Pb-210 Dating of Ice Scour in the Kara Sea

Abstract

Ice scours are formed when the keels of floating icebergs or sea ice hummocks penetrate unlithified seabed sediments. Until now, ice scours have been divided into “relict” and “modern” according to the water depth that corresponds with the possible maximum vertical dimensions of the keels of modern floating icebergs. However, this approach does not consider climatic changes at the present sea level, which affect the maximum depth of ice keels. We present an application of 210Pb dating of the largest ice scour in the Baydaratskaya Bay area (Kara Sea), located at depths of about 28–32 m. Two sediment cores were studied; these were taken on 2 November 2021 from the R/V Akademik Nikolay Strakhov directly in the ice scour and on the “background” seabed surface, not processed via ice scouring. According to the results of 210Pb dating, the studied ice scour was formed no later than the end of the Little Ice Age. Based on the extrapolation of possible sedimentation rates prior to 1917 (0.22–0.38 cm/year), the age of the ice scour is estimated to be 1810 ± 30 AD. The mean rate of ice scour filling with 70 cm thick sediments from the moment of its formation is around 0.33 cm/year.