Reconstructing Holocene climate variability of northwestern Norway based on geochemical analysis of two lacustrine records from the Lofoten Islands
Abstract
We investigate changing environmental conditions during the Holocene in two lakes from the Lofoten Islands. The Lofoten archipelago is located off the northwestern coast of Norway (67-69°N). The maritime climate is mild despite this high latitude location with a mean annual air temperature of ~4°C and mean annual precipitation of ~1200 mm. These conditions are strongly regulated by the Norwegian Atlantic Current, an extension of the North Atlantic Drift, that flows immediately west of the islands. We have generated records from a 3 m sediment core from Vikjordvatnet, on Vestvågøya, and a 5.75 m core from Fiskebolvatnet, on Austvågøya. The record from Vikjordvatnet extends back to the Younger Dryas, which is the last time ice occupied the cirque at the head of this valley. Fiskebolvatnet was isolated from the ocean in the early Holocene and has a lacustrine sequence that covers the last ~9500 cal yr BP. The catchment around this lake is very steep and the sediments show large variations in clastic input throughout the record. Bulk physical and biogeochemical measurements along with scanning XRF data are used to show changes in sedimentation related to decadal- to centennial-scale environmental conditions. Northwestern Scandinavia - encompassing northwestern Norway, northern Sweden and Finland - contains a relatively dense, multi-proxy network of terrestrial and marine paleoclimate records. We evaluate past temperature, precipitation, and sea-surface conditions and fit our results into this regional context to improve our understanding of Holocene climate variability.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFMPP41C1534B
- Keywords:
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- 1051 GEOCHEMISTRY / Sedimentary geochemistry;
- 1616 GLOBAL CHANGE / Climate variability