LATE WEICHSELIAN DEGLACIAL HISTORY OF THE SVYATAYA (SAINT) ANNA TROUGH, NORTHERN KARA SEA, ARCTIC RUSSIA

Marine sediment core and seismic records from the Svyataya (Saint) Ann a Trough provide new insight into the distribution of Late Weichselian glacial coverage, ice retreat pattern, and post-glacial environments in the northern Barents and Kara seas. These records indicate that the Saint Anna Trough was filled with grounded glacier ice, which likely reached the shelf edge during the Late Weichselian maximum. Several ra diocarbon dates suggest early deglaciation of the deep axial part of t he trough prior to 13.3 ka. Two sandy beds in the deglacial section of the cores imply distinct pulses of iceberg calving and/or melting, wh ich were probably associated with stepwise retreat of the ice margin. Morainic ridges and glacial-sole markings in the western part of the S aint Anna Trough indicate that the northern-central Barents Sea was a site of a large ice mass during deglaciation; a smaller ice cap is inf erred for the Northern Kara Plateau. At later stages, ice retreat on t he western flank of the trough was directed towards Franz-Josef Land, and was presumably facilitated by a separation of the Barents Sea and Novaya Zemlya ice domes. Deglaciation of the Saint Anna Trough was com pleted by ca. 10 ka. High post-glacial sediment fluxes between 10 and 8 ka were probably related to sea-floor/coastal erosion and/or Siberia n river discharge during the rising sea level. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce B.V.