Core-top sediment samples from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, and adjacent fjord and shelf areas were collected in order to investigate a potential relationship between Mg/Ca-ratios of Arctic benthic foraminifera and the ambient bottom water temperatures (BWT). The area is influenced by large seasonal variation in factors such as light and temperature, which is further strengthened by oceanographic shifts, ...

In modern environments, pore water geochemistry and modelling simulations allow the study of methane (CH₄) sources and sinks at any geographic location. However, reconstructing CH₄ dynamics in geological records is challenging. Here, we show that the benthic foraminiferal δ³⁴S can be used to reconstruct the fux (i.e., difusive vs. advective) and timing of CH₄ ...

In this study, we report lipid biomarker patterns and phylogenetic identities of key microbial communities mediating anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in active mud volcanoes (MVs) on the continental slope of the Canadian Beaufort Sea. The carbon isotopic compositions (δ13C) of sn-2- and sn-3-hydroxyarchaeol showed the highly 13C-depleted values (−114 ‰ to −82 ‰) associated with a steep depletion ...

The Arctic continental shelves are important reservoirs of methane stored in gas hydrates and deeper geological formations. However, little is known about methane dynamics in deeper oceanic settings such as mid-ocean ridges, mainly due to operational challenges related to their remoteness. This study investigates a recently discovered methane seepage environment at Svyatogor Ridge, a sediment-covered ...

Present-day activity of cold-seeps in the ocean is evident from direct observations of methane emanating from the seafloor, the presence of chemosynthetic organisms, or the quantification of gas concentrations in the water column and pore water solutes. Verifying past cold seep activity and biogeochemical characteristics is more challenging but may be reconstructed from proxy records of authigenic ...

We studied discrete bivalve shell horizons in two gravity cores from seafloor pockmarks on the Vestnesa Ridge (1200 m water depth) and western Svalbard (798000 N, 068550 W) to provide insight into the temporal and spatial dynamics of seabed methane seeps. The shell beds, dominated by two genera of the family Vesicomyidae: Phreagena s.l. and Isorropodon sp., were 20–30 cm thick and centered at ...

The Eurasian ice-sheet complex (EISC) was the third largest ice mass during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), after the Antarctic and North American ice sheets. Despite its global significance, a comprehensive account of its evolution from independent nucleation centres to its maximum extent is conspicuously lacking. Here, a first-order, thermomechanical model, robustly constrained by empirical evidence, ...

Accurate prediction of snow avalanche runout-distances in a deterministic sense remains a challenge due to the complexity of all the physical properties involved. Therefore, in many locations including Norway, it has been common practice to define the runout distance using the angle from the starting point to the end of the runout zone (α-angle). We use a large dataset of avalanche events from ...