Age and duration of a MIS 3 interstadial in the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet core area – Implications for ice sheet dynamics

Abstract Previous assumptions of continuous ice cover of the core area of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, from Marine Isotope Stage 4 (ca. 70 ka) to the end of MIS 2 (ca. 12 ka), have been challenged by the discovery of several sites in central and northern Scandinavia with interstadial sediments of assumed MIS 3 age. The sequences have often been dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and dates of around 55 ka are present at most sites, indicating ice-free conditions at this time. There is less consensus about the timing of the build-up and advance of the last (Late Weichselian) ice sheet after this ice-free stage. To address the duration of MIS 3 ice-free conditions in central Scandinavia, we reviewed available dating evidence. At the few sites where multiple OSL dates are available, ages indicate around 15 ka of ice-free conditions. Two studies employing cosmogenic nuclide dating of preserved interstadial ground surfaces both indicate a 20 ka long period of ice-free conditions during the last ice-free period before the Holocene. Our interpretation is that central Scandinavia became ice-free around 55 ka and remained so until c. 35 ka, when the Scandinavian Ice Sheet started to expand once again. Expansion started from a small-sized remnant ice sheet, or from separate remnant ice caps in Norway. Available data limits the size of any Scandinavian ice sheet remnant surviving the MIS 3 interstadial to less than 1 m of global sea-level equivalent.