Sediment core ASV-987 from Russkaya Gavan', a tidewater fjord on the northwestern coast of Novaya Zemlya, provides the first multicentury record of sedimentary and hydrographic glaciomarine environments in Russian Arctic with a century-scale resolution. Age is constrained by seven 14C ages securing an especially robust control for the period between c. AD 1370 and 1600. Based on sediment struture, grain size, depositional rates, foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopes in foraminiferal tests, we reconstruct the changes in fjord sedimentation and circulation in relation to the history of a tidewater glacier connected to the main Novaya Zemlya ice complex. We conclude that a noticeable glacier advance occurred c. AD 1400, contemporaneous with a change in North Atlantic atmospheric circulation inferred from GISP-2 ion-contents data. A major glacier retreat from Russkaya Gavan' occurred by c. AD 1600, succeeded by low sedimentary inputs. Intervals with depleted stable isotopic values, including the core top, may indicate intensified glacier melting. Stronger melting in the 1900s is consistent with an increase in sedimentation rates.
Anderson, T.F. , Arthur, M.A. , Kaplan, I.R. , Land L.S. and Veizer, J.1983: Stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon and their application to sedimentologic and paleoenvironmental problems. In Arthur, M.A. , Anderson, T.F. , Kaplan, I.R. , Land, L.S. and Veizer, J. , editors, Stable isotopes in sedimentary geology, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) short course 10, Tulsa, OK: Society of Sedimentary Geology , 1.1-1.151.
2.
Andrews, J.T. and Giraudeau, J.2003: Multi-proxy records showing significant Holocene environmental variability: the inner N. Iceland shelf (Hunafloi). Quaternary Science Reviews22, 175-193 .
3.
Andrews, J.T. , Barber, D.C. and Jennings, A.E.1999: Errors in genrating time-series and in dating events at Late Quatemary millennial (radiocarbon) time-scales: examples from Baffin Bay, NW Labrador Sea, and East Greenland. In Clark, P.U. , Webb, R.S. and Keigwin, L.D. , editors, Mechanisms of global climate change at millennial time scales, Geophysical Monograph 112, Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union , 23-33.
4.
Blindheim, J. , Borovkov, V. , Hansen, B. , Malmberg, S.-Aa. , Turrell, W.R. and Osterhus, S.2000: Upper layer cooling and freshening in the Norwegian Sea in relation to atmospheric forcing . Deep-Sea Research I47, 655-680 .
5.
Briffa, K.R.2000: Annual climate variability in the Holocene: interpreting the message of ancient trees . Quaternary Science Reviewvs19, 87-105 .
6.
Briffa, K.R. , Jones, P.D. , Schweingruber, F.H. , Shiyatov, S.G. and Cook, E.R.1995: Unusual twentieth-century summer warmth in a 1,000-year temperature record from Siberia . Nature376, 156-159 .
7.
Chizhov, O.P. , Koryakin, V.S. , Davidovich, N.V. , Kanevsky, Z.M. , Singer, E.M. , Bazheva, V.Ya. , Bazhev, A.B. and Khmelevskoy, I.F.1968: Oledeneniie Novoy Zemli (Glaciation of the Novaya Zemlya). Moscow: Nauka , 338-338 pp. (in Russian).
8.
Delworth, T.L. and Mann, M.E.2000: Observed and simulated multdecadal variability in the Northern Hemisphere . Climate Dynamnics16. 661-676 .
9.
Dowdeswell, J.A. , Hagen, J.O. , Bjornsson, H. , Glazovsky, A.F. , Harrison, W.D. , Holmiund, P. , Jania, J. , Koerner, R.M. , Lefauconnier, B. , Ommanney, C.S. and Thomas, R.H.1997: The mass balance of circum-arctic glaciers and recent climate change . Quaternary Research48, 1-14 .
10.
Elverhoi, A. , Liestol, O. and Nagy, J.1980: Glacial erosion, sedimetation and microfauna in the inner part of Kongsfjorden, Spitsbergen . Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter172, 33-61 .
11.
Forman, S.L. and Polyak, L.1997: Radiocarbon content of pre-bomb marine mollusks and variations in the 14C reservoir age for coastal areas of the Barents and Kara seas, Russia . Geophysical Research Letters24, 885-888 .
12.
Forman, S.L. , Lubinski, D.J. , Zeeberg, J.J. , Polyak, L. , Miller, G.H. , Matishov, G. and Tarasov, G.1999: Observations of Postglacial emergence and Late Quaternary glaciation at selected localities on northern Novaya Zemlya, Russia . Boreas28, 133-145 .
13.
Gilbert, R.2000: Environmental assessment from the sedimentary record of high-latitude fjords . Geomorphology32, 295-314 .
14.
Hald, M. and Korsun, S.1997: Distribution of modem benthic foraminifera from fjords of Svalbard, European Arctic . Journal of Foraminiferal Research27, 101-122 .
15.
Hald, M. , Dahlgren, T. , Olsen, T.-E. and Lebesbye, E.2001: Late Holocene paleoceanography in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard . Polar Research20, 23-35 .
16.
Henderson, K.A. 2002: An ice core paleoclimate study of Windy Dome, Franz Josef Land (Russia): development of a recent climate history for the Barents Sea. PhD thesis, Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University.
17.
Jones, P.D. , Osborn, T.J. and Briffa, K.R.2001: The evolution of climate over the last millennium . Science292, 662-667 .
18.
Korsun, S. and Hald, M.1998: Modem benthic foraminifera off Novaya Zemlya tidewater glaciers, Russian Arctic . Arctic and Alpine Research30, 61-77 .
19.
Loeng, H.1991: Features of the physical oceanographic conditions of the Barents Sea . Polar Research10, 5-18 .
20.
Lubinski, D.J. , Forman, S.L. and Miller, G.H.1999: Holocene glacier and climate fluctuations on Franz Josef Land, Arctic Russia, 80N . Quaternary Science Reviews18, 87-108 .
21.
Matthews. J.A.1991: The late Neoglacial ('Little Ice Age') glacier maximum in southern Norway: new 14C-dating evidence and climatic implications . The Holocene1, 219-233 .
22.
Meeker, L.D. and Mayewski, P.A.2002: A 1400-year high-resolution record of atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic and Asia . The Holocene12, 257-266 .
23.
Mikhaliov, V.I. and Chizhov, O.P.1970: Scientific results of the glacilogical investigations on Novaya Zemlya in 1969 . Data of Glaciological Studies17, 186-200 (in Russian).
24.
Cofaigh, C. and Dowdeswell, J.A.2001: Laminated sediments in glacimarine environments: diagnostic criteria for their interpretation . Quaternary Science Reviews20, 1411-1436 .
25.
Parkinson, C.L. , Cavalieri, D.J. , Gloersen, P. , Zwally, H.J. and Comiso, J.C.1999: Arctic sea ice extents, areas, and trends, 1978-1996 . Journal of Geophysical Research104, 20837-20856 .
26.
Polyakov, I. and Johnson, M.A.2000: Arctic decadal and inter-decadal variability . Geophysicacl Research Letters27, 4097-4100 .
27.
Polyakov, I.V. , Alekseev, G.V. , Bekryaev, R.V. , Bhatt, U. , Colony, R.L. , Johnson, M.A. , Karklin, V.P. , Makshtas, A.P. , Walsh, D. and Yalin, A.V.2002: Observationally based assessment of polar amplification of global warming . Geophysical Research Letters29, 25-21-25-24 .
28.
Powell, R.1990: Glacimarine processes at grounding-line fans and their growth to ice-contact deltas. In Dowdeswell, J.A. and Scourse, J.D. , editors, Glacimarine environments: processes and sediments. London: Geological Society Special Publication 53 , 53-73.
29.
Rigor, I.G. , Colony, R.L. and Martin, S.2000: Variations in surface air temperature observations in the Arctic, 1979-1997 . Journal of Climate13, 896-914 .
30.
Serreze, M.C. , Box, J.E. , Barry, R.G. and Walsh, J.E.1993: Charateristics of arctic synoptic activity, 1952-1989 . Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics51, 147-164 .
31.
Svendsen, J.I. and Mangerud, J.1997: Holocene glacial and climatic variations on Spitsbergen, Svalbard . The Holocene7, 45-57 .
32.
Vinje, T. 1997: On the variation during the past 400 years of the Barents Sea ice edge position and Northern Hemisphere temperatures . Polar Processes and Global Climate, Conftrence Proceedings Part 2, 269-271 .
33.
Zeeberg, J.J. 2001: Climate and glacial history of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, Russian Arctic. PhD thesis, Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 174 PP.
34.
Zeeberg, J.J. and Forman, S.L.2000: Changes in glacier extent on north Novaya Zemlya in the twentieth century . The Holocene11, 161-175 .
