Lateglacial and Holocene glacier activity in the Van Mijenfjorden area, western Svalbard

Sedimentological, morphological and chronological studies of the Van Mijenfjorden region, Svalbard suggest numerous glacial advances seen in terrestrial and marine archives spanning from the Late Weichselian to the Little Ice Age. Only one ice-marginal deposit from the retreat phase of the fjord glacieris found along the entire fjordsystem. The deposit is located at a topographically controlled position near a bedrock threshold at the mouth of the fjord. Glacial records from tributaryvalleys and fjordscorrespond to varying sizes and styles of ice flow related to the deglaciationof the area during the Lateglacial and early Holoceneas well as the regrowth of glaciersystems during the early Holocene, the Neoglacialand the Little Ice Age. During the Younger Dryas, as the Van Mijen- fjord glacierretreated, a glacieradvance took place in a southern tributary, probably as a dynamic response to the retreat in the fjord. Another glacieradvance from a northern tributaryvalley took place during the early Holocene. This glacieradvance extended to a position well outside the Little Ice Age(LIA) margins during a period in time when marine proxies suggest warm regional fjords. A Neoglacial glacieradvance is identified in a third and inner tributarywhich also extends further than the subsequent LIA maximum. The Paula glaciersystem in the inner part of the fjordsurged at least five times in the last 650 years, with each subsequent surge advance exhibiting less extensive maximum than the previous, resulting in an overall decrease in mass of the Paula glacier.