The N and W Iceland Shelf: Insights into Last Glacial Maximum ice extent and deglaciation based on acoustic stratigraphy and basal radiocarbon AMS dates

We present 32 AMS radiocarbon dates collected from sediments obtained during cruises of CSS Hudson (1993), RV Jan Mayen (1996), and Bjarni Saemundsson (1997). The radiocarbon dates were obtained on samples from the basal part of sediment cores collected across an area between 64 and 67°N and 18-29°W. Core sites were based on 3.5 kHz acoustic subbottom surveys. The 3.5 kHz subbottom profiles indicate that several of the troughs contain ≥ 30 m of Quaternary sediment. At many sites, the acoustic surveys suggest the presence of one or more strong reflectors which can be traced over extended areas (> 100 km) of the seafloor. These may represent large-scale volcanic ash falls, such as the Vedde ash and its correlatives, as well as other regionally significant tephras. We report dates from seven areas; (1) Northern troughs - Eyjafjardarall, Hunafloadjup, and Reykjafjardarall: (2) Hunafloi area and inner shelf and fjords; (3) Djupall area; (4) Isafjardardjup area; (5) Kolluall; (6) western shelf break and slope; and (7) Jokuldjup. The dates range in age from Marine Isotope Stages 3-1. Five cores have basal dates ≥ 16 ka and thus provide information on the timing and environments during the deglaciation. Several dates of ~ 12 ka indicate that the inner shelf may have been largely ice-free by that time. Estimates of average sediment accumulation rates vary between 4 and 90 cm/kyr, with modal estimates of 30-40 cm/kyr. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.