The last glacial-interglacial cycle, western Spitsbergen, Svalbard archipelago

Abstract

Despite an interest in the Quaternary history of the Svalbard archipelago that has spanned most of this century, the timing and extent of glacial activity across the archipelago remains controversial for the Weichselian prior to c. 13 ka B.P.; our knowledge of environmental change over the last 150 ka throughout the Arctic is fragmentary and equivocal. Lacking an independent geochronology, even deposits of the last interglacial are rarely identifiable, and the number, duration and timing of glacial advances within the Weichselian are debated.