Reconstruction of Holocene natural events on the Barents Sea coast based on the study of bottom lake sediments (Mustatunturi Ridge area, Murmansk region)

A comprehensive study of the bottom sediments of a lake located at an elevation of 27.0 m on the Barents Sea coast in the Mustatunturi Ridge area, Murmansk region, was carried out. Lithological, diatom, granulometric, geochemical analyses, loss on ignition (LOI) and radiocarbon dating were made. Based on obtained data five sedimentation stages were described, the change in which occurred as a result of the Barents Sea level change and, probably, a catastrophic event in the Holocene. It has been determined that at first this basin was an une- ven seabed, where marine sediments, represented by silt and sand, accumulated. With the intensive uplift of the earth’s surface of the Fennoscandian shield, the basin gradually isolated from the sea, mineragenic sediments are replaced by organogenic ones at the beginning of the Holocene. The formation of transitional organogenic sediments occurred in stable and calm environmental conditions, when the sea level was located slightly below the runoff threshold from the lake, and sea water periodically penetrated into the basin during tides. The repeated ingression of sea water into the lake basin was recorded in the Middle Holocene, which is expressed in the section by the accumulation of poorly sorted mineragenic deposits with inclusions of plant remains, an increase in the grain-size, a decrease of organic material and the dominance of marine species of diatoms. This could have been caused by several reasons, or perhaps a combination of them: the Tapes transgression, the Storegga tsunami, or another catastrophic event. About 8000 years ago, the lake basin was finally isolated from the sea, and freshwater organogenic sediments began to form. The average rate of uplift of the study area over the past 8000 years was 3.5 mm/year.

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