R.S. Jones
Cosmogenic nuclides constrain surface fluctuations of an East Antarctic outlet glacier since the Pliocene
Jones, R.S.; Norton, K.P.; Mackintosh, A.N.; Anderson, J.T.H.; Kubik, P.; Vockenhuber, C.; Wittman, H.; Fink, D.; Wilson, G.S.; Golledge, N.R.; McKay, R.
Authors
K.P. Norton
A.N. Mackintosh
J.T.H. Anderson
P. Kubik
C. Vockenhuber
H. Wittman
D. Fink
G.S. Wilson
N.R. Golledge
R. McKay
Abstract
Understanding past changes in the Antarctic ice sheets provides insight into how they might respond to future climate warming. During the Pliocene and Pleistocene, geological data show that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet responded to glacial and interglacial cycles by remaining relatively stable in its interior, but oscillating at its marine-based margin. It is currently not clear how outlet glaciers, which connect the ice sheet interior to its margin, responded to these orbitally-paced climate cycles. Here we report new ice surface constraints from Skelton Glacier, an outlet of the East Antarctic ice sheet, which drains into the Ross Ice Shelf. Our multiple-isotope (10Be and 26Al) cosmogenic nuclide data indicate that currently ice-free areas adjacent to the glacier underwent substantial periods of exposure and ice cover in the past. We use an exposure-burial model driven by orbitally-paced glacial–interglacial cycles to determine the probable ice surface history implied by our data. This analysis shows that: 1) the glacier surface has likely fluctuated since at least the Pliocene; 2) the ice surface was >200 m higher than today during glacial periods, and the glacier has been thicker than present for ∼75–90% of each glacial–interglacial cycle; and 3) ice cover at higher elevations possibly occurred for a relatively shorter time per Pliocene cycle than Pleistocene cycle. Our multiple-nuclide approach demonstrates the magnitude of ice surface fluctuations during the Pliocene and Pleistocene that are linked to marine-based ice margin variability.
Citation
Jones, R., Norton, K., Mackintosh, A., Anderson, J., Kubik, P., Vockenhuber, C., …McKay, R. (2017). Cosmogenic nuclides constrain surface fluctuations of an East Antarctic outlet glacier since the Pliocene. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 480, 75-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.09.014
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Sep 2, 2017 |
Online Publication Date | Nov 2, 2017 |
Publication Date | Dec 5, 2017 |
Deposit Date | Oct 6, 2017 |
Publicly Available Date | Nov 2, 2018 |
Journal | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
Print ISSN | 0012-821X |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 480 |
Pages | 75-86 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.09.014 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1347683 |
Files
Accepted Journal Article
(1.7 Mb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Copyright Statement
© 2017 This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
You might also like
Impact of glacial isostatic adjustment on cosmogenic surface-exposure dating
(2019)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Durham Research Online (DRO)
Administrator e-mail: dro.admin@durham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search