Expanding the footprint of the Storegga tsunami: New evidence from Arctic sediments

Previous sedimentary and model-based investigations of the Storegga tsunami were primarily limited to the regions proximal to its origin. However, the catastrophic event may have had impacts extending to distances much greater than previously recognized, which remain elusive. Here, we investigated the Storegga slide-induced tsunami currents propagation to farther north and the potential disturbance created to the sediment by analyzing a well-dated sediment core section from the northwestern Barents Sea. A thick, reworked sediment layer, characterized by a coarser lower boundary and a fining upward grading trend, dated between 8077±128 and 8647±145 years BP, contained significantly older recycled foraminiferal tests and exhibited pronounced sedimentary changes with strong terrestrial signals. The findings imply that widespread high flow velocities of the tsunami waves might have reached as far north as 74°N, contributing to significant sediment reworking in the northwestern Barents Sea.