Glaciations of the East Siberian Sea

The existence and nature of Quaternary glaciations of the eastern part of the Arctic basin is very far from being solved, and many think glaciations there may been absent or very local, even at the Last Glacial Maximum.  It is unlikely under the conditions of permafrost and low precipitation during MIS 2, that the glaciers would have produced significant topographic relief.  However, significant ice loads will produce a significant isostatic response.  In the area of the Novosibirsk Islands, Holocene changes in sea level and transitions from continental to marine sedimentation indicate differences in emergence over the course of the transgression  that suggest the melting of significant grounded ice masses (e.g. Anisimov et al., 2009). Shorelines deviate from those expected from the hydroisostatic component. The best-fit isostatic model suggests significant LGM ice accumulation close to the ocean in the area of the Henrietta and Jeannette islands of the De Long archipelago in the East Siberian Sea. The uplift deviations in the Zhokhov island district are best matched for an effective elastic lithosphere thickness Te ~40 km. The ice accumulations close to the shelf-ocean margin in the last glaciation seem to also have occurred in earlier glaciations of the region.

Anisimov, M.A., Ivanova, V.V., Pushina, Z.V., Pitulko, V.V. 2009. Lagoon deposits of Zhokhov Island: age, conditions of formation and significance for paleogeographic reconstructions of the Novosibirsk Islands region // Izvestiya RAS, Geographical Series. No. 5. pp. 107-119.