Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T16:23:19.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Barents Ice Sheet as a Relay Regulator of Glacial-Interglacial Alternation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

D. D. Kvasov*
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanology, Vasilyevsky ostrov 1 liniya 30, Leningrad 199053, USSR

Abstract

A slight cooling can induce the formation of ice sheets in the Scandinavian mountains and in the American Arctic. The increasing albedo and the appearance of cold air masses above the glaciers cause glaciation to spread over a vast area. As a result, the sea level lowers and a large part of the Barents and Kara seabeds dries up. Ice sheets are formed there, which spread over the northeastern part of the Kola Peninsula, the Pechora River basin, and over northwestern Siberia. The glacier barrier extending nearly from the North Pole to central Europe hinders latitudinal atmospheric circulation. Precipitation decreases sharply in the areas east and southeast of the glaciers. As a consequence, glaciers in the mid-latitudes retreat and sea level rises. Increased iceberg formation is induced in the periphery of the Barents Ice Sheet, causing it to disappear. An interglacial sets in.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, J.T., Ives, J.D., 1972. Late- and Postglacial events in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Vasari, Y., Climate changes in Arctic areas during the last ten thousand years. Oulu Univ. Press, Oulu, Finland, 149 174.Google Scholar
Arrhenius, S., 1896. On the influence of the carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground. Philosophical Magazine. 41, 237 275.Google Scholar
Arslanov, Ch.A., Lavrov, A.S., Nikifozova, L.D., Zaytzev, G.Ja., Cherhov, S.B., 1975. On paleogeography and geochronology of Late Pleistocene period on North Pechora lowland. Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta. 12, 86 93 (in Russian with an English summary).Google Scholar
Astachov, 107.I., 1976. Geological evidences of the centre of the Pleistocene glaciation on the Kara shelf. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 231, 1178 1181 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Berggren, W.A., 1972. Late Pliocene-Pleistocene glaciation. Davies, T.A., Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Vol. 12, 953 963 Washington, D.C..Google Scholar
Blazhchishin, A.I., Linkova, T.I., 1977. On the Pliocene glaciation of the Barents shelf. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 236, 696 699 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Boulton, G.S., Rhodes, M., 1974. Isostatic uplift and glacial history in northern Spitsbergen. Geological Magazine. 111, 481 500.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Thurber, D.L., Goddard, J., Ku, T.-L., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J., 1968. Milankovitch hypothesis supported by precise dating of coral reefs and deep-sea sediments. Science. 159, 297 300.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., van Donk, J., 1970. Insolation changes, ice volumes and the O18 record in deep-sea cores. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 8, 169 198.Google Scholar
Brooks, C.E.P., 1949 Climate Through the Ages. Dover, New York. Google Scholar
Chebotareva, N.S., 1977. The Structure and Dynamics of the Last Ice Sheet of Europe. Nauka, Moscow, (in Russian with an English summary).Google Scholar
Clark, D.L., 1971. Arctic Ocean ice cover and its Late Cenozoic history. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 82, 3313 3323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1976. CLIMAP Project Members. The surface of iceage Earth. Science. 191, 1131 1137.Google Scholar
Dauser, W.G., Ross, E.H., Waterman, L.S., 1976. Glacial and pluvial periods: Their relationship revailed by Pleistocene sediments of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Science. 191, 1168 1170.Google Scholar
De Geer, G., 1900. Om osträ Spetsbergens glaciation under istiden. Geologiska Forenigens i Stockholm Förhandlingar. 22, 427 436.Google Scholar
Dibner, 108.D., 1968. “Ancient clays” and relief of the Barents-Kara shelf—the evidence of the existence of an ice sheet in Pleistocene. Trudy Arkticheskogo i Antarcticheskogo Nauchno-Issledovatelskogo Instituta. 285, 118 122 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Donn, W.L., Ewing, M., 1966. The theory of ice ages: III. Science. 152, 1706 1712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ewing, M., Donn, W.L., 1956. The theory of ice ages: I. Science. 123, 1061 1066.Google Scholar
Ewing, M., Donn, W.L., 1958. The theory of ice ages: II. Science. 127, 1159 1162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fairbridge, R.W., 1970. World paleoclimatology of the Quaternary. Revue de Géographie Physique et de Géologie Dynamique. 12, 97 104.Google Scholar
Frenzel, B., 1968 Grundzüge der Pleistozänen Vegetationsgeschichte Nord-Eurasiens. Steiner, Wiesbaden. Google Scholar
Grichuk, 109.P., 1951. On the arid period in Post-glacial time on the territory of the European part of the USSR. Voprosy Geografii. 24, 165 191 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Grichuk, 110.P., 1971. The analysis of zonal structure of the Pleistocene vegetational cover across USSR. Pollen et Spores. 13, 101 116.Google Scholar
Grosswald, M.G., 1972. Glacier variations and crustal movements in Northern European Russia in Late Pleistocene and Holocene times. Vasari, Y., Climatic changes in Arctic areas during the last ten-thousand years. Oulu Univ. Press, Oulu, Finland, 205 223.Google Scholar
Grosswald, M.G., Lavrov, A.S., Potapenko, L.M., 1974. Glacier advances Markhida and Velt: Twin surges at the Barents Ice Sheet. Data of glaciological studies. Chronicle discussions. 24, 173 188 (in Russian with an English summary).Google Scholar
van der Hammen, T., 1972. Changes in vegetation and climate in the Amazon basin during the Pleistocene. Geologie en Mijnbouw. 51, 641 643.Google Scholar
Hammond, A., 1976. Paleoclimate: Ice age Earth was cold and dry. Science. 191, 455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Shackleton, N.J., 1976. Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages. Science. 194, 1121 1132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herman, Y., 1970. Arctic paleo-oceanography in Late Cenozoic time. Science. 169, 474 477.Google Scholar
Herman, Y., 1974. Arctic Ocean sediments, microfauna and the climatic record in Late Cenozoic time. Herman, Y., Marine Geology and Oceanology of the Arctic Seas. Springer-Verlag, New York, 283 348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollin, J.T., 1962. On the glacial history of Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology. 4, 173 195.Google Scholar
Holtedahl, H., 1958. Some remarks on geomorphology of continental shelves oif Norway, Labrador and Southern Alaska. Journal of Geology. 66, 461 471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, T., Denton, G.H., Grosswald, M.G., 1977. Was there a late-Würm Arctic Ice Sheet?. Nature (London). 266, 596 602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvasov, D.D., 1966. Caspian's water balance in Middle Pliocene. Bulletin Moscow Society of Naturalists, Geological Series. 41, No. 6 99 114 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Kvasov, D.D., 1971. Postulate einer Eiszeit-Theorie. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart. 22, 178 187.Google Scholar
Kvasov, D.D., 1975a Pozdnechetvertichnaya Istoriya Krupnych Ozer i Vnutrennikh Morey Vostochnoy Evropy. Late Quaternary History of Great Lakes and Inland Seas of East Europe Nauka, Leningrad, (in Russian).Google Scholar
Kvasov, D.D., 1975b. Large lakes of East Europe during Valdai (Würmian) time. Paleolimnology of Lake Biwa and the Japanese Pleistocene. 3, 420 428.Google Scholar
Kvasov, D.D., 1978. Late Quaternary history of great lakes and inland seas of East Europe. Annales Academiae Fennicae. Ser. AIII, Geologica-Geographica (in press).Google Scholar
Kvasov, D.D., Ananova, E.N., Borisov, A.A., Dibner, 111.D., 1969. On palaeogeography of the Eastern Europe in the akchagyl-apsheron time. Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta. No. 6 142 151 (in Russian with an English summary).Google Scholar
Lavrov, A.S., 1977. The Kola-Mezen glacial stream. The Barents Sea-Pechora glacial stream. Chebotareva, N.S., The Structure and Dynamics of the Last Ice Sheet of Europe. Nauka, Moscow, 83 95 (in Russian with an English summary).Google Scholar
Maclaren, C., 1842. The glacial theory of professor Agassiz. American Journal of Science and Arts. 42, 346 365.Google Scholar
Nehring, A., 1890. Ueber Tundren und Steppen der Jetzt-und Vorzeit mit besonderer Berücksichtigung ihrer Fauna. Dümmler, Berlin. Google Scholar
Paschinger, 112., 1923. Die Eiszeit ein meteorologischer. Zyklus. Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde. 13, 29 65.Google Scholar
Penck, A., 1928. Die Ursachen der Eiszeit. Sitzungs-berichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Physikalisch-mathematische Klasse. 6, 76 85.Google Scholar
Ramsay, W., 1924. The solution of the climate problem in geology. Geological Magazine. 61, 152 163.Google Scholar
Robin, G.de Q., 1975. Ice shelves and ice flow. Nature (London). 253, 168 172.Google Scholar
Schytt, 113., Hoppe, G., Blake, I., Grosswald, M.G., 1968. The extent of the Würm glaciation in the European Arctic. International Association of Scientific Hydrology. 79, 207 218.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., 1973. Oxiden isotope and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core 114 28–238. Quaternary Research. 3, 39 55.Google Scholar
Soergel, W., 1919 Lösse, Eiszeiten und Paläolitische Kulturen. Fischer, Jena. Google Scholar
Steuerwald, B.A., Clark, D.L., Andrew, J.A., 1968. Magneric stratigraphy and faunal patterns in Arctic Ocean sediments. Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters. 5, 79 85.Google Scholar
Stupavsky, M., Symons, D.T.A., Gravenor, C.P., 1974. Paleomagnetism of the Port Stanley till, Ontario. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 85, 141 144.Google Scholar
Thomas, R.H., 1976. Thickening of the Ross Ice Shelf and equilibrium state of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Nature (London). 259, 180 183.Google Scholar
Veeh, H.H., Valentine, J.W., 1967. Radiometric ages of Pleistocene fossils from Cayucos, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 78, 547 550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weertman, J., 1974. Stability of the function of the ice sheet and an ice shelf. Journal of Glaciology. 13, 3 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weertman, J., 1975. Stability of Antarctic ice. Nature (London). 253, 159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wensink, H., 1965. Paleomagnetic stratigraphy of younger basalts and intercalated Pliopleistocene tillits in Iceland. Geologische Rundschau. 54, 364 384.Google Scholar
Wetherald, R.T., Manabe, S., 1975. The effects of changing the solar constant on the climate of a general circulation model. Journal of Atmospheric Science. 32, 2044 2059.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.T., 1964. Origin of ice ages: An ice shelf-theory for Pleistocene glaciation. Nature (London). 201, 147 149.Google Scholar