Articles | Volume 20, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3619-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3619-2026
Research article
 | 
26 Jun 2026
Research article |  | 26 Jun 2026

The new kids on the block of Arctic coasts – formation and morphodynamics of paraglacial moraine lagoons in Svalbard

Zofia Owczarek, Oskar Kostrzewa, Wojciech Piskorski, and Mateusz C. Strzelecki

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Cited articles

Angelopoulos, M., Overduin, P. P., Westermann, S., Tronicke, J., Strauss, J., Schirrmeister, L., Biskaborn, B. K., Liebner, S., Maksimov, G., Grigoriev, M. N., and Grosse, G.: Thermokarst Lake to Lagoon Transitions in Eastern Siberia: Do Submerged Taliks Refreeze?, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth Surf., 125, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005424, 2020. 
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Barnes, R. S. K.: Coastal lagoons: the natural history of a neglected habitat, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 106 pp., ISBN 0521299454, 1980. 
Bendixen, M. and Kroon, A.: Conceptualizing delta forms and processes in Arctic coastal environments, Earth Surf. Process. Landf., 42, 1227–1237, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4097, 2017. 
Błaszczyk, M., Jania, J. A., and Kolondra, L.: Fluctuations of tidewater glaciers in Hornsund Fjord (Southern Svalbard) since the beginning of the 20th century, Polar Res., 34, 327–352, https://doi.org/10.2478/popore-2013-0024, 2013. 
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As Arctic warming speeds glacier retreat, new coastal landscapes emerge. Paraglacial Moraine Lagoons (PMLs), formed by Little Ice Age moraines, now cover 56 % of Svalbard's lagoons, triple their 1930s area. We propose a model of their evolution: erosion by marine forces or stabilization by sediment infill, functioning as sediment traps and biodiversity refuges.
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