Sedimentology on two profiles from eastern Fram Strait

Because of a high content of smectite the source of these icebergs probably is Franz Josef Land. At the end of stage 3 HEBBELN (1991) supposes an influence of Atlantic water masses which might be connected with a maximum carbonate content. (2) At the beginning of isotope stage 2, a high content of ice-rafted debris as well as a high content of terrigenous organic carbon were recorded.

This verifies the extension of the glaciers of Spitsbergen onto the continental shelf (HEBBELN 1991) and a maximum growth of the Barents Sea Icesheet (ELVERH01 et al., in press). During the last glacial maximum the high content of carbonate resulted from high aboundances of detrital fragments (limestone and dolomite) probably derived from Spitsbergen. The retreat of the glaciers at the end of stage 2 causes an increase in the content of ice rafted debris.

At about 15.000 years B.P. a district melt-water signal appears and indicates the onset of deglaciation. This transition from the last glacial maximum to the recent interglacial (Termination I) is documented in decreasing values of d18O. (3) At least since the beginning of isotope stage 1 the inflow of warmer Atlantic water becomes important.