2 research outputs found
Fjord systems and archives: a review
<p>Fjords are glacially over-deepened semi-enclosed marine basins, typically with entrance sills separating their deep waters
from the adjacent coastal waters which restrict water circulation and thus oxygen renewal. The location of fjords is principally
controlled by the occurrence of ice sheets, either modern or ancestral. Fjords are therefore geomorphological features that
represent the transition from the terrestrial to the marine environment and, as such, have the potential to preserve evidence
of environmental change. Typically, most fjords have been glaciated a number of times and some high-latitude fjords still
possess a resident glacier. In most cases, glacial erosion through successive glacial/interglacial cycles has ensured the
removal of sediment sequences within the fjord. Hence the stratigraphic record in fjords largely preserves a glacial-deglacial
cycle of deposition over the last 18 ka or so. Sheltered water and high sedimentation rates have the potential to make fjords
ideal depositional environments for preserving continuous records of climate and environmental change with high temporal resolution.
In addition to acting as high-resolution environmental archives, fjords can also be thought of as mini-ocean sedimentary basin
laboratories. Fjords remain an understudied and often neglected sedimentary realm. With predictions of warming climates, changing
ocean circulation and rising sea levels, this volume is a timely look at these environmentally sensitive coastlines.
</p
Fjord systems and archives: a review
<p>Fjords are glacially over-deepened semi-enclosed marine basins, typically with entrance sills separating their deep waters
from the adjacent coastal waters which restrict water circulation and thus oxygen renewal. The location of fjords is principally
controlled by the occurrence of ice sheets, either modern or ancestral. Fjords are therefore geomorphological features that
represent the transition from the terrestrial to the marine environment and, as such, have the potential to preserve evidence
of environmental change. Typically, most fjords have been glaciated a number of times and some high-latitude fjords still
possess a resident glacier. In most cases, glacial erosion through successive glacial/interglacial cycles has ensured the
removal of sediment sequences within the fjord. Hence the stratigraphic record in fjords largely preserves a glacial-deglacial
cycle of deposition over the last 18 ka or so. Sheltered water and high sedimentation rates have the potential to make fjords
ideal depositional environments for preserving continuous records of climate and environmental change with high temporal resolution.
In addition to acting as high-resolution environmental archives, fjords can also be thought of as mini-ocean sedimentary basin
laboratories. Fjords remain an understudied and often neglected sedimentary realm. With predictions of warming climates, changing
ocean circulation and rising sea levels, this volume is a timely look at these environmentally sensitive coastlines.
</p