Sedimentological data (foraminifera, wet bulk density and magnetic susceptibility) for core LC7 sediment record from Blaso, a large, epishelf lake in NW Greenland collected July-August 2017

The dataset comprises multi-proxy analyses of a sediment core (LC7) extracted from Blaso, a large epishelf lake on the margin of 79 ° N Ice Shelf, NW Greenland in July-August 2017. The data are used to constrain ice shelf dynamics over the last 8500 calibrated years before present (cal. years B.P., where present is A.D. 1950). A 2 m-long sediment core was recovered with a UWITEC KOL 'Kolbenlot' percussion piston corer to a total sediment depth of 3.74 m. Core LC7: 87 m water depth; 79.589 ° N, 22.494 ° E. Sedimentological data for the LC7 sediment record consists of physical properties (magnetic susceptibility, wet bulk density) and foraminifera data.

A 2 m-long sediment core was recovered with a UWITEC KOL 'Kolbenlot' percussion piston corer to a total sediment depth of 3.74 m (LC7) in Blaso (LC7: 79°35.340N, 22°29.640E, 87m). Physical properties (magnetic susceptibility, wet bulk density) were measured on whole core using a GEOTEK multi-sensor core logger (MSCL) at the Department of Geography, Durham University, to characterise lithological properties and infer the depositional environment(s). Core sections were then split, described and sub-sampled. 1 cm thick sediment slices were taken every 10-20 cm. A total of 6 (LC7) samples were processed for foraminiferal analysis to reconstruct the environmental conditions in Blaso. Sample volume varied between 0.5 and 5 ml (cm^3) depending on average foraminiferal concentration (estimated based on initial scanning of samples). The variation in sample size was designed to allow 300 to 500 specimens to be counted from all samples. Once extracted samples were soaked in deionized water for several hours to help disaggregate the sediment. Samples were then washed through a 500 µm and 63 µm mesh sieve to concentrate the foraminifera. The material collected on the 63 µm mesh sieve were retained for foraminiferal analysis. Foraminifera were identified and counted from the wet residue under a binocular microscope.

UWITEC KOL 'Kolbenlot' percussion piston corer GEOTEK multi-sensor core logger Binocular microscope