The Search for an Arctic Coastal Karren Model in Norway and Spitzbergen

Abstract

A search was conducted, in Norway and Svalbard, for an assemblage of littoral karren features characteristic of cold regions, comparable to other coastal karsts of the world, that could be fitted into a general coastal karst model. In fact, these karren do not fit into a world model of littoral/coastal karren The search showed that they represent a landform in transition rather than a morphology in equilibrium with modem processes. The suite of mainly bowl- or basin-shaped karren forms is best developed in the supra-littoral zone, rather than in the inter-tidal zone as occurs in other coastal karsts of the world. Further the forms are often simply an overprint on a glacial legacy; and they are governed more by isostatic uplift than by inter-tidal and coastal processes. The form will not remain constant over time but will vary as the rate of isostatic uplift decreases. In this chapter, the forms are documented, and the dominant processes are discussed (including a surprisingly high input from salt weathering and a low input from direct biological weathering). They are then compared with coastal karsts from other parts of the world to demonstrate their similarities (a common dominance of roughly circular negative forms and an absence of joint control), and their differences (almost negligible erosion in the inter-tidal zones here compared with maximum low- to inter-tidal erosion in temperate coasts).