Holocene hydrographic conditions of Ameralik Fjord, SW Greenland

Using a multidisciplinary approach, a study was made of marine sediment cores from Ameralik Fjord (Lysefjorden), SW Greenland, in order to determine the Holocene hydrographic history of the fjord and climate development of the region. For that purpose we have studied the sedimentology (colour scans, XRF-intensity, and grain size), benthic foraminifera and diatoms in an 8 m long piston core, a 3.5-m long gravity core, and a short box core from the same station. The chronology of the long cores is based on calibrated AMS 14C-datings, while the box core was 210Pb-dated. Ameralik is a 75-km long, up to 700 m deep multi-basin fjord in the Godthåbsfjord complex near Nuuk (Godthåb), where melt-water rivers from the Inland Ice drains into the fjord, but no glaciers terminate into the fjord at present.