Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:37:54.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Radiocarbon Dates for the Vedde Ash and the Saksunarvatn Ash from Western Norway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hilary H. Birks ,
Steinar Gulliksen ,
Haflidi Haflidason ,
Jan Mangerud  and
Göran Possnert
Hilary H. Birks
Affiliation:
Botanical Institute, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, N-5007, Bergen, Norway
Steinar Gulliksen
Affiliation:
Radiological Dating Laboratory, University of Trondheim, Sem Sælandsvei 5, N-7034, Trondheim, Norway
Haflidi Haflidason
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, N-5007, Bergen, Norway
Jan Mangerud
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, N-5007, Bergen, Norway
Göran Possnert
Affiliation:
The Svedberg Laboratory, Uppsala University, Boks 533, S-751 21, Uppsala, Sweden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Vedde Ash Bed (mid-Younger Dryas) and the Saksunarvatn Ash (early Holocene) are important regional stratigraphic event markers in the North Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea, and the adjacent land area. It is thus essential to date them as precisely as possible. The occurrence of the Saksunarvatn Ash is reported for the first time from western Norway, and both tephras are dated precisely by AMS analyses of terrestrial plant material and lake sediment at Kråkenes. The Vedde Ash has been previously dated at sites in western Norway to about 10,600 yr B.P. It is obvious in the Younger Dryas sediments at Kråkenes, and its identity is confirmed geochemically. The mean of four AMS dates of samples of Salix herbacea leaves adjacent to the tephra is 10,310 ± 50 yr B.P. The Saksunarvatn Ash is not visible in the early Holocene lake sediment at Kråkenes. After removal of organic material and diatoms, the identity of the tephra particles was confirmed geochemically, and their stratigraphic concentration was estimated. From curve matching of a series of seven AMS dates of terrestrial plant macrofossils and whole sediment, the radiocarbon age of the ash is 8930–9060 yr B.P., corresponding to an age of 9930–10,010 cal yr B.P. (7980–8060 cal yr B.C.).

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , March 1996 , pp. 119 - 127
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

Austin, W. E. N. Bard, E. Hunt, J. B. Kroon, D. and Peacock, J. D. (1995). The 14C age of the Icelandic Vedde Ash; Implications for Younger Dryas marine reservoir age corrections. Radiocarbon 37 , 53–62.Google Scholar
Bard, E. Arnold, M. Mangerud, J. Paterne, M. Labeyrie, L. Duprat, J. Mélières, M.-A. Sønstegaard, E., and Duplessy, J.-C. (1994). The North Atlantic atmosphere–sea surface 14C gradient during the Younger Dryas climatic event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 126 , 275–287.Google Scholar
Bennett, K. D. Boreham, S. Sharp, M. J., and Switsur, V. R. (1992). Holocene history of environment, vegetation and human settlement on Catta Ness, Lunnasting, Shetland. Journal of Ecology 80 , 241–273.Google Scholar
Birks, H. H. + 23 others (1996). The Kråkenes late-glacial palaeoenvironmental project. Journal of Paleolimnology 15(3), 281–286.Google Scholar
Björck, S. Ingόlfsson, Ó. Haflidason, H. Hallsdόttir, M., and Anderson, N. J. (1992). Lake Torfaldsvatn: A high resolution record of the North Atlantic ash zone I and the last glacial–interglacial environmental changes in Iceland. Boreas 21 , 15–20.Google Scholar
Bunting, M. J. (1994). Vegetation history of Orkney, Scotland: Pollen records from two small basins in West Mainland. New Phytologist 128 , 771–792.Google Scholar
Fillon, R. H. Miller, G. H., and Andrews, J. T. (1991). Terrigenous sand in Labrador Sea hemipelagic sediments and paleoglacial events on Baffin Island over the last 100,000 years. Boreas 10 , 107–124.Google Scholar
Grønvold, K. Óskarsson, N. Johnsen, S. J. Clausen, H. B. Hammer, C. U. Bond, G., and Bard, E. (1995). Ash layers from Iceland in the Greenland GRIP ice core correlated with oceanic and land sediments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 135 , 149–155.Google Scholar
Haflidason, H. Sejrup, H. P., and Jones, G. A. (1990). Tephra-, bio- and lithostratigraphy of an AMS dated core from the Norway basin, southern Norwegian Sea. Geonytt 17 , 52.Google Scholar
Haflidason, H. (1994). ‘‘Quaternary stratigraphy and palaeoenvironments of the Mid Norwegian Shelf, northern North Sea and North Iceland.” Unpublished Dr.-scient thesis, University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Haflidason, H. Sejrup, H. P. Johannessen, T., and Jones, G. A. (1995). The southern Norwegian Greenland Sea through the last 20 ka: Sedimentation, tephra layers and paleoceanography. In “Proceedings of NASP Meeting The Lateglacial Paleoceanography of the North Atlantic Margins, Edinburgh, 5–7th January 1995.” Google Scholar
Hillaire-Marcel, C. de Vernal, A. Bilodeau, G., and Wu, G. 1994. Isotope stratigraphy, sedimentation rates, deep circulation, and carbonate events in the Labrador Sea during the last ∼ 200 ka. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 31 , 63–89.Google Scholar
Hut, G. Östlund, H. G., and van der Borg, K. (1986). Fast and complete CO2 conversion for 14C accelerator mass spectrometry. Radiocarbon 28 (2A), 186–190.Google Scholar
Ingόlfsson, Ó. Norddahl, H., and Haflidason, H. (1995). Rapid isostatic rebound in southwestern Iceland at the end of the last glaciation. Boreas 24 , 245–259.Google Scholar
Jόhansen, J. (1977). Outwash of terrestric soils into Lake Saksunarvatn, Faroe Islands. Danmarks Geologiske Undersogelse. Årbog 1977 , 31–37.Google Scholar
Koç Karpuz, N., and Jansen, E. (1992). A high-resolution diatom record of the last deglaciation from the SE Norwegian Sea: Documentation of rapid climatic changes. Palaeoceanography 7 , 499–520.Google Scholar
Koç, N. Jansen, E., and Haflidason, H. (1993). Paleoceanographic reconstruction of surface ocean conditions in the Greenland, Iceland, and Norwegian Seas through the last 14 ka based on diatoms. Quaternary Science Reviews 12 , 115–140.Google Scholar
Kvamme, T. Mangerud, J. Furnes, H., and Ruddiman, W. F. (1989). Geochemistry of Pleistocene ash zones in cores from the North Atlantic. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 69 , 251–272.Google Scholar
Lacasse, C. Sigurdsson, H. Jόhannesson, H. Paterne, M., and Carey, S. (1995). Source of Ash Zone 1 in the North Atlantic. Bulletin of Volcanology 57 , 18–32.Google Scholar
Larsen, E. Eide, F. Lonvga, O., and Mangerud, J. (1984). Allerød—Younger Dryas climatic inferences from cirque glaciers and vegetational developments in the Nordfjord area, western Norway. Arctic and Alpine Research 16 , 127–160.Google Scholar
Mangerud, J. Lie, S. E. Furnes, H. Kristiansen, I. L., and Lømo, L. (1984). A Younger Dryas ash bed in western Norway, and its possible correlations with tephra in cores from the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic. Quaternary Research 21 , 85–104.Google Scholar
Mangerud, J. Furnes, H. J., and Johanssen, J. (1986). A 9000-year old ash bed on the Faroe Islands. Quaternary Research 26 , 262–265.Google Scholar
Merkt, J. Müller, H. Knabe, W. Müller, P., and Weiser, T. (1993). The early Holocene Saksunarvatn tephra found in lake sediments in NW Germany. Boreas 22 , 93–100.Google Scholar
Norddahl, H., and Haflidason, H. (1992). The Skogar Tephra, a Younger Dryas marker in North Iceland. Boreas 21 , 23–41.Google Scholar
Possnert, G. (1990). Radiocarbon dating by the accelerator technique. Norwegian Archaeological Review 23 , 30–37.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W. F., and Glover, L. K. (1972). Vertical mixing of ice-rafted volcanic ash in North Atlantic sediments. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83 , 2817–2836.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W. F., and McIntyre, A. (1981). The mode and mechanism of the last deglaciation: oceanic evidence. Quaternary Research 16 , 125–134.Google Scholar
Schrader, H. Isrenn, K. Swanberg, N. Paetzel, M., and Sæthre, T. (1993). Early Holocene diatom pulse in the Norwegian Sea and its paleoceanographic significance. Diatom Research 8 , 117–130.Google Scholar
Sejrup, H. P. Sjøholm, J. Furnes, H. Beyer, I. Eide, L. Jansen, E., and Mangerud, J. (1989). Quaternary tephrachronology on the Iceland Plateau, north of Iceland. Journal of Quaternary Science 4 , 109–114.Google Scholar
Sigurdsson, H., and Loebner, B. (1981). Deep sea record of Cenozoic explosive volcanism in the North Atlantic. In “Tephra Studies” (Shelf, S., and Sparks, R. S. J., Eds.), pp. 289–316. Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Sigurgeirsson, M. Á., and Leosson, M. A. (1993). Gjόskulög í Sogamyri. Tvö gjόskulög frá upphafi nutόma [Two early Holocene tephra layers in the Sogamyri peat deposit, Reykjavík]. Nátturufrædingurinn 62 , 129–137.Google Scholar
Sjøhokn, J. Sejrup, H. P., and Furnes, H. (1991). Quaternary volcanic ash zones on the Iceland Plateau, southern Norwegian Sea. Journal of Quaternary Science 6 , 159–173.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. J. (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised 14C calibration program. Radiocarbon 35 , 215–230.Google Scholar
Wohlfarth, B. Björck, S. Possnert, G. Lemdahl, G. Brunnberg, L. Ising, J. Olsson, S., and Svensson, N.-O. (1993). AMS dating Swedish varved clays of the last glacial/interglacial transition and the potential difficulties of calibrating late Weichselian absolute chronologies. Boreas 22 , 113–128.Google Scholar