A glacial chronology for northern East Greenland

In East Greenland between 75d̀ and 76d̀N three different glacial episodes can be identified: (1) An early period with more or less total ice cover and in which the ice reached out onto the continental shelf ‐ the Kap Mackenzie stadial; (2) a period with glaciation of intermediate extent, when nunataks and a few ice‐free lowland areas existed ‐ the Muschelbjerg stadial; and (3) a final period with glacial advance, when the glaciers were mainly restricted to fjords and larger valleys ‐ the Nanok stadial. Each of these stadials was followed by a period with general deglaciation, from which marine shell‐bearing sediments have been found; the Hochstetter Forland interstadial, the Peters Bugt interstadial and the Flandrian interglacial, respectively. The marine limit sank with each of these ice‐free periods; probably an isostatic effect of the decreasing amplitude of the glacial advances. The deglaciation after the Nanok stadial began about 9500 B.P. It is not known for certain when this glacial advance started, but 13,000 B.P. or earlier is suggested. According to 14 C datings the Peters Bugt interstadial dates from at least 45,000 B.P. and the Hochstetter Forland interstadial from at least 49,000 B.P. However, amino acid analyses indicate a distinct age difference between these two interstadial, and Th/U datings give age estimates of 70,000–115,000 B.P. for the Hochstetter Forland interstadial, which therefore seems to be of Early Weichselian age although a pre‐Weichselian age cannot be excluded. The same applies to the preceding Kap Mackenzie stadial. The correspondence between the present glacial chronology and similar tripartite ones on Bafffin Island, Ellesmere Island and Svalbard seems reasonably good