We present six new radiocarbon-dated emergence curves that provide a detailed record of postglacial emergence of northern Novaya Zemlya and ages which constrain the emergence of Vaygach Island in the southern archipelago. Radiocarbon ages on Hiatella sp. from a lateral moraine in Russkaya Gavan' and abundances of foraminifea in a marine core from Nordenskiold Bay, 300 km south of our study area, indicate that coastal deglaciation occurred prior to ∼10,000 cal yr B.P. However, postglacial emergence commenced ∼7000 cal yr B.P., with stabilization of global sea level. The total emergence is 13–11 m above sea level (asl) with apparent uplift rates of 1–2 mm/yr for the past 2000 yr, indicating modest glacier loads (<1 km), early (>11,000 cal yr B.P.) deglaciation, or both. The isobase pattern, showing no east–west tilt across Novaya Zemlya, and offshore moraines suggest a separate ice-dispersal center over Novaya Zemlya for the later stages of the Late Weichselian glacial cycle and possibly earlier.

A detailed stratigraphical, palaeoecological and geomorphological reconstruction of a fjord head on South Georgia (Husvik, Stromness Bay) is presented. Six sites were chosen to reconstruct the lithostratigraphy of the area by means of coring. A maximum depth of 11 m was attained and the sediments encountered vary from coarse gravel over sands to fine silts with, in some cases, intercalated peat layers. Diatom analysis allowed determination of whether the sedimentological units were deposited in a marine or freshwater environment. Six radiocarbon dates constrain the chronology. Deglaciation of the area was completed in the early Holocene and the postglacial geomorphological evolution of Husdal (unofficial name) was controlled by fluvio-deltaic deposition and sea level changes. Relative sea level rise was faster than, or kept pace with the isostatic rebound of the land. Our results challenge the presence of Late Glacial and Holocene raised beach deposits in the area as reported in earlier geomorphological studies.

The Bunger Hills were covered by the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the last glaciation. During deglaciation the ice sheet margin collapsed into the marine inlets and the sea entered the oasis before 7.7 ka BP. Raised beaches occur widely below 8.5 m and indicate uplift at 1.4 m ka−1 during the middle and late Holocene. After the coastal inlets were formed, the Edisto Ice Tongue and Apfels Glacier still impinged on land margins in the west of the oasis. Two sets of marginal moraines were formed; the Older Edisto Moraines after 6.2 ka BP and the Younger Edisto Moraines during the last few centuries. The margins of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Apfels Glacier in the south have maintained their present positions since at least 5.6 ka BP and probably 10 ka BP.

A 2.7 m thick mid-Holocene sedimentary succession composed of alluvial fan and marine beach deposits is exposed at 14.4–17.1 m above sea level (a.s.l.) on the south-eastern coast of Potter Peninsula, King George Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica). The raised marine beach deposits contain a subfossil assemblage that includes remains of Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and gentoo (P. papua) penguins, skua (Catharacta sp), seals (elephant seal Mirounga sp), and seaweed fragments. The palaeontological and palaeogeographical evidence allows us to infer that penguin rookeries were active on high cliffs of the Potter Peninsula during the marine beach sedimentation, which is dated to c. 4540–4450 reservoir-corrected 14C yr BP on the basis of radiocarbon dating on penguin bones. The data presented in this paper are in agreement with the Holocene palaeoenvironmental chronology known from Potter Peninsula, and suggest that marine birds and seals inhabited the coastal areas of King George Island probably during a mid-Holocene period of seasonally open marine conditions, which may coincide with a cooling period around Antarctica estimated from ice core records between 8000–4000 yr BP that preceded the “climate optimum” in the Antarctic Peninsula (4000–3000 yr BP).