The impact of glaciation, river-discharge and sea-level change on Late Quaternary environments in the southwestern Kara Sea

Sedimentary records from the southwestern Kara Sea were investigated to bet ter understand the extent of the last glaciation on the Eurasian Arctic she lf, sea-level change, and history of the Ob' and Yenisey river discharge. S ediment-core and seismic-reflection data indicate that the Quaternary depos itional sequence in the southwestern Kara Sea consists of glacial, glacioma rine, and marine sedimentary units. Glaciogenic sediments in the deep Novay a Zemlya Trough are presumably related to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), w hereas further east they may represent an earlier glaciation. Thus, it is i nferred that the southeastern margin of the LGM Barents-Kara ice sheet was contained in the southwestern Kara Sea east of the Novaya Zemlya Trough. Ch anges in mineralogical, foraminiferal, and stable-isotopic composition of s ediment cores indicate that riverine discharge strongly influenced sediment ary and biotic environments in the study area during the Late Weichselian a nd early Holocene until ca. 9 ka, consistent with lowered sea levels. Subse quent proxy records reflect minor changes in the Holocene hydrographic regi me, generally characterized by reduced riverine inputs.