THE BARENTS SEA-ICE SHEET - A MODEL OF ITS GROWTH AND DECAY DURING THE LAST ICE MAXIMUM

On the basis of geomorphological and sedimentological data, we believe that the entire Barents Sea was covered by grounded ice during the last glacial maximum. C-14 dates on shells embedded in tills suggest marine conditions in the Barents Sea as late as 22 ka BP; and models of the deglaciation history based on uplift data from the northern Norwegian coast suggest that significant parts of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet calved off as early as 15 ka BP. The growth of the ice sheet is related to glacioeustatic fall and the exposure of shallow banks in the central Barents Sea, where ice caps may develop and expand to finally coalesce with the expanding ice masses from Svalbard and Fennoscandia. The outlined model for growth and decay of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet suggests a system which developed and existed under periods of maximum climatic deterioration, and where its growth and decay were strongly related to the fall and rise of sea level.