Abstract
The dating of cryoturbated palaeosols associated with past ice-wedge activity on late-Holocene sandy fluvial terraces in a region of continuous permafrost leads to an interpretation of periods of ice-wedge growth and active cracking that alternated with periods of decay, dormancy and active layer deepening. The reconstruc tion corresponds with palaeoclimatic information obtained from existing Arctic-wide and regional proxy rec ords. The ‘Little Ice Age’ stands out as a period of intense ice-wedge activity in the study area. It was followed by a warm thawing interval during the first half of the twentieth century. From ad 1946 to 1991, a well-documented cooling of the climate took place, which reactivated 94% of the studied ice wedges. The pyramidal shape of ice-wedge tops and the depths of the upgrowth features could be correlated between sites several kilometres apart, clearly indicating a regional climatic response. The mean annual air temperature dropped from about–7.8°C in 1946 to–8.9°C in 1991. The threshold temperature for active ice wedges probably lies within this range.
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