Influence of Climate Change on Sedimentation Processes of the Spitsbergen Archipelago in the Late Holocene (by the Example of the Little Ice Age and Modern Warming)

The results of long-term studies of the geochronology of sedimentation processes on the Spitsbergen archipelago are summarized and presented. The response of the sedimentary basin to climate change is demonstrated using climatic fluctuations of the last centuries as an example. The study deals with various sedimentation basins of the Spitsbergen archipelago, including lacustrine systems, fjords, bays, straits, and the shelf zone of the Spitsbergen archipelago. It was found that variations in the granulometric composition of bottom sediments and the sedimentation rate in the study area represent a direct response of sedimentogenesis to climatic fluctuations. The change in the sedimentation regime after the Little Ice Age within lake and fjord basins spread to the shelf zone of the archipelago by the first half of the 20th century, covering an area at least 100 km across from the provenance areas. The studies revealed that up to 90% of the Late Holocene bottom sediments in the estuarine zones and fjords were formed during periods of climatic optimums of the sub-Atlantic time. In the shelf zone of the Spitsbergen archipelago, this parameter is about 75%.