Oxygen stable isotope variation in late holocene ice wedges in yamal peninsula and svalbard

Abstract

The stable oxygen isotope composition of Late Holocene syngenetic ice wedges from the Erkutayakha River valley in the Yamal Peninsula and from the Adventdalen valley in Svalbard was studied. It was demonstrated that the studied ice wedges located 2000 km apart were formed during the last 2-3.5 ka and continue to grow at present. Variations of δ18O values of the ice of both ice wedges do not exceed 2-3.5‰. Based on the oxygen isotope variations is has been calculated that mean winter air temperatures did not change by more than 3oC during the Late Holocene.