Articles | Volume 24, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-757-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-757-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
05 Mar 2024
Research article |
| 05 Mar 2024
| 05 Mar 2024
Evidence of Middle Holocene landslide-generated tsunamis recorded in lake sediments from Saqqaq, West Greenland
Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kristian Svennevig
Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark
Anne S. Søndergaard
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Gregor Luetzenburg
Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mimmi Oksman
Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark
Nicolaj K. Larsen
Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Robert S. Fausto, Dirk van As, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Baptiste Vandecrux, Michele Citterio, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, Signe B. Andersen, William Colgan, Nanna B. Karlsson, Kristian K. Kjeldsen, Niels J. Korsgaard, Signe H. Larsen, Søren Nielsen, Allan Ø. Pedersen, Christopher L. Shields, Anne M. Solgaard, and Jason E. Box
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Anne Solgaard, Anders Kusk, John Peter Merryman Boncori, Jørgen Dall, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, Signe B. Andersen, Michele Citterio, Nanna B. Karlsson, Kristian K. Kjeldsen, Niels J. Korsgaard, Signe H. Larsen, and Robert S. Fausto
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Svend Funder, Anita H. L. Sørensen, Nicolaj K. Larsen, Anders A. Bjørk, Jason P. Briner, Jesper Olsen, Anders Schomacker, Laura B. Levy, and Kurt H. Kjær
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Kristian Svennevig, Trine Dahl-Jensen, Marie Keiding, John Peter Merryman Boncori, Tine B. Larsen, Sara Salehi, Anne Munck Solgaard, and Peter H. Voss
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 1021–1038, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-1021-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-1021-2020, 2020
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The 17 June 2017 Karrat landslide in Greenland caused a tsunami that killed four people. We apply a multidisciplinary workflow to reconstruct a timeline of events and find that three historic landslides occurred in 2009, 2016, and 2017. We also find evidence of much older periods of landslide activity. Three newly discovered active slopes might pose a future hazard. We speculate that the trigger for the recent events is melting permafrost due to a warming climate.
Anne Sofie Søndergaard, Nicolaj Krog Larsen, Olivia Steinemann, Jesper Olsen, Svend Funder, David Lundbek Egholm, and Kurt Henrik Kjær
Clim. Past, 16, 1999–2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1999-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1999-2020, 2020
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We present new results that show how the north Greenland Ice Sheet responded to climate changes over the last 11 700 years. We find that the ice sheet was very sensitive to past climate changes. Combining our findings with recently published studies reveals distinct differences in sensitivity to past climate changes between northwest and north Greenland. This highlights the sensitivity to past and possible future climate changes of two of the most vulnerable areas of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
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Short summary
A tsunami wave will leave evidence of erosion and deposition in coastal lakes, making it possible to determine the runup height and when it occurred. Here, we use four lakes now located at elevations of 19–91 m a.s.l. close to the settlement of Saqqaq, West Greenland, to show that at least two giant tsunamis occurred 7300–7600 years ago with runup heights larger than 40 m. We infer that any tsunamis from at least nine giga-scale landslides must have happened 8500–10 000 years ago.
A tsunami wave will leave evidence of erosion and deposition in coastal lakes, making it...
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