos e to 8000 cal years ago is explained by a decreased rate in isostatic uplift parallel with a sustained rate of eustatic sea-level rise. Duri ng the last 7000 cal years, the emergence rate has decreased linearly. The uplift rates have been slightly higher on southern Edgeoya than f urther north during the last 7000 years. By comparing the sea-level cu rves from Storoya (ca 270 km to the north) and Hopen (ca 150 km to the south), we suggest that a memory of an earlier and larger glacio-isos tatic downwarping in the southern Barents Sea is detected in the sea-l evel curves from Hopen and southern Edgeoya.