freeboard and mass extraction of the disintegrated mertz ice tongue with remote sensing and altimetry data abstract in february 2010 the mertz ice tongue mit collapsed and generated a giant iceberg however parameters about this iceberg have not been calculated and published in detail in this study the freeboard map of this iceberg was generated for the first time using a time series icesat glas data methods for producing the freeboard map of this iceberg are suggested field data for ice velocity were used to relocate the footprints collected by different campaigns cross validation was conducted with freeboards extracted from crossovers observed within 30 days of each other the precision of the freeboard extraction is approximately 0 50 m when taking one standard deviation as the precision the freeboard varied from 23 m to 59 m with the mean of 41 m with assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium assuming a snow layer depth of 1 m a snow density of 360 kg m 3 an ice density of 915 kg m 3 and a sea water density of 1024 kg m 3 the minimum maximum and average ice thickness were calculated as 210 m 550 m and 383 m respectively the total ice loss is approximately 8 96 10 11 tons over an area 34 km in width and 75 km in length or approximately 2560 5 km 2 these parameters extracted from remote sensing and altimetry data will provide additional information for studies of the evolution of iceberg especially in iceberg tracking system

submarine landforms and shallow acoustic stratigraphy of a 400 km long fjord shelf slope transect kangerlussuaq margin east greenland kangerlussuaq fjord is a relatively uniform steep walled basin whose floor has an almost smooth surface debris is supplied mainly from icebergs from the fast flowing kangerlussuaq glacier sedimentation after iceberg release from multi year sea ice is mainly by rain out of fine grained englacial debris streamlined glacial lineations and drumlins were produced at the sedimentary bed of an ice sheet that expanded into kangerlussuaq trough at the last glacial maximum lgm bedrock channels and crescentic overdeepenings indicate warm based ice and free water beneath parts of the former ice sheet cross cutting iceberg scour marks which characterise outer kangerlussuaq shelf were produced not only during deglaciation but also occasionally through the holocene by deep keeled icebergs from further north in east greenland the outward convex contours of the shelf edge and slope beyond kangerlussuaq trough and debris flows on the slope suggest a glacier influenced high latitude fan the distribution of streamlined subglacial landforms demonstrates that the greenland ice sheet extended throughout kangerlussuaq fjord and reached at least 200 km across the shelf in kangerlussuaq trough at the lgm streamlined landform orientation indicates ice flow from the interior of greenland down the axis of kangerlussuaq trough there is little evidence for discrete sedimentary depocentres in the trough implying that ice probably retreated rapidly from the outer and mid shelf during deglaciation

retreat history of the east antarctic ice sheet since the last glacial maximum the east antarctic ice sheet eais is the largest continental ice mass on earth and documenting its evolution since the last glacial maximum lgm is important for understanding its present day and future behaviour as part of a community effort we review geological evidence from east antarctica that constrains the ice sheet history throughout this period 30 000 years ago to present this includes terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dates from previously glaciated regions 14c chronologies from glacial and post glacial deposits onshore and on the continental shelf and ice sheet thickness changes inferred from ice cores and continental scale ice sheet models we also include new 14c dates from the george v land terre adelie coast shelf we show that the eais advanced to the continental shelf margin in some parts of east antarctica and that the ice sheet characteristically thickened by 300 400 m near the present day coastline at these sites this advance was associated with the formation of low gradient ice streams that grounded at depths of 1 km below sea level on the inner continental shelf the lambert amery system thickened by a greater amount 800 m near its present day grounding zone but did not advance beyond the inner continental shelf at other sites in coastal east antarctica e g bunger hills larsemann hills very little change in the ice sheet margin occurred at the lgm perhaps because ice streams accommodated any excess ice build up leaving adjacent ice free areas relatively unaffected evidence from nunataks indicates that the amount of ice sheet thickening diminished inland at the lgm an observation supported by ice cores which suggest that interior ice sheet domes were 100 m lower than present at this time ice sheet recession may have started 18 000 years ago in the lambert amery glacial system and by 14 000 years ago in mac robertson land these early pulses of deglaciation may have been responses to abrupt sea level rise events such as meltwater pulse 1a destabilising the margins of the ice sheet it is unlikely however that east antarctica contributed more than 1 m of eustatic sea level equivalent to post glacial meltwater pulses the majority of ice sheet recession occurred after meltwater pulse 1a between 12 000 and 6000 years ago during a period when the adjacent ocean warmed significantly large tracts of east antarctica remain poorly studied and further work is required to develop a robust understanding of the lgm ice sheet expansion and its subsequent contraction further work will also allow the contribution of the eais to post glacial sea level rise and present day estimates of glacio isostatic adjustment to be refined

lgm ice sheet extent in the weddell sea evidence for diachronous behavior of antarctic ice sheets abstract inaccessibility due to harsh weather conditions and perennial sea ice has resulted in the weddell sea being one of the more under studied regions of antarctica re examination of existing cores and unpublished multibeam bathymetric data provide new insight into the lgm configuration of the ice sheet in the region sediment cores from the eastern continental shelf where the east antarctic ice sheet eais drains display a retreat stratigraphy with distal glacimarine sediments overlying proximal glacimarine sediments and till the distinction between distal and proximal glacimarine sediments is based on degrees of marine influence based on grain size distributions and foraminiferal abundance and diversity glacimarine sediments yielded ams radiocarbon ages that span the past 30 476 cal yr bp indicating that retreat of the eais from the continental shelf occurred prior to the lgm multibeam swath bathymetry data show mega scale glacial lineations in two troughs on the southern continental shelf which indicates the existence of two ice streams draining the west antarctic ice sheet wais more subtle lineations within filchner trough imply more sluggish flow across bedrock and older strata within this trough although there are no radiocarbon ages to absolutely constrain the timing of this grounding event on the southern continental shelf we interpret the lineations as lgm age based on their pristine nature this interpretation is consistent with results from other sectors of the west antarctic continental shelf where compelling evidence for significant wais advance during the lgm exists in the weddell sea this apparent diachronous behavior of the eais and wais is consistent with results from onshore studies

glacial morphology and sediment formation in the mertz trough east antarctica abstract the nathaniel b palmer 01 01 cruise produced a seabeam map showing unprecedented detail of the bathymetry in the mertz trough of east antarctica in addition seismic reflection surveys and sediment core collection were completed in the region the morphology of the mertz trough is combined with core data to interpret the sequence of events that occurred in this area since the last glacial maximum these complementary data indicate that an ice sheet once covered the mertz trough which deposited diamicton and formed mega scale glacial lineations during glacial maximal conditions and grounding line wedges during recession an erosional feature caused by subglacial meltwater breaching at least one of the grounding line deposits is also recognized along with a fan of sediment deposited seaward of the breach sediment cores from the mertz trough consist of two distinct units the diamicton deposited subglacially and a diatom mud and ooze deposited after the ice retreated the latter unit has been preferentially deposited in deeper areas of the trough as a hemipelagic drape and shows that a change in the nature of the diatom unit occurred about 3300 14c yr bp

seismic stratigraphy and sediment distribution on the wilkes land and terre adelie margins east antarctica abstract seismic reflection data show the existence of two major sedimentary basins along the continental margin of wilkes land and terre adelie east antarctica that contain more than 5 s twt 9 km of sediments four seismic megasequences are identified ms4 to ms1 that are bounded by basement unconformities of interpreted turonian maastrichtian and early middle eocene age and the seafloor the 4 5 km thick rift and pre rift sediments are concentrated in a margin parallel basin sabrina basin on the basis of seismic correlation with the australian margin this basin is interpreted to be of late jurassic to mid cretaceous age the post rift sediments are generally thick along the margin and in the adjacent deep ocean basin but are particularly thick in a major depocentre off west wilkes land named here the budd coast basin bcb the bcb contains a maximum observed thickness of 5 s twt 9 km of post rift sediments and its location suggests that the sediments were largely derived from a sub glacial basin currently occupied by the totten glacier within the post rift sediments a major regional unconformity is identified that is interpreted to be of early middle eocene age 45 ma while some previous interpretations have suggested that this unconformity marks the onset of the glaciation of east antarctica the unconformity is interpreted here to be the product of the major global plate reorganisation in the middle eocene and the coincident sharp increase in the sea floor spreading rate between australia and antarctica a seismic unconformity that can be correlated with the onset of glaciation is not identified and the position of glacial onset within the sedimentary section can only be estimated through the extrapolation of sedimentation rates from the underlying section and from deep sea drilling project site 269 the post middle eocene section is much thicker than the underlying post rift section and this is interpreted to be largely due to the very high sediment fluxes associated with the period of polythermal glaciation from 34 9 ma sediment isochron and isopach maps derived from a regional seismic grid show that the depocentre of the bcb trends approximately north south beneath the continental slope but is deflected to the east beneath the deep ocean basin this distribution indicates that deep marine processes were important in lateral along margin sediment transport a west to east direction of movement is inferred by the sediment distribution this direction is opposite to the present day marginal currents along the continental slope and rise

horizontal spatial correlation of hydraulic and reactive transport parameters as related to hierarchical sedimentary architecture at the borden research site 1 highly resolved data from the borden research site provide a unique opportunity to study the horizontal spatial bivariate correlation of hydraulic and reactive attributes affecting subsurface transport the data also allow quantitatively relating this correlation to the hierarchical sedimentary architecture of the aquifer the data include collocated samples of log permeability y the log of the perchloroethene sorption distribution coefficient and lithologic unit type the horizontal y and autosemivariograms and the y cross semivariogram have the same underlying correlation structure shape and range in the rise to a sill the common structure is not due to y point correlation or in unit spatial correlation the common structure is defined by how the proportion of lag transitions crossing different unit types i e the cross transition probability structure increases with increasing lag distance the common underlying cross transition structure contains two substructures with different correlation ranges corresponding to two scales of unit types within the sedimentary architecture for each substructure a large standard deviation in the length of units relative to the mean length gives rise to an exponential like shape and the proportions and mean length of units define the ranges the horizontal y spatial cross correlation is primarily defined by the larger scale substructure and the differences in mean and y between larger scale unit types

late pleistocene holocene retreat of the west antarctic ice sheet system in the ross sea part 1 geophysical results in the 1994 1995 and 1998 austral field seasons geophysical research efforts in the ross sea focused on acquiring a high resolution database designed to permit 1 reconstruction of the maximum extent and configuration of the ice sheet during the last glacial maximum i e oxygen isotope stage 2 2 reconstruction of conditions at the base of the ice sheet and 3 assessment of the relative retreat history of the ice sheet following the last glacial maximum five seismic facies are distinguished on the basis of external geometry relationships among features bounding surface amplitude intensity of internal acoustic signature and geometry of internal reflectors seismic facies 1 is a transparent draping unit correlated to diatomaceous mud interpreted as being deposited under open marine conditions seismic facies 2 and 3 are comprised of units displaying subdued massive internal signatures with smooth lower bounding surfaces and hummocky upper surfaces characterized by glacial lineations these units are interpreted to be grounding zone proximal deposits overridden by the expanded ice sheet seismic facies 2 may be a deforming till unit seismic facies 4a is characterized by an internally massive to chaotic signature an erosional often flat lower surface and a hummocky upper surface displaying glacial lineations this unit is interpreted to be till and is divided into deposits associated with the most recent glacial expansion 4a and with an earlier pre last glacial maximum expansion 4b seismic facies 5 is an acoustically laminated ponded and draping deposit interpreted to contain proglacial and sub ice shelf materials deposited continuously since the last interglacial period the associations of these units provide context for the interpretation of the ice edge maximum position conditions at the base of the ice sheet and the relative retreat history of the region there is compelling evidence for a much expanded ice sheet in the ross sea during the last glacial maximum in the western ross sea the maximum grounding position is marked by an isolated grounding zone wedge and placed in the vicinity of coulman island approximately 150 km from the continental shelf edge in the central ross sea the maximum grounding position is close to the continental shelf break based primarily on the presence of an extensive 60 m thick sheet like deposit with a fluted upper surface streaming ice may have occupied bathymetric lows on the continental shelf as suggested by 1 the configuration of bathymetry 2 the presence of glacially eroded troughs 3 the concentration of sediment interpreted to be deforming till within the middle to outer shelf reaches of the troughs and 4 the fluted nature of the upper surface absolute rates of streaming ice flow relative to inter ice stream areas are not implied the western ross sea continental shelf deposits record the retreat history of ice derived predominantly from the east antarctic ice sheet and glaciers of the transantarctic mountains ice flow on the continental shelf is interpreted to have remained fixed in position restricted by the walls of the troughs on the inner shelf of the western ross sea the ice flowed over and eroded lithified sedimentary strata slower moving ice occupied flat topped banks a single grounding zone wedge occurs on the western ross sea central shelf no substantial deposits are observed on the inner continental shelf this lack of grounding zone features reflects a restricted sediment supply and a relatively steady rapid retreat of the ice sheet during retreat ice flow acted independently in each major trough and on the bank tops ice retreated from victoria land basin drygalski trough before it retreated from joides basin ice remained on the bank tops shedding material into the abandoned troughs grounded ice in the central ross sea was derived predominantly from an expanded west antarctic ice sheet the ice sheet remained grounded on the continental shelf edge after retreat of ice from the western ross sea expanded ice eroded the inner shelf and deposited sheets of till on the central and outer shelf ice stream drainage shifted laterally as recorded by rounded laterally accreting ridges that separate bathymetric troughs the central ross sea is the repository for larger volumes of sediment derived from ice flow across basins of relatively thick unlithified sedimentary deposits two till sheets mark grounding zone positions in the central ross sea reflecting the higher sediment supply and a stepped deglaciation ice remained grounded on the pennell bank to the west a series of moraines marks the retreat of ice across the bank mega scale glacial lineations and other streamlined subglacial geomorphic features occur across the continental shelf primarily within the troughs the lineations substantiate the maximum reconstruction and support the interpretation of a deforming substrate beneath the outer reaches of the expanded ice sheet this deforming substrate may have contributed to the onset of deglaciation features associated with meltwater are rare or absent suggesting that basal meltwater played a minor role in retreat of the ice sheet

repeated advance and retreat of the east antarctic ice sheet on the continental shelf during the early pliocene warm period abstract diatom analysis of a sediment core recovered at iodp site u1358 on the continental shelf off the adelie coast indicated that the lower section of the core contained an assemblage dating back to the thalassiosira innura zone of the lower pliocene that ranges from 4 2 to 5 12 ma based on lithological descriptions at both a macro and micro scale of this early pliocene part of the core four facies were interpreted from the diamictons representing the progressive advance and retreat of the grounding line over the site facies 1a and 1b contain a distinct directional signal from the orientation of the a axis of clasts with several phases of fabric development along with both brittle and ductile deformation features that are common in sediments that have been subglacially deformed facies 1c and 1d are finely laminated and were deposited in open marine conditions the four facies within the depositional model provide for the first time direct evidence for ice advancing across the shelf adjacent to the wilkes subglacial basin on at least four occasions separated by three periods of open marine conditions indicating retreat of grounded ice inland of the site during a warmer than present early pliocene the times of open marine conditions are correlated with previous findings from the neighbouring rise sites that also indicated an oscillating ice margin this has significant implications because firstly it suggests a dynamic east antarctic ice sheet eais that is probably far more sensitive to climatic and oceanic forcing even during relatively short time periods than had previously been thought secondly it suggests that proxies used to interpret the advance and retreat of the grounding line from the rise can be linked with direct evidence of grounding line migration from the shelf it also has important implications for the future behaviour and sensitivity of the eais under present continuing warming conditions together with results from the rise this paper provides a crucial ice extent target for a new ice sheet model of this region during the pliocene

late pleistocene and holocene sedimentation on the george v continental shelf east antarctica abstract climatically controlled glaciological and oceanographic environmental changes off the george v coast during the late pleistocene and holocene have been reconstructed from changes in sedimentation processes the evolution of a sediment drift deposit mertz drift located in the deep trough on the shelf has been assessed using a sedimentological approach up to 5 5 m long cores have been collected four late pleistocene to holocene sediment units have been distinguished on the basis of their physical properties grain size distributions geochemical characteristics and ages the basal unit 1 is a grey sandy clayey diamicton 27 37 wt sand deposited before 14 000 14 c yr before present 14 c yr bp unit 1 represents a late pleistocene sub ice shelf water lain till overlain by a thin current winnowed sandy sub unit unit 2 is a massive siliceous sandy mud 11 30 wt sand rich in ice rafted debris deposited between about 14 000 and 5000 14 c yr bp it likely represents an open marine setting proximal to a retreating ice front where strong bottom currents were frequent the overlying unit 3 is a laminated siliceous mud and diatomaceous ooze with less terrigenous material 4 5 wt average sand deposited between 5000 and 3000 14 c yr bp the low wet bulk density values 3 and mass specific magnetic susceptibility values 8 m 3 kg of sediments of unit 3 are a consequence of the high content of biogenic material c org content 1 wt biogenic opal averaging 55 wt unit 3 is probably related to a phase of increased sediment accumulation on the drift site and low bottom current activity on the shelf with a stratified upper water column that could have lead to an enhanced primary productivity occurrence of crossed lamination indicates episodes of slightly enhanced bottom currents probably with velocities up to 3 5 cm s the top unit 4 is a bioturbated siliceous sandy mud on average 50 cm thick deposited under an energetic bottom current regime after about 3000 14 c yr bp this regime is probably related to the activation of a brine rejection mechanism and is linked to the formation of high salinity shelf water hssw in a coastal polynya which causes winnowing of the shelf deposits in contrast the mid holocene setting was characterised by weaker bottom currents that together with high inputs of organic material from the photic zone allowed for the deposition of thick fine grained sediments of unit 3 resulting in an anoxic environment

bathymetric control of warm ocean water access along the east antarctic margin observed thinning of the totten glacier in east antarctica has cast doubt upon the stability of the east antarctic ice sheet recent oceanographic observations at the front of the totten ice shelf have confirmed the presence of modified circumpolar deep water mcdw which likely promotes enhanced melting details of how this water accesses the shelf remain uncertain here we present new bathymetry and autumnal oceanographic data from the outer continental shelf north of the totten glacier that show up to 0 7 c mcdw in a 100 km wide and 500 m deep depression within the shelf break in other parts of east antarctica a shelf break bathymetry shallower than 400 m prevents these warmer waters from entering the shelf environment our observations demonstrate that detailed knowledge of the bathymetry is critical to correctly model the across shelf exchange of warm water to the various glaciers ice shelves of antarctica for future sea level prediction

size shape and spatial arrangement of mega scale glacial lineations from a large and diverse dataset mega scale glacial lineations msgls are a characteristic landform on ice stream beds solving the puzzle of their formation is key to understanding how ice interacts with its bed and how this in turn influences the dynamics of ice streams however a comprehensive and detailed characterization of this landform s size shape and spatial arrangement which might serve to test and refine formational theories is largely lacking this paper presents a detailed morphometric analysis and comparison of 4043 msgls from eight palaeo ice stream settings three offshore norway and antarctica four onshore canada and one from under a modern ice stream in west antarctica the length of msgls is lower than previously suggested mode 1000 2000 m median 2892 m and they initiate and terminate at various locations on an ice stream bed their spatial arrangement reveals a pattern that is characterized by an exceptional parallel conformity 80 of all mapped msgls have an azimuth within 5 from the mean values and a fairly constant lateral spacing mode 200 300 m median 330 m which we interpret as an indication that msgls are a spatially self organized phenomenon results show that size shape and spatial arrangement of msgls are consistent both within and also generally between different ice stream beds we suggest this results from a common mechanism of formation which is largely insensitive to local factors although the elongation of msgls mode 6 8 median 12 2 is typically higher than features described as drumlins these values and those of their width mode 100 200 m median 268 m overlap which suggests the two landforms are part of a morphological continuum and may share a similar origin we compare their morphometry with explicit predictions made by the groove ploughing and rilling instability theories of msgl formation although the latter was most compatible neither is fully supported by observations 2014 the authors earth surface processes and landforms published by john wiley sons ltd

seismic stratigraphic evidence of ice sheet advances on the wilkes land margin of antarctica abstract the wilkes land continental shelf similar to other antarctic shelves is underlain by thick sequences of steeply prograded glacial diamictons on the outer shelf banks that are shallower than 400 m are separated by broad outer shelf troughs that deepen landward the prograded sequences are found preferentially in these broad outer shelf troughs we propose that these outer shelf prograding wedges were deposited by fallout from deforming till layer transport beneath ice streams at times of ice expansion onto the continental shelf such deforming till layer transport has recently been proposed to explain seismic observations beneath ice stream b of the ross embayment two prominent erosional unconformities with stratal truncations of more than 500 m indicate erosional events that overdeepened the shelf and provided the accommodation space to allow the deposition of these prograding sequences in front of advancing ice streams at times of past glacial maxima the erosional events that produced these extraordinary downcuts were caused by erosion by ice that expanded onto a shelf with water depths far too shallow for flotation these two particular erosional surfaces developed either on an initially shallow shelf or from an extraordinarily high flux of ice or both

productivity cycles of 200 300 years in the antarctic peninsula region understanding linkages among the sun atmosphere oceans sea ice and biota compared to the rest of the world9s oceans high resolution late holocene paleoclimatic data from the southern ocean are still rare we present a multiproxy record from a sediment core retrieved from a deep basin on the western side of the antarctic peninsula that reveals a dramatic perspective on paleoclimatic changes over the past 3700 yr analyses completed include measurement of magnetic susceptibility and granulometry bed thickness particle size percent organic carbon bulk density and microscopic evaluation of diatom and benthic foraminiferal assemblages and abundances downcore variability of these parameters demonstrates the significance of both short term cycles which recur approximately every 200 yr and longer term events 2500 yr cycles that are most likely related to global climatic fluctuations in the upper 600 cm of the core lower values of magnetic susceptibility ms are correlated with lower bulk density the presence of thinly laminated units specific diatom assemblages and generally higher total organic carbon content below 600 cm magnetic susceptibility is uniformly low though variability in other parameters continues the magnetic susceptibility signal is controlled primarily by dilution of ferromagnetic phases with biosiliceous material this signal may be enhanced further by dissolution of magnetite in the magnetic susceptibility lows high total organic carbon the role of variable primary productivity and its relationship to paleoclimate is assessed through the diatom data in particular magnetic susceptibility lows are characterized by higher than normal abundances of chaetoceros resting spores corethron criophilum and or rhizosolenia spp also are found as is a higher ratio of the most common species of fragilariopsis versus species of thalassiosira these assemblages are indicative of periods of high primary productivity driven by the presence of a meltwater stabilized water column the 200 yr cyclicity noted in other paleoclimatic records around the world suggests a global forcing mechanism possibly solar variability in addition to the cyclic changes in productivity overall elevated productivity is noted below 600 cm or prior to ca 2500 yr b p this increased productivity may represent the tail end of a holocene climatic optimum which is widely recognized in other parts of the world but as yet is poorly documented in antarctica

laminations from the palmer deep a diatom based interpretation 1 highly laminated holocene age diatomaceous sediments are characteristic of the palmer deep western antarctic peninsula ocean drilling program odp leg 178 site 1098 from 10 000 years b p to the present laminations are comprised of several groups of diatoms chaetoceros resting spores the dominant laminae former result from intense spring blooms rhizosolenia proboscia thalassiothrix and corethron are common also the consequence of summer production marked by a well stratified water column each lamination represents a single productivity event but laminations are not necessarily annual high concentrations of a subpolar form of eucampia antarctica in laminations between 9000 and 6700 years b p suggest early holocene warmth a consequence of southward intrusion of more subpolar waters the glacial interglacial transition is distinguished by pairs of laminae most likely deposited annually laminations with an overwhelming dominance of chaetoceros resting spores alternate with more terrigenous laminae representing alternation of intense spring blooms with more mixed deposition during the summer proximity to retreating glacial ice results in the supply of silt and sand that provides a marker bed between successive blooms

submarine glacial landforms and rates of ice stream collapse the rate of deglacial ice sheet retreat across polar continental shelves and possible ice stream collapse and sea level rise has been much debated high resolution imagery of seafloor morphology is available for many polar shelves and fjords the rapidity of ice retreat is inferred from diagnostic assemblages of submarine landforms produced at ice stream sedimentary beds these landforms exposed by ice retreat across high latitude shelves demonstrate that deglaciation occurs in three main ways rapidly by flotation and breakup episodically by still stands and or grounding events punctuating rapid retreat or by slower retreat of grounded ice submarine landform assemblages imply through the presence of grounding zone wedges overprinting mega scale glacial lineations on many polar shelves that ice stream retreat is more often episodic than catastrophic these observations provide a robust test of the ability of numerical models to predict the varied response of ice sheet basins to environmental changes

re advance of the fennoscandian ice sheet during heinrich event 1 abstract five sediment cores bathymetric and 2d seismic reflection data from vestfjorden northern norway were studied in order to constrain the timing and extent of a major ice stream draining the northwestern fennoscandian ice sheet during the last deglaciation 15 10 14 c ka b p the bathymetric and seismic data indicate that vestfjorden traenadjupet was covered by grounded ice reaching the shelf break during the last glacial maximum lgm after the lgm break up and recession towards outer inner vestfjorden at 13 6 14 c ka b p the ice re advanced towards the outer part of vestfjorden prior to 13 1 14 c ka b p this is inferred from glaciomarine sediments overlain by diamicton at the base of the sediment cores interpreted as basal tills and associated contemporaneous build up of grounding zone wedges in the central vestfjorden this sequence of events is coherent with the late weichselian ice sheet dynamics both along the western norwegian continental shelf and in the barents sea possibly indicating a direct response to meltwater injection and accompanied cooling during disruption of the thermohaline circulation associated with heinrich event 1 enhanced supply of suspension load resulted in deposition of laminated sediments at 13 14 c ka b p reflecting the retreat of the ice stream towards the inner fjord in response to global climate amelioration and increased atlantic water inflow two additional ice re advances towards the norwegian coastline are inferred from distinct input of ice rafted debris ird with a typical mineralogical fingerprint derived from neoproterozoic early silurian calcite and dolomite marbles in the ice sheet catchment area thus the re advances may be concurrent with the older dryas 12 2 14 c ka b p skarpnes and younger dryas 10 7 14 c ka b p tromso lyngen cooling events

the effects of ocean warming on melting and ocean circulation under the amery ice shelf east antarctica using a three dimensional ocean model specially adapted to the ocean cavity under the amery ice shelf we investigated the present ocean circulation and pattern of ice shelf basal melting and freezing the differences which would result from temperature changes in the seas adjacent to the amery ice shelf and the ramifications of these changes for the mass balance of the ice shelf under present conditions we estimate the net loss from the amery ice shelf from excess basal melting over freezing at approximately 7 8 gt a 1 this comprises a gross loss of 11 4 gt a 1 at a mean rate of 0 42 m a 1 which is partially offset by freezing on of 3 6 gt a 1 at a mean rate of 0 19 m a 1 when the adjacent seas were assumed to warm by 1 c we found the net melt increased to 31 6 gt a 1 comprising 34 6 gt a 1 of gross melt and 3 0 gt a 1 of freezing

ice sheet dynamics and ice streaming along the coastal parts of northern norway abstract in this paper regional and high resolution bathymetric data are used to reconstruct the pattern and dynamics of ice sheet flow in the fjord and shelf areas of northern norway interpretation of the morphology of the sea floor reveals a series of glacigenic features which are mainly related to the most recent glaciation of the area the shelf area of troms county comprises four cross shelf troughs with intermediate shallow banks glacial features within the cross shelf troughs mega scale glacial lineations msgl lateral shear margin moraines grounding zone wedges are interpreted to have been formed under fast flowing ice streams on the shallow bank areas there are far fewer ice flow indicators and here relatively passive ice acted as interstream ridges outside the finnmark coast to the north and east a coast parallel depression djuprenna deflected rapidly flowing ice from the fjords in a generally east to west direction and then farther out through ingoydjupet and into the bear island trough the fjords guided most of the ice flow and functioned as tributaries to the major ice streams on the shelf including the vast bear island trough ice stream at the last glacial maximum the landform distribution and their cross cutting relationships indicate that major switches in ice stream flow direction took place during deglaciation additionally grounding zone wedges are found within the cross shelf troughs and these reveal temporal variability in ice stream dynamics in different troughs during deglaciation the distribution of glacigenic features on the ice stream beds also reveals a downstream evolution that has been reported by other workers whereby small bedrock features progressively merge into more elongate forms and msgl this downstream evolution in subglacial geology subglacial bedforms implies that the force balance e g basal shear stress of the ice streams also evolves in the downstream direction and more crucially that the flow mechanism of the ice stream is spatially variable along its length

antarctic palaeo ice streams we review the geomorphological sedimentological and chronological evidence for palaeo ice streams on the continental shelf of antarctica and use this information to investigate basal conditions and processes and to identify factors controlling grounding line retreat a comprehensive circum antarctic inventory of known palaeo ice streams their basal characteristics and minimum ages for their retreat following the last glacial maximum lgm is also provided antarctic palaeo ice streams are identified by a set of diagnostic landforms that nonetheless display considerable spatial variability due to the influence of substrate flow velocity and subglacial processes during the lgm palaeo ice streams extended via bathymetric troughs to the shelf edge of the antarctic peninsula and west antarctica and typically to the mid outer shelf of east antarctica the retreat history of the antarctic ice sheet since the lgm is characterised by considerable asynchroneity with individual ice streams exhibiting different retreat histories this variability allows antarctic palaeo ice streams to be classified into discrete retreat styles and the controls on grounding line retreat to be investigated such analysis highlights the important impact of internal factors on ice stream dynamics such as bed characteristics and slope and drainage basin size whilst grounding line retreat may be triggered and to some extent paced by external atmospheric and oceanic forcing the individual characteristics of each ice stream will modulate the precise timing and rate of retreat through time

the seismic architecture and geometry of grounding zone wedges formed at the marine margins of past ice sheets grounding zone wedges form where halts of decades to centuries during ice sheet retreat across polar shelves allow sediment buildup at the grounding zone through delivery of deforming basal debris from fast flowing ice streams thirty grounding zone wedges were identified on two dimensional seismic reflection profiles across the continental shelves of ne and nw greenland grounding zone wedges close to the seafloor are probably of late weichselian age others are on paleoshelves buried beneath thick prograding glacial sediments several greenland shelf grounding zone wedges occur on topographic highs that provide stabilizing pinning points in relatively shallow water grounding zone wedges are asymmetric in the ice flow direction with steeper ice distal sides typical grounding zone wedges are approximately 5 20 km long and 50 100 m thick with a lateral width of several tens of kilometers forty grounding zone wedges from the greenland norwegian and antarctica margins show considerable variability about these values grounding zone wedge dimensions are controlled by sediment flux the duration of halts in ice retreat subice cavity shape and ice stream width low angle ice shelf cavity roofs immediately beyond the grounding zone probably restrict vertical accommodation space preventing formation of high amplitude ridges grounding zone wedges are mainly transparent or chaotic on seismic profiles probably resulting from delivery of diamictic debris offlapping reflectors represent progradation into an ice roofed cavity reflector truncations of grounding zone wedge bases indicate erosion during initiation channels are present within some grounding zone wedges meltwater flow is under high pressure and v shaped incisions suggest high energy flow channels are not ubiquitous within greenland grounding zone wedges and may represent nonsteady meltwater release perhaps through lake drainage where ice sheet mass loss is dominated by meltwater runoff grounding zone wedges probably contain more sorted sediment than those from greenland simple models of grounding zone wedge architecture are presented grounding zone wedges indicate episodic rather than catastrophic ice sheet retreat and are a mechanism for ice shelf stabilization because wedge growth counteracts collapse induced by ice sheet thinning and sea level rise

a new bathymetric compilation for the south orkney islands region antarctic peninsula 49 39 w to 64 59 s insights into the glacial development of the continental shelf we present a new high resolution 300 m bathymetric grid of the continental shelf surrounding the south orkney islands northeast of the antarctic peninsula the new grid derived from a compilation of marine echo sounding data improves previous regional bathymetric representations and helps to visualize the morphology of the shelf in unrivalled detail the compilation forms important baseline information for a range of scientific applications and end users including oceanographers glacial modelers biologists and geologists in particular due to the limited understanding of glacial history in this region the bathymetry provides the first detailed insights into past glacial regimes the continental shelf is dominated by seven glacially eroded troughs marking the pathways of glacial outlets that once drained a former ice cap centered on the south orkney islands during previous glacial periods grounded ice extended to the shelf edge north of the islands a large 250 km long sediment depocenter interpreted as a maximum former ice limit of one or more cenozoic glaciations suggests that ice was only grounded to the 300 350 m contour in the south hypsometric analyses support this interpretation indicating that a significant proportion of the shelf has been unaffected by glacial erosion using these observations we propose a preliminary ice cap reconstruction for maximum glaciation of the south orkney plateau suggesting an ice coverage of about 19 000 km2 the timing of maximum ice extent number of past advances and pattern of subsequent deglaciation s remain uncertain and will require further targeted marine geological and geophysical investigations to resolve

distribution of glacial geomorphic features on the antarctic continental shelf and correlation with substrate implications for ice behavior surveys were conducted seaward of all the major drainage outlets of the antarctic ice sheet from the pennell coast north victoria land to marguerite bay antarctic peninsula the results show that the ice sheet extended onto the outer shelf glacial troughs occur offshore of all major glacial outlets where the substrate is crystalline bedrock ice flow tended to follow the structural grain of the bedrock deposited little sediment and eroded the underlying bedrock where ice flowed over relatively soft more easily eroded sedimentary strata the direction of ice flow was more directly offshore and depositional features characterize the sea floor in these areas the signature of the grounded ice consists of till deposits and large scale geomorphic features drumlins occur within the region of contact between crystalline and sedimentary substrates the different geological substrates are interpreted to have exerted a fundamental control on the behavior of past ice sheets the troughs in the areas of bedrock composed of sedimentary substrate are interpreted to have been occupied by relatively fast flowing ice ice streams and the troughs in the areas of crystalline substrate are interpreted to have been occupied by slower moving ice the area between these two zones was characterized by ice acceleration and is marked by drumlins

boundary condition of grounding lines prior to collapse larsen b ice shelf antarctica grounding zones where ice sheets transition between resting on bedrock to full floatation help regulate ice flow exposure of the sea floor by the 2002 larsen b ice shelf collapse allowed detailed morphologic mapping and sampling of the embayment sea floor marine geophysical data collected in 2006 reveal a large arcuate complex grounding zone sediment system at the front of crane fjord radiocarbon constrained chronologies from marine sediment cores indicate loss of ice contact with the bed at this site about 12 000 years ago previous studies and morphologic mapping of the fjord suggest that the crane glacier grounding zone was well within the fjord before 2002 and did not retreat further until after the ice shelf collapse this implies that the 2002 larsen b ice shelf collapse likely was a response to surface warming rather than to grounding zone instability strengthening the idea that surface processes controlled the disintegration of the larsen ice shelf

past ice stream and ice sheet changes on the continental shelf off the sabrina coast east antarctica abstract our understanding of the response of the antarctic ice sheet to climate and ocean changes requires the improvement of current ice atmosphere ocean models and the accurate determination of boundary conditions such as ice thickness and extent at key time intervals so that satellite gravity observations and isostatic models can be adjusted however large portions of the antarctic margin remain understudied or lack suitable data one key area where data are lacking is the sabrina coast portion of the east antarctic ice sheet eais margin where the totten glacier which has the largest ice discharge in east antarctica is accelerating thinning and loosing mass at high rates in this work we present the results of the first geological and geophysical marine survey to the continental shelf offshore of the dalton ice tongue and moscow university ice shelf east of the totten glacier the data presented include multibeam swath bathymetry and multichannel seismic focusing on the sea floor morphology and sedimentary section above a regional angular unconformity separating pre and post miocene glacial strata sea floor scouring and iceberg keel marks on the outer shelf associated with gullies on the upper slope indicate that ice expanded in the past and grounded 5 km from the shelf edge at 450 500 mbsl extending 155 km north of the current moscow university ice shelf a nearly 1000 m deep area in the inner middle shelf oriented nw with paleo ice flow direction indicated by mega scale glacial lineations msgl and drumlins is interpreted as a cross shelf glacial trough a series of geomorphic associations on the north eastern side of the glacial trough includes glacial lobes grounding zone wedges gzw glacial lineations and transverse ridges which indicates slower ice grounding line stabilization and collapse these geomorphic associations are organized in 4 four sets representing different past ice flow configurations reflecting changes in ice flow direction grounding line position location of fast and slow ice areas and retreat pattern some of the geomorphic features identified are compatible with the presence of an organized subglacial drainage and others are with rapid grounding line collapse a well preserved series of gzws occurring at different water depths implies they were formed during different glacial stages or cycles the inferred diminishing ice thickness for consecutives gzws indicates that the margin of the antarctic ice sheet evolved to a less extensive coverage of the continental shelf through successive glacial stages or cycles the identification of different ice flow configurations evidence of subglacial water and past ice margin collapse indicates a dynamic ice sheet margin with varying glacial conditions and retreat modes we observe that some of the described morphological associations are similar to those found in the amundsen sea sector of the west antarctic ice sheet wais where they are associated with ice sheet and ice stream collapse although further studies are needed to assess the precise timing and rates of the glacial processes involved we conclude that there is enough evidence to support the hypothesis that the eais margin can behave as dynamically as the wais margin especially during glacial retreat and icesheet margin collapse

deep sea floor evidence of past ice streams off the antarctic peninsula the past existence of a giant ice stream off the northern end of the antarctic peninsula is suggested by a convex upward elongated sediment body now at a mean water depth of 1000 m because of its morphological characteristics i e a set of parallel to subparallel ridges and grooves to 100 km long with an overall width of 25 km we call this depositional body a bundle structure we hypothesize that bundle structures form by accumulation of basal deformation till under their parent ice streams from its location size and overall characteristics the bundle structure described here constitutes the best preserved largest deepest and relatively low latitude evidence of giant ice streams that flowed offshore antarctica during glacial maxima bundle structures reveal the very dynamic behavior of ice caps in the northern antarctic peninsula during the last glacial maximum with catchment areas draining rapidly under marine based critical subglacial conditions bundle structures represent a new megascale streamlined glacial landform

a four year study of shear wave splitting in iceland 1 background and preliminary analysis this is part 1 of a report of a four year study of seismic shear wave splitting in iceland designed to seek temporal variations before earthquakes shearwave splitting is observed routinely in iceland whenever shear waves arrive within the shear wave window of seismic stations and whenever adequate data are available temporal and spatial variations in shear wave splitting are observed before both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions shear wave splitting is caused principally by the stress aligned fluid saturated microcracks and pore throats in almost all in situ rocks fluid saturated microcracks are the most compliant elements of the rock mass and changes in splitting can be directly interpreted and modelled as the effects of changing stress on the microcrack geometry in the rock mass often at considerable distances from the immediate earthquake source zone such changes were found and are reported in paper 2 this paper presents the background preliminary observations and analysis of shear wave splitting in iceland

chronology of the palmer deep site antarctic peninsula a holocene palaeoenvironmental reference for the circum antarctic palmer deep sediment cores are used to produce the first high resolution continuous late pleistocene to holocene time series from the antarctic marine system the sedimentary record is dated using accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon methods on acid insoluble organic matter and foraminiferal calcite fifty four radiocarbon analyses are utilized in the dating which provides a calibrated timescale back to 13 ka bp reliability of resultant ages on organic matter is assured because duplicates produce a standard deviation from the surface age of less than laboratory error i e 50 years in addition surface organic matter ages at the site are in excellent agreement with living calcite ages at the accepted reservoir age of 1260 years for the antarctic peninsula spectral analyses of the magnetic susceptibility record against the age model reveal unusually strong periodicity in the 400 200 and 50 70 year frequency bands similar to other high resolution records from the holocene but so far unique f

late pleistocene holocene retreat of the west antarctic ice sheet system in the ross sea part 2 sedimentologic and stratigraphic signature sedimentologic geotechnical geochemical and accelerator mass spectrometer ams radiocarbon data from two marine geologic cruises in the ross sea have allowed us to constrain facies relationships and temporal changes in the west antarctic ice sheet the selection of core sites was facilitated by the use of multibeam bottom imagery and a good quality chirp subbottom reflection system a complex but consistent succession of facies documents a number of environments from subglacial to open marine massive mud rich diamictons have low water contents contain in places a calcareous microfossil assemblage show minimal textural variation and contain low and uniform total organic carbon values this reflects a subglacial setting this unit passes upward into a stratified thin granulated facies consisting of pelletized sandy muddy gravel that is loosely compacted and contains a variable water content and concentrated horizons of pebble sized clasts this facies reflects the lift off zone or thin water film between the basal debris and sea floor overlying this unit are silty clays that contain a well sorted very fine grained sand component there are no coarse grains within this unit this facies is in part laminated and reflects deposition beneath an ice shelf near and away from the grounding line zone the ice shelf facies passes upward into a siliceous mud and ooze unit that represents deposition in an open marine setting a sandy volcaniclastic rich subfacies marks the transition from ice shelf to open marine environments found at the calving line the 86 ams radiocarbon dates on organic matter provide an accurate chronology for 19 cores ice shelf conditions were established in the outer drygalski trough by 11 0 25 ka and perhaps earlier this transition took place in the joides basin by 10 8 ka the calving front of the ross ice shelf passed over the drygalski trough at 74 s by 9 5 0 25 ka the timing of deglaciation in the ross sea calls into question current models for the contribution of antarctic glacial ice to holocene sea level rise and suggests that recession was relatively gradual and more closely aligned with northern hemisphere deglaciation and its associated eustatic pulse

an inter ice stream glaciated margin submarine landforms and a geomorphic model based on marine geophysical data from svalbard well preserved submarine landforms from the continental shelf and fjords of northwest ernmost svalbard provide an example of ice sheet deposition in an inter ice stream setting em1002 swath bathymetric imagery covering 1280 km 2 was examined at the shelf edge a distinctive and continuous belt of hum mocky topography represents the grounding zone of a slow moving late weichselian ice sheet active ice on the outer shelf is inferred from subtle lineations orientated parallel to fl ow low amplitude transverse moraines crosscut the lineations suggesting ice retreat across the outer shelf with brief stillstands on the middle and inner shelf large moraine ridges indicate multiple stillstands during de glaciation there are arcuate moraine ridges at fjord mouths streamlined crag and tail landforms are preserved from when ac tive full glacial ice fl owed out of the fjords clusters of smaller transverse ridges indi cate slow retreat of grounded ice through the fjords holocene sedimentation is by rainout from sediment rich meltwater producing smooth basin fi ll small slides from the fjord walls are common little ice age glacier readvance produced another set of terminal moraines and smaller retreat moraines in the innermost fjords a schematic model of this inter ice stream glacial landform assem blage summarizes the geomorphic record it is compared with a model derived from sev eral svalbard cross shelf troughs occupied by fast fl owing late weichselian ice streams in general the seafl oor morphology of continen tal margins affected by ice streams is domi nated by streamlined subglacially produced landforms oriented in the former ice fl ow direction interrupted by major grounding zone wedges formed during temporary halts in ice retreat by contrast between ice streams shelf and fjord morphology records submarine landforms of various dimensions oriented mainly transverse to ice fl ow pro duced at slowly retreating grounded ice sheet margins there is little evidence for channeled subglacial water fl ow in the form of eskers and ice contact fans on the sval bard margin implying that basal water is drained or advected mainly within soft sub glacial sediments