Based on six consistent radiocarbon dates from the isolation basins Grødheimsvatnet and Kringlemyr, we estimate a minimum deglaciation age for southern Karmøy, an island in outer Boknafjorden (south‐west Norway), of around 18 000 calibrated years ...
Based on six consistent radiocarbon dates from the isolation basins Grødheimsvatnet and Kringlemyr, we estimate a minimum deglaciation age for southern Karmøy, an island in outer Boknafjorden (south‐west Norway), of around 18 000 calibrated years before present (18k cal a bp). We use microscopic phytoplankton, macrofossils, lithostratigraphic evidence and X‐ray fluorescence data to identify the isolation contacts in the basins, and date them to 17.52–17.18k cal a bp in Grødheimsvatnet [15.57 m above present mean sea level (MSL)] and 16.19–15.80k cal a bp in Kringlemyr (11.99 m above MSL). Combining these data with previous studies, we construct a relative sea‐level (RSL) curve from 18k cal a bp until the present, which is ~3 ka longer than any previous RSL reconstruction from southern Norway. Following deglaciation, southern Karmøy has experienced a net emergence of around 16–19 m, although with significant RSL fluctuations. This includes two RSL minima well below present MSL around ~13.8 and ~10k cal a bp, and two maxima that culminated around 5–7 m above MSL during the Younger Dryas and early to mid‐Holocene, respectively. Considering eustatic sea level and modelled gravitational deformation of the geoid, we estimate a net postglacial isostatic uplift of ~120 m. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd