Abstract
To extend the historical record of river floods in southern Norway, a 572-cm long sediment core was retrieved from 42 m water depth in Atnsjøen, eastern Norway. The sediment core contains 30 light gray clastic sediment layers interpreted to have been deposited during river floods in the snow/ice free season. In the upper 123 cm of the core, four prominent flood layers occur. The youngest of these overlap with the historical record. The thickest (flood layer 5) possibly reflects a general increase in river-flood activity as a result of the post-Medieval climate deterioration (lower air temperatures, thicker and more long-lasting snow cover, and more frequent rain/snow storms) associated with the ‘Little Ice Age’. The most pronounced pre-historic flood layers in the core were, according to an age model based on linear regression between eleven bulk AMS radiocarbon dates, deposited around 4135, 3770, 3635, 3470, 3345, 2690, 2595, 2455, 2415, 2255, 2230, 2150, 2120, 1870, 1815, 1665, 1640, 1480, 1400, 1380, 1290, 935, 885, 670, 655 and 435 cal. BP (BP = AD 1950). The mean return period of the river flood layers is, according to the linear regression age model, ~ 150 ± 30 cal. yr (mean ± 1 S.E.).
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Nesje, A., Dahl, S.O., Matthews, J.A. et al. A ~4500 yr record of river floods obtained from a sediment core in Lake Atnsjøen, eastern Norway. Journal of Paleolimnology 25, 329–342 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011197507174
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011197507174