Sedimentation History Along the East Greenland Margin: a Geoscientific Study on a Continental Margin in the Northern Hemisphere

The change in global climate is one of the highly speculative aspects in the Northern Hemipsphere, especially the onset of glaciation. Advances and retreats of grounded ice sheets during glacial- interglacial times play an important role in terms of the deposition of large sediment deposits. Depositional patterns on the continental slope and rise reflect interactions between the effects of ice sheet fluctuations, mass transport processes and bottom currents. A for the first time applied seismostratigraphy on the Northeast Greenland margin made it possible to differentiate between glacial (younger than Middle Miocene) and pre-glacial (older than Middle Miocene) sediment units. Glacial advances and retreats appear not to have been synchronous along the continental margin. Therefore, either north of 70°N the extension of the shelf by glacial erosion seems to be more intensive like on the Southeast Greenland margin or the onset of glaciation started earlier in the north than in the south. This study demonstrates the interaction between sediment accumulation, climatic changes and changes in ocean circulation.