大象传媒

Project description
During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Scandinavian Ice Sheet grew out into the North Sea where it met the British Isles ice sheet. The confluence of the two ice sheets dammed the European rivers Elbe, Ems and Weser, creating a large proglacial lake. When the ice sheets ultimately retreated, the proglacial lake is proposed to have drained through a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) directing a large freshwater pulse to the Norwegian Sea that might have affected oceanic circulation and climate (Hjelstuen et al., 2018).

The pathway of this GLOF, and the path of the post-glacial Elbe paleo-valley, is largely unknown in the Norwegian North Sea. A determination of the GLOF pathway will enable a more precise estimate of the date and amount of meltwater associated with this event. This will be important for the evaluation of the oceanic consequences of the North Sea GLOF.

During the LGM, the global mean sea level was about 120 meter lower than today, potentially leaving most of the southern Norwegian North Sea as dry land. This area, that has been dubbed the lost continent of Doggerland was the home of humans and a diverse ecosystem before it was transgressed by the sea about 10-14 thousand years ago. The paleo-river channels and sub-glacially carved tunnel valleys are likely the best option to find intact sedimentary deposits from this time, as strong Holocene erosion from waves and currents have since eroded much of the seabed in the southern Norwegian North Sea. A thorough mapping and analysis of these channels is therefore imperative for reconstructing the environment of the lost Doggerland.

This Master project aims to reconstruct the paleo-drainage pattern of the GLOF and the Elbe Paleo-valley in the southern Norwegian North Sea by interpreting TOPAS sub-bottom profiles with focus on channel-features seen in the near surface seabed and sedimentological analysis and dating of sediment cores retrieved from these channels.

Reference
Hjelstuen et al. (2018). Evidence of an ice-dammed lake outburst in the North Sea during the last deglaciation. Marine
Geology 402, 118-130.

Photo:

UiB

Proposed course plan during the master's degree (60 ECTS)
GEOV231 / Maringeologisk felt- og laboratoriekurs (10 stp)
GEOV222 / Paleoklimatologi (10 stp)
GEOV272 / Seismisk tolkning (10 stp)
GEOV261 / Bassenganalyse og tolking av undergrunnsdata (10 stp)
GEOV329 / Kvart忙r geokronologi (10 stp)
GEOV205 / Geografiske informasjonssystem: Teori og praksis (10 stp)

Field-, lab- and analysis work
-Analysis and description of sediment cores in EarthLab (e.g. xrf-core scanning), interpretation of sediment core straigraphy, sampling and interpretation of radiocarbon dates.
-Interpretation of sediment stratigraphy from TOPAS sub-bottom profile data and integration with data from bathymetry and sediment cores.