Radiocarbon and seismic evidence of ice sheet extent and the last deglaciation on the mid-Norwegian continental shelf

Reconstruction of the ice extent and glacier chronology on the contin ental shelf off mid-Norway has been severely hampered by the lack of dates from the glacial deposits. Seismic interpretation and new mass spectrometer radiocarbon dates show that the ice sheet extended to th e edge of the continental shelf at the last glacial maximum. The two youngest till units near the shelf edge were deposited about 15,000 a nd 13,500 BP. The results indicate that the ice sheet partly reached the shelf break as late as 13,000 BP, followed by a deglaciation of m ost of the continental shelf in less than 1000 years.