TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence for a Highly Dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet During the Pliocene
AU - IODP Expedition 379 Scientists
AU - Gohl, Karsten
AU - Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele
AU - Gille-Petzoldt, Johanna
AU - Hillenbrand, Claus Dieter
AU - Klages, Johann P.
AU - Bohaty, Steven M.
AU - Passchier, Sandra
AU - Frederichs, Thomas
AU - Wellner, Julia S.
AU - Lamb, Rachel
AU - Leitchenkov, German
AU - Klaus, A.
AU - Kulhanek, D.
AU - Bauersachs, T.
AU - Courtillat, M.
AU - Cowan, E.
AU - De Lira Mota, M.
AU - Esteves, M.
AU - Fegyveresi, J.
AU - Gao, L.
AU - Halberstadt, A.
AU - Horikawa, K.
AU - Iwai, M.
AU - Kim, J.
AU - King, T.
AU - Penkrot, M.
AU - Prebble, J.
AU - Rahaman, W.
AU - Reinardy, B.
AU - Renaudie, J.
AU - Robinson, D.
AU - Scherer, R.
AU - Siddoway, C.
AU - Wu, L.
AU - Yamane, M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. The Authors.
PY - 2021/7/28
Y1 - 2021/7/28
N2 - Major ice loss in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is hypothesized to have triggered ice sheet collapses during past warm periods such as those in the Pliocene. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 recovered continuous late Miocene to Holocene sediments from a sediment drift on the continental rise, allowing assessment of sedimentation processes in response to climate cycles and trends since the late Miocene. Via seismic correlation to the shelf, we interpret massive prograding sequences that extended the outer shelf by 80 km during the Pliocene through frequent advances of grounded ice. Buried grounding zone wedges indicate prolonged periods of ice-sheet retreat, or even collapse, during an extended mid-Pliocene warm period from ∼4.2–3.2 Ma inferred from Expedition 379 records. These results indicate that the WAIS was highly dynamic during the Pliocene and major retreat events may have occurred along the Amundsen Sea margin.
AB - Major ice loss in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is hypothesized to have triggered ice sheet collapses during past warm periods such as those in the Pliocene. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 recovered continuous late Miocene to Holocene sediments from a sediment drift on the continental rise, allowing assessment of sedimentation processes in response to climate cycles and trends since the late Miocene. Via seismic correlation to the shelf, we interpret massive prograding sequences that extended the outer shelf by 80 km during the Pliocene through frequent advances of grounded ice. Buried grounding zone wedges indicate prolonged periods of ice-sheet retreat, or even collapse, during an extended mid-Pliocene warm period from ∼4.2–3.2 Ma inferred from Expedition 379 records. These results indicate that the WAIS was highly dynamic during the Pliocene and major retreat events may have occurred along the Amundsen Sea margin.
KW - Amundsen Sea Embayment
KW - IODP Expedition 379
KW - Pliocene climate
KW - West Antarctic Ice Sheet
KW - grounding zone wedge
KW - seismic stratigraphy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112368519&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2021GL093103
DO - 10.1029/2021GL093103
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112368519
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 48
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 14
M1 - e2021GL093103
ER -