This manuscript presentes a very interesting approach to soil development in a Holocene sequence of marine terraces in the High Arctic. However, before being acceptable for publication the authors should provide a detailed response to the two comments of the referees.

The paper has substantially improved and is almost ready for publication in SOIL. I have just one comment regarding section 5.4.

This section should be improved by referring to several papers that have worked in the area, particularly in the soil-landscape evolution during the Holocene in Central Spitsbergen. Is soil structure/development similar? what about the inferred paleoclimate conditions?
Check these references:

Härtel, S.: Formation and dynamics of Holocene ice-wedge polygons in Lower Adventdalen, Svalbard, M.S. thesis, University of Svalbard, Norway, 114 pp., 2011.

Oliva, M.; Vieira, G.; Pina, P.; Pereira, P.; Neves, M. & Freitas, C. (2014). Sedimentological characteristics of ice-wedge polygon terrain in Adventalen valley (Svalbard) - environmental and climatic implications for the late Holocene. Solid Earth, 5: 901-914.

Dear Authors,

Thank you for submitting your work to SOIL. I have only one small correction left to be made:

Line 512 says isostatic rebound effects were modeled with a quadratic equation but the Figure 3 caption refers to a linear regression line (while showing a distinctly non-linear line). Please update the Figure 3 caption.

Congratulations on acceptance of your paper, and I hope you will consider SOIL as an outlet for your work again in the future.

Sincerely,
Eric Brevik
Executive Editor, SOIL