Premium
The sedimentology, stratigraphy and 14 C dating of a turf‐banked solifluction lobe: evidence for Holocene slope instability at Okstindan, northern Norway
Author(s) -
Elliott Graham,
Worsley Peter
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1417(199903)14:2<175::aid-jqs432>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - solifluction , geology , holocene , sedimentology , radiocarbon dating , stratigraphy , geomorphology , glacial period , paleontology , tectonics
The stratigraphy of a trench excavated through a solifluction lobe lying at an altitude of 860 m a.s.l. on the eastern flank of the Okstindan mountains is described. Sedimentological evidence suggests that the movement was probably dominated by a flow process, with silty sands episodically bursting‐out through a thinly vegetated lobe front in the spring and early summer thaw phases, when pore‐water pressures were likely to be increased. A continuous buried soil extends for some 14 m. Fourteen new radiocarbon age estimates from thin‐slice samples of this buried soil and organic fractions derived from laboratory pre‐treatment procedures are discussed. These data indicate that the solifluction probably commenced in the mid‐Holocene and continued throughout the Neoglacial. The slope instability may be correlated tentatively with the record of glacial variations, shifts in tree lines and archaeological evidence, supporting a link with regional climatic deterioration. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.