A dendrochronological analysis of driftwood in the Northern Dvina delta and on northern Novaya Zemlya

Analysis of the wood anatomy of modem driftwood logs deposited by the North ern Dvina River, Russia, reveals nearly identical amounts of Picea and Pinu s in contrast to the driftwood deposits in the European Arctic, which are d ominated by Pinus. Two Picea and two Pinus driftwood chronologies that were constructed could be cross-dated with several chronologies available from the drainage area of the Northern Dvina as well as with driftwood chronolog ies from Jan Mayen in the Greenland Sea or the Barents Sea coast of north N orway. The degree of cross dating indicates that two major source areas are represented among the driftwood logs examined, i.e., the lower part of the Pinega drainage basin and the eastern central part of the province of Arch angel. The origin suggested corresponds with the development of the importa nt logging areas. Driftwood pine and spruce logs from northern Novaya Zemly a cross-dated with chronologies from northwest Russia and the Lower Angara region reveal a transport of ice-rafted wood between the Barents Sea and th e northern Kara Sea. Two dispersal routes of driftwood from northwest Russi a to locations in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian and Greenland Sea are p roposed, via an counter-clockwise circulation in the Barents Sea and via ex port of drift ice to the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya.