Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T07:27:07.682Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene range of Mytilus edulis in central East Greenland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2012

Ole Bennike  and
Bernd Wagner
Ole Bennike
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen k, Denmark (obe@geus.dk)
Bernd Wagner
Affiliation:
Institute for Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 49a, D-50674 Cologne, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Radiocarbon age determinations on shells of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis) show that this species was present in central East Greenland from approximately 9500 to 5400 cal. years BP. It probably arrived first at the outer coast, at a time when the inner parts of the fjords were still occupied by glaciers. After perhaps a millennium it spread to the central fjord region where it lived for at least three millennia. The former occurrence of Mytilus edulis indicates higher sea surface temperatures than at present and more extensive fjord water, which may have been a consequence of higher summer insolation, perhaps amplified by changes in atmospheric circulation, bringing more warm air masses to the north. The timing of the Holocene thermal maximum in the lowlands of East Greenland was later than recorded in the Renland ice core. This delay was probably related to the continuing recession of the margin of the Greenland ice sheet in the early Holocene. The lingering decaying ice meant that large lowland areas were still ice covered, and other areas were cooled by the ice.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 49 , Issue 3: THEMED SECTION: POLAR WORLDS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2011 , July 2013 , pp. 291 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aagard, K., and Coachman, L.K.. 1968. The East Greenland current north of Denmark Strait. Parts I–II. Arctic 21: 181–200, 267–290.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T. 1972. Recent and fossil growth rates of marine bivalves, Canadian Arctic, and late-Quaternary Arctic marine environments. Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 11: 157–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O. 1997. Quaternary vertebrates from Greenland: a review. Quaternary Science Reviews 16: 899–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O. 1999. Colonisation of Greenland by plants and animals after the last ice age: a review. Polar Record 35: 323–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O., and Björck, S.. 2002. Chronology of the last recession of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Journal of Quaternary Science 17: 211–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O., and Wagner, B.. in press. Holocene lake sediments from Germania Havn Sø, Sabine Ø, north-east Greenland: deglaciation chronology, sea level changes and environmental changes. Quaternary Research doi 10.1016/j.yqres.2012.03.004Google Scholar
Bennike, O., and Weidick, A.. 2001. Late Quaternary history around Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden and Jøkelbugten, North-East Greenland. Boreas 30: 205–227.Google Scholar
Bennike, O., Björck, S., Böcher, J., and Walker, I.. 2000. The Quaternary arthropod fauna of Greenland: a review with new data. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 47: 111–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O., Knudsen, K.L., Abrahamsen, N., Böcher, J., Cremer, H., and Wagner, B.. 2010. Early Pleistocene sediments on Store Koldewey, northeast Greenland. Boreas 39: 603–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, A., and Loutre, M.F.. 1991. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quaternary Science Reviews 10: 297–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, W. Jr. 2006. Occurrence of the Mytilus edulis complex on Nordaustlandet, Svalbard; radiocarbon ages and climatic implications. Polar Research 25: 123–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cremer, H., Wagner, B., Melles, M., and Hubberten, H.-W.. 2001. The postglacial environmental development of Raffles Sø, East Greenland: inferences from a 10,000 year diatom record. Journal of Paleolimnology 26: 67–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Dale, J.E., and McNeely, R.N.. 1996. Marine molluscs as indicators of environmental change in glaciated North America and Greenland during the last 18 000 years. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 50: 125–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feyling-Hanssen, R.W. 1955. Stratigraphy of the marine late-Pleistocene of Billefjorden, Vestspitsbergen. Oslo: Norskpolarinstitutt (Norsk Polarinstitutt, Skrifter 107).Google Scholar
Funder, S. 1978. Holocene stratigraphy and vegetation history in the Scoresby Sund area, East Greenland. Copenhagen Copenhagen: Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse (Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse Bulletin 129).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, B., Baroni, C., Denton, G.H., Kelly, M.A., and Lowell, T.V.. 2008. Relative sea-level change, Kjove Land, Scoresby Sund, East Greenland: implications for seasonality in late-glacial time. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 2283–2291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Håkansson, S. 1973. University of Lund radiocarbon dates VI. Radiocarbon 15: 493–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Håkansson, S. 1974. University of Lund radiocarbon dates VII. Radiocarbon 16: 307–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Håkansson, S. 1975. University of Lund radiocarbon dates VIII. Radiocarbon 17: 174–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hjort, C., and Funder, S.. 1974. The subfossil occurrence of Mytilus edulis L. in central East Greenland. Boreas 3: 23–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hjort, C., Mangerud, J., Adrielson, L., Bondevik, S., Landvik, J.Y., and Salvigsen, O.. 1995. Radiocarbon dated common mussels Mytilus edulis from eastern Svalbard and the Holocene climatic optimum. Polar Research 14: 239–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A.S. 1905. On the mollusca of East-Greenland. I Lamellibranchiata. Meddelelser om Grønland 29: 287–362.Google Scholar
Kelly, M., Funder, S., Houmark-Nielsen, M., Knudsen, K.L., Kronborg, C., Landvik, J., and Sorby, L.. 1999. Quaternary glacial and marine environmental history of northwest Greenland: a review and reappraisal. Quaternary Science Reviews 18: 373–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasca, N.P. 1969. The surficial geology of Skeldal, Mestersvig, Northeast Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 176 (3): 1–56.Google Scholar
Mackie, G.L. 1979. Dispersal mechanisms in Sphaeridae (Mollusca: Bivalvia). Bulletin of the American Malacological Union 45: 17–21.Google Scholar
Nathorst, A.G. 1901. Bidrag til nordöstra Grönlands geologi. Geologiska Foreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar 23: 275–306CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noe-Nygaard, A. 1932. Remarks on Mytilus edulis L. in raised beaches in East Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 95 (2): 1–24.Google Scholar
Ockelmann, W.K. 1958. The zoology of east Greenland. Marine Lammellibranchiata. Meddelelser om Grønland 122 (4): !–256.Google Scholar
Peacock, J.D. 1989. Late Quaternary marine mollusca as palaeoenvironmental proxies: a compilation and assessment of basic numerical data for NE Atlantic species found in shallow water. Quaternary Science Reviews 12: 263–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, C., Bronk Ramsey, P.G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.G., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, M., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., van der Plicht, J., and Weyhenmeyer, C.E.. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51: 1111–1150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, K.D. 1972. A mollusc new to Lake Birket Qarun, Egypt. Nautilus 85: 141–143.Google Scholar
Salvigsen, O. 2002. Radiocarbon-dated Mytilus edulis and Modiolus modiolus from northern Svalbard: climatic implications. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift 56: 56–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salvigsen, O., Forman, S.L., and Miller, G.H.. 1992. Thermophilous molluscs on Svalbard during the Holocene and their paleoclimatic implications. Polar Research 11: 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, S., Wagner, B., Heiri, O., Klug, M., Bennike, O., and Melles, M.. 2011. Chironomids as indicators of the Holocene climatic and environmental history of two lakes in Northeast Greenland. Boreas 40: 116–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Símonarson, L., Petersen, K.S., and Funder, S.. 1998. Molluscan palaeontology of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Kap København Formation, North Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 36: 1–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suess, H.E. 1954. U.S. Geological Survey radiocarbon dates I. Science 120: 467–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sugiura, Y. 1962. Electrical induction of spawning in two marine invertebrates (Urechis unicinctus, Mytilus edulis). Biological Bulletin 123: 203–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treu, D. 2011. Reconstruction of the post glacial sedimentary history in the Noret Basin, East Greenland, 66 pp. Unpublished diploma thesis. Cologne: University of Cologne.Google Scholar
Vinther, B.M., Buchardt, S.L., Clausen, H.B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Johnsen, S.J., Fisher, D.A., Koerner, R.M., Raynaud, D., Lipenkov, V., Andersen, K.K., Blunier, T., Rasmussen, S.O., Steffensen, J.P., and Svensson, A.M.. 2009. Holocene thinning of the Greenland ice sheet. Nature 461: 385–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vosgerau, H., Funder, S., Kelly, M., Knudsen, K.L., Kronborg, C., Madsen, H.B., and Sejrup, H.P.. 1994. Palaeoenvironments and changes in relative sea level during the last interglaciation at Langelandselv, Jameson Land, East Greenland. Boreas 23: 398–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, B., Melles, M., Hahne, J., Nielsen, F., and Hubberten, H-W.. 2000. Holocene climate history of Geographical Society Ø, East Greenland – evidence from lake sediments. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Paleoecology 160: 45–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, B., Bennike, O., Cremer, H., and Klug, M.. 2010. Late Quaternary history of the Kap Mackenzie area, northeast Greenland. Boreas 39: 492–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Washburn, A.L., and Stuiver, M.. 1962. Radiocarbon-dated postglacial delevelling in Northeast Greenland. Arctic 15: 66–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wesselingh, F.P., Cadée, G.C., and Renema, W.. 1999. Flying high: on the airborne dispersal of aquatic organisms as illustrated by the distribution histories of the gastropod genera Tryonia and Planorbarius. Geologie en Mijnbouw 78: 165–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar