Holocene dust and climate change in Adventdalen, Svalbard, RiS ID 11425

Wind-blown dust deposits called loess blanket Adventdalen and comprise a valuable climate, atmospheric dust and permafrost carbon burial archive. However, we currently lack detailed information on the distribution, thickness and timing of deposition of these deposits and no systematic investigation into their potential as climate archives has been undertaken. This project will address both the extent and duration of loess deposition in Adventdalen, and assesses their potential as sensitive dust and climate records. It will first extract multiple loess cores (c. 4-5 m length) from both the upper and lower part of the valley. Following this, luminescence dating will be used to derive age models and dust accumulation records. Subsamples will also be analyzed for novel and established loess climate proxies. In this way, the research will provide a detailed assessment of the thickness and distribution of Adventdalen loess, constrain its age and rates of deposition in detail, and develop new and valuable Arctic climate proxies that can be tied to changes in carbon burial and regional climate evolution. The results will also be linked with ongoing terrestrial dust accumulation and climate record research from Greenland and Iceland.