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Late-Holocene glacier growth in Svalbard, documented by subglacial relict vegetation and living soil microbes

Ole Humlum

Department of Physical Geography, Institute of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Norway, and The University Center in Svalbard (UNIS), Box 156, N-9170 Longyearbyen, Norway, Ole.Humlum{at}geo.uio.no

Bo Elberling

Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, DK1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark

Anne Hormes

Ångströmlaboratory, AMS Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75121 Uppsala, Sweden

Kristine Fjordheim

Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Norway

Odd Harald Hansen

Norwegian Polar Institute (NP), Tromsø, Norway

Jan Heinemeier

AMS 14C Dating Laboratory, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, DK8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

Much renewed research interest in Arctic regions stems from the increasing concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases and the alleged climatic sensitivity of high latitude areas. Glacier and permafrost changes are among a number of proxies used for monitoring past and present Arctic climate change. Here we present observations on frozen in situ soil and vegetation, found below cold-based glacier Longyearbreen (78° 13'N), 2 km upstream from the present glacier terminus. Dating of the relict vegetation indicates that the glacier has increased in length from about 3 km to its present size of about 5 km during the last c. 1100 years. The meteorological setting of non-surging Longyearbreen suggests this example of late-Holocene glacier growth represents a widespread phenomenon in Svalbard and in adjoining Arctic regions. In addition, we use the subglacial permafrozen soil system to evaluate microbial survival capacity over considerable time periods, and we present evidence for microbes having survived more than 1100 years in a subglacial, permafrozen state.

Key Words: Arctic • Svalbard • glacier variations • climate change • radiocarbon • subglacial vegetation • palaeosol • microbes • late Holocene

The Holocene, Vol. 15, No. 3, 396-407 (2005)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683605hl817rp
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An oxygen isotope record from the Foscagno rock-glacier ice core, Upper Valtellina, Italian Central Alps
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[Abstract] [PDF]