THE USE OF THE MARINE BIVALVE ARCTICA ISLANDICA IN A LATE-HOLOCENE PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION, INGØYA, NORWAY

Samples of the marine bivalve, Arctica islandica, collected on the island of Ingøya in Finnmark, Norway, will be used to produce a record of late Holocene sea surface temperature (SST) for the region. This record, produced from the measurement of growth increments on A. islandica shells and from d¹⁸O data, will be used to investigate changes to prominent oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns. This study site may provide unique regional insights into these patterns as it is influenced by three major currents: the North Atlantic Current, the Norwegian Coastal Current, and the Arctic Current. A survey of shell ages will be determined using a new low precision AMS radiocarbon technique that will identify shells of the same absolute ages for use in crossdating. A crossdated record, which combines the records of multiple shells, provides a statistically robust reconstruction of marine conditions, and will be used in conjunction with d¹⁸O data to produce a late-Holocene “snapshot” of annual and sub-annual conditions.