Paleontological and sedimentological investigations of a sediment profile from northeast Greenland

Dating of marine shells indicates that deglaciation occurred in the earliest Holocene, before 10 800 cal. a BP. The marine limit is around 53 m a.s.l.

In the wake of the deglaciation, a glaciomarine fauna characterized the area, but after c. one millennium a more species-rich marine fauna took over. This fauna included Mytilus edulis and Mysella sovaliki, which do not live in the region at present; the latter is new to the Holocene fauna of northeast Greenland. The oldest M. edulis sample is dated to c. 9500 cal. a BP, which is the earliest date for the species from the region and indicates that the Holocene thermal maximum began earlier in the region than previously documented.