L. Polyak et al., The impact of glaciation, river-discharge and sea-level change on Late Quaternary environments in the southwestern Kara Sea, INT J E SCI, 89(3), 2000, pp. 550-562
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.