Marine terraces in Kaffioyra and Hermansenoya (Oscar II Land, NW Spitsbergen)

The main relief elements which document the sea level changes on the Kaffioyra Plain and the Isle of Hermansenoya, including the sea transgressions, are both abrasive (marine terraces) and accumulative (raised beaches). Such landforms have been relatively well preserved in the area of Kaffioyra. However, the issues relating to the number of such forms and their age remain questionable. They refer to the number of glacial episodes, the extension of the glaciers during these periods as well as the limit of the sea transgressions during and after the deglaciation of the NW Spitsbergen during the Weichselian and Holocene periods. The first detailed geomorphological research which was conducted in Kaffioyra and its vicinity and included geomorphological mapping, was carried out by Niewiarowski and Sinkiewicz during the Toruń Polar Expeditions to Spitsbergen in 1978 and 1985 (Niewiarowski et al. 1993). The authors listed the exact number and extension of the old marine terraces as well as the Late Weichselian marine limit. According to these studies, the Kaffioyra's marine terraces are of two generations. The Isle of Hermansenoya, located four km off the Kaffioyra's shores, has one generation of former marine terraces. The maximum Late Weichselian marine limit in Kaffioyra reached 46–48 m a.s.l., while in Hermansenoya it reached about 33 m a.s.l. On both the Kaffioyra Plain and the Isle of Hermansenoya there is evidence of the Holocene sea level changes.