Eurasian ice sheet margins

During this expedition researchers tried to determine the maximum extent of the inland ice sheets in the Kara Sea region, and acquire a deeper understanding of the variation and extent of earlier inland ice sheets. This information about the inland ice sheets will be useful in efforts to reconstruct climate evolution. The study was conducted to determine changes in flora and fauna, with an emphasis on the last 50,000 years. Sediment samples was taken and then analysed, and this will potentially expand our knowledge of the environmental changes connected with the extinction of fauna.

Principal investigator

Per Möller
Department of Geology, Lund University

Tectonic evolution of the Amerasian Basin

The Arctic Ocean consists of two deep basins, the Amerasian Basin and the Eurasian Basin. The Amerasian Basin is the older of the two, roughly 135 million years old, and lies at a depth of more than 3,000 metres. Understanding how and why the Amerasian Basin was formed is important, as it has influenced the tectonic evolution of the surrounding continental shelves and of global ocean circulation, which has a major impact on the world’s climate.

Principal investigator

Victoria Pease
Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University