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Bourriquen M., Baltzer A., Mercier D., Fournier J., Pérez L., Haquin S., Bernard E., Jensen M.. (2016). Coastal evolution and sedimentary mobility of Brøgger Peninsula, north-west Spitsbergen. Polar biology, .
Abstract: Since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA), Svalbard glaciers have undergone a net retreat in response to changing meteorological conditions. Located between 76°N and 80°N, western Spitsbergen has seen a climatic transition from a glacial to a paraglacial system. On the northern shore of the Brøgger Peninsula (northwest Spitsbergen), the average temperature increased by 3 °C between 1965 and 2015, and cold-based valley glaciers have retreated more than 1 km from their LIA limits. This rapid deglaciation has exposed large areas of glacigenic sediments being easily reworked by runoff. This has led to the formation of extensive glacier-river delta systems and coastal progradation. Post-LIA coastal progradation and formation of new landforms in Kongsfjorden have been controlled predominantly by substantial availability of glacial sediment. A combination of aerial photographic and field data has been employed to estimate the post-LIA evolution of coastal sandur deltas and their submarine parts (named here “prodeltas”). The data set reveals that delta shoreline advance could have reached around 5 m/year. between 1966 and 1990 for the most energetic delta of Austre Lovenbreen, and around 4 m/year between 2011 and 2014 for the most energetic delta of Midtre Lovenbreen. The prodeltas registered a net growth from 2009 to 2012: the biggest, located in the prolongation of deltas of Austre Lovenbreen, measured 1033 m in length in 2009 and 1180 m in length in 2012. This substantial amount of sediment supplied in the fjord has an impact on the fjord ecology, especially on the benthic ecosystem.
Programme: 1172
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