interglacial collapse of crary trough mouth fan weddell sea antarctica implications for antarctic glacial history abstract in this study we investigate the stratigraphy of a trough mouth fan in the weddell sea to determine possible relationships between basin floor stratigraphy and glaciation on antarctica seismic data from the basin floor show a deep broad and elongate erosional channel filled by thick chaotic facies deposits basin floor fans and channel levee deposits from seismic stratigraphy analysis of basin floor stratigraphy we infer that this channel formed by large volume mass wasting sourced from poorly sorted glacial sediments from crary trough mouth fan and dronning maud land slopes correlation to odp leg 113 site 693 suggests that the mass wasting of the slopes occurred in the early pliocene we surmise that collapse occurred during an early pliocene interglacial and was related to major drawdown of the antarctic ice volume collapse was probably triggered by rebound and relative sea level fall a mathematically predicted geoidal effect related to antarctic ice volume reduction the record of this major ice volume reduction is not manifest in the trough mouth fan but rather is manifest in the basin floor stratigraphy as a major backfilled erosional channel which extends far beyond the trough mouth fan

the overdeepening hypothesis how erosional modification of the marine scape during the early pliocene altered glacial dynamics on the antarctic peninsula s pacific margin abstract a new synthesis of diatom assemblage data from ocean drilling program odp leg 178 suggests that the pacific margin of the antarctic peninsula underwent a transition from a shallow shelf to an overdeepened shelf in the early pliocene this modification of the marine scape was due to a relatively brief interval of erosion begun at 5 2 ma the erosion was caused by high frequency advances of a super inflated antarctic peninsula ice sheet apis the frequent advances of the higher elevation ice sheet were a consequence of abundant moisture delivered to the region as the polar front migrated southward by 5 12 ma ice streams incised foredeepened glacial troughs into basement on the inner shelf sediment eroded from the inner shelf was transported through cross shelf troughs and deposited in large trough mouth fan depocenters on the upper slope overdeepened shelf conditions became widespread as troughs widened and intra trough banks beveled by 4 25 ma trough mouth fan construction ceased and subsequent advances of the apis have been infrequent we propose that the reduced frequency of grounding events signaled the transition to a modern foredeepened and overdeepened shelf we hypothesize that a new glacial dynamic emerged in the early pliocene because overdeepening led to accelerated heat exchange between the ocean and apis in two ways firstly the overdeepened shelf required that a larger area of the grounded ice sheet s marine terminus be in contact with the ocean secondly erosional deepening of the outer shelf was equivalent to lowering a shelf edge sill that permitted frequent and voluminous intrusion of warm circumpolar deep waters that upwell in the region the resultant accelerated melting at the apis marine terminus caused the super inflated apis to deflate on the mainland which further decreased the possibility that grounded ice could advance on the overdeepened shelf

margin architecture reveals the transition to the modern antarctic ice sheet ca 3 ma seismic reflection data collected primarily on the continental slope of the pacific margin of the antarctic peninsula after drilling ocean drilling program odp leg 178 allow us to date a regional change in the style of margin accretion to ca 3 ma late pliocene deep erosion of continental shelf and slope which likely included the emplacement of a megadebris flow deposit was followed by prominent growth of steep relatively stable continental slope prograding wedges while the deep distal margin sedimentation rate was significantly reduced a review of the available stratigraphy from deep sea drilling project odp drilling and correlation with available seismic stratigraphic information allowed us to recognize comparable changes in terms of age and trends in continental margin evolution in several places around antarctica we argue that this late pliocene architectural change of the antarctic margin reflects a change in the texture and water content of the sediment delivered by the antarctic ice sheet following the transition from wet to dry based ice regimes this circum antarctic change coincides with the late pliocene ca 3 ma global cooling and is proposed as the marker event of the transition to the modern cold polar dry based antarctic ice sheet

southern weddell sea shelf edge geomorphology implications for gully formation by the overflow of high salinity water 1 submarine gullies are the most common morphological features observed on antarctic continental slopes the processes forming these gullies however remain poorly constrained in some areas gully heads incise the continental shelf edge and one hypothesis proposed is erosion by overflow of cold dense water masses formed on the continental shelf we examined new multibeam echo sounder bathymetric data from the weddell sea continental slope the region that has the highest rate of cold dense water overflow in antarctica ice shelf water isw cascades downslope with an average transport rate of 1 6 sverdrups sv in the southern weddell sea our new data show that within this region isw overflow does not deeply incise the shelf edge the absence of gullies extending deeply into the glacial sediments at the shelf edge implies that cold high salinity water overflow is unlikely to have caused the extensive shelf edge erosion observed on other parts of the antarctic continental margin instead the gullies observed in the southern weddell sea are relatively small and their characteristics indicative of small scale slides probably resulting from the rapid accumulation and subsequent failure of proglacial sediment during glacial maxima

the crary fan a trough mouth fan on the weddell sea continental margin antarctica abstract multichannel seismic investigations show the presence of a large trough mouth fan deposit on the continental margin in the southern weddell sea a characteristic feature of the fan is relatively few but large canyons and or channels which appear to have been stable for long periods levees associated with the channels may reach thicknesses of more than 1 km drilling during odp leg 113 recorded the presence of glaciers in east antarctica since early oligocene time and the seismic stratigraphic evidence suggests that the submarine fan is largely composed of glacigenic sediments the channel levee systems and complexes indicate several growth phases apparently controlled by glacial interglacial climate fluctuations with maximum fan growth during glacial periods the present interglacial period is characterized by strong and erosive flow of ice shelf water running down the western slope of the fan and carrying only minor amounts of suspended matter the fan is essentially sediment starved during interglacial periods the dimensions of the channel levee complexes and the persistent loci of sediment supply suggest that turbidite sedimentation resulted from melting of wet based glaciers at or near the shelf edge which has consequently prograded 70 80 km seaward

the norwegian greenland sea continental margins morphology and late quaternary sedimentary processes and environment the continental margins surrounding the norwegian greenland sea are to a large degree shaped by processes during the late quaternary the paper gives an overview of the morphology and the processes responsible for the formation of three main groups of morphological features slides trough mouth fans and channels several large late quaternary slides have been identified on the eastern norwegian greenland sea continental margin the origin of the slides may be due to high sedimentation rates leading to a build up of excess pore water pressure perhaps with additional pressure caused by gas bubbles triggering might have been prompted by earthquakes or by decomposition of gas hydrates trough mouth fans tmf are fans at the mouths of transverse troughs on presently or formerly glaciated continental shelves in the norwegian greenland sea seven tmfs have been identified varying in area from 2700 km2 to 215 000 km2 the trough mouth fans are depocentres of sediments which have accumulated in front of ice streams draining the large northwest european ice sheets the sediments deposited at the shelf break upper slope by the ice stream were remobilized and transported downslope mostly as debris flows the trough mouth fans hold the potential for giving information about the various ice streams feeding them with regard to velocity and ice discharge two large deep sea channel systems have been observed along the norwegian continental margin the lofoten basin channel and the inbis channel along the east greenland margin several channel systems have been identified the deep sea channels may have been formed by dense water originating from cooling sea ice formation and brine rejection close to the glacier margin or they may originate from small slides on the upper slope transforming into debris flows and turbidity currents

seismic stratigraphy of the antarctic peninsula pacific margin a record of pliocene pleistocene ice volume and paleoclimate multichannel seismic profiles across the pacific margin of the antarctic peninsula show a series of oblique progradational sequences these sequences exhibit a variety of unusual characteristics that suggest they were produced by the action of ice sheets grounded out to the shelf edge at times of glacial maximum reflection events from deeper stratigraphic levels followed down the continental slope and onto the rise overlie ocean crust of known age showing that at least eight such glacial sequences have been deposited within the past 6 m y similar groundings have probably occurred on most antarctic margins but the depositional record is particularly well preserved at this margin because of pliocene pleistocene thermal subsidence neogene global sea level fluctuations have been attributed to changes in volume of continental ice sheets the depositional sequences on the pacific margin of the antarctic peninsula are thought to record west antarctic ice sheet fluctuations directly further investigation of these sequences would assess the relation between fluctuations in ice volume and the low latitude record of global sea level change

acoustic interpretation of quaternary sedimentation and erosion on the channelled upper laurentian fan atlantic margin of canada about 1000 km of single channel seismic reflection profiles from a 50 km 100 km area on the upper laurentian fan shows no evidence of the large slumps interpreted by previous workers in this area our detailed profile grid indicates that slump like masses are commonly in depositional continuity with definite autochthonous sediments and surfaces previously interpreted as slide planes are either facies changes or the result of valley wall erosion only a few small slump blocks of relatively consolidated sediment are found on the uppermost fan acoustic facies distribution shows a single early pleistocene fan valley crossing the northeast part of the survey area with thick overbank sediments to the southwest in the middle pleistocene this valley became incised its upper reaches then ceased to receive sediment and a new valley was cut extending southward from the upper slope and intercepting the lower reaches of the old fan valley this channel diversion was probably related either to the glacia

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

seismic stratigraphy of the central bransfield basin nw antarctic peninsula interpretation of deposits and sedimentary processes in a glacio marine environment abstract the central bransfield basin is a deep narrow trough between the northern tip of the antarctic peninsula and the south shetland islands analyses of single channel high resolution seismic reflection data are used to characterise the seismic stratigraphy of the central bransfield basin the tectonised acoustic basement is overlain by a 1 s thick sedimentary cover composed of two main sedimentary sequences the lower sequence which shows synsedimentary deformation has only been identified on the antarctic peninsula margin the upper sequence is a complex sedimentary package composed of eight seismic units whose distribution geometry and seismic facies allow two types of seismic units to be distinguished slope and basinal units the slope units constituted by progradational stratified seismic facies form a sedimentary wedge extending from the shelf edge the basinal units fill the basin floor showing chaotic and undulated seismic facies that change basinward into stratified seismic facies both types of seismic units display an interfingering pattern at the base of the slope suggesting an alternating shift of the sedimentary depocentre from the slope to the basinfloor and vice versa this alternate pattern indicates that the sedimentary processes responsible for the infilling of the central bransfield basin followed a cyclic pattern which has likely been associated with the advance and retreat of the ice sheets over the margins during glacial and interglacial episodes during glacial periods the ice sheets advanced eroded the shallower sea floor areas and deposited diamicton and debris flow deposits along the moving grounding line resulting in a progradational sedimentary wedge on the slope at the end of glacial periods coinciding with the retreat of the ice sheets extensive sediment failures affected the continental margin during interglacial periods the ice sheets remained restricted to coastal locations and glacial troughs where processes of meltwater formation might have been significant sediment laden underflows are generated within these troughs from where they flow and spread over the shelf and down the slope to the basinfloor as sediment gravity flow deposits the combined effect of these processes is a progradational build up of the shelf and an aggradational infilling of the basin floor together with the development of the interfingering pattern at the base of the slope

cenozoic marine sedimentation and ice volume variation on the east antarctic craton recycled cretaceous and cenozoic marine microfossils have been recovered from samples of the pliocene sinus formation samples were collected from outcrops in the reedy beardmore and ferrar glacier areas of the transantarctic mountains between lat 77 and 86 s the glaciogene sediments contained diatoms foraminifera calcareous nannoplankton silicoflagellates radiolarians sponge spicules palynomorphs and ostracodes of late cretaceous paleocene eocene late oligocene late miocene and pliocene age this suggests the presence of open marine basins on the east antarctic craton during late mesozoic and cenozoic time the apparent absence of early oligocene and early through middle and earliest late miocene assemblages suggests either that marine regression exposed the basin floors or that ice filled the basins during these times the high elevation setting of sirius formation outcrops suggests one of two hypotheses for their origin 1 they are in situ pliocene glaciomarine deposits that were uplifted 1 750 2 500 m with the transantarctic mountains to their present elevation 2 the sirius formation deposits are a mixture of derived sediments stripped from sub ice intracratonic basins and subsequently redeposited by ice flowing up the inland slope of the transantarctic mountains we favor the second hypothesis with transport to sites sometime within the past 3 m y

post lgm grounding line positions of the bindschadler paleo ice stream in the ross sea embayment antarctica the west antarctic ice sheet wais retreated more than 1000 km since last grounding at the ross sea outer continental shelf here we show an interpretation of former grounding line positions from a new large area multibeam survey and a regional grid of chirp cross section data from the whales deep basin in eastern ross sea the basin is a paleo glacial trough that was occupied by the bindschadler ice stream when grounded ice advanced to the shelf edge during the last glacial maximum lgm these new geophysical data provide unambiguous evidence that the wais occupied at least seven grounding line positions within 60 km of the shelf edge four of seven grounding zone wedges gzws are partly exposed over large areas of the trough the overlapping stratal arrangement created a large volume compound gzw cgzw some of the grounding events involved local re advance of the grounding line subsequent to these seven outer continental shelf groundings the ice sheet retreated more than 200 km toward roosevelt island on the middle continental shelf the major retreat across the middle continental shelf is recorded by small scale moraine ridges that mantle the top of gzw7 and these are suggestive of relatively continuous grounding line recession the results indicate that retreat was considerably more complex than was possible to reconstruct with reconnaissance level data the added details are important to climate models which must first be able to reproduce the recent retreat pattern in all of its complexities to improve confidence in model predictions of the system s future response

the antarctic ice sheet its history and response to sea level and climatic changes over the past 100 million years abstract the development surface form flow and erosive activity of the antarctic ice sheet over the past 100 million years is related to geological evidence that indicates long term trends of global climate the glaciological description of the evolution of the ice sheet covers its interactions with the atmosphere and with the ocean discussion focuses on changes of the equilibrium line altitude ela with time of the accumulation rate with global temperature and basal melting of ice shelves by ocean waters the tendency of global climate to change rapidly or to drift slowly between two near equilibrium states involves two types of changes the former that has been widely recognized is reversible a second type involving ice sheets or ice shelves appears to be almost irreversible since they remain in their changed state unless a much larger reversal of factors driving climate occurs we refer to any rapid but reversible changes as climatic jumps and to the latter as climate ice switches variability of climate in response to changing radiation with the earth s orbital parameters and other causes is included in our model extensive glaciation of east antarctica commenced after 40 m y b p with wide fluctuations until shortly after 20 m y b p a climate ice switch then prevented any major deglaciation a further climate ice switch associated with the ela falling below sea level occurred soon after 10 m y b p this led to rapid formation of ice shelves and the marine ice sheet of west antarctica which advanced as grounded ice to the edge of the continental shelf after 5 m y b p the grounded ice started to retreat extensive ice shelves remained and most glacial debris was then deposited beneath the inner regions of ice shelves response to northern hemisphere glaciation since 2 4 m y b p during glacial periods involved extension of the grounded ice area a large decrease of mass input and decreased melting of outer parts of large ice shelves while the melting rate beneath inner regions was probably similar to the present marine core evidence suggests that retreat caused by global cooling has been dominant since 5 m y b p and that changes in extent due to northern hemisphere glaciation since 2 4 m y b p have had different effects on the major and on smaller northerly ice shelves

relative temporal stability of the antarctic ice sheets during the late neogene based on the minimum frequency of outer shelf grounding events abstract the stability of the antarctic cryosphere involves two fundamental aspects the magnitude of ice volume changes and the frequency of ice volume changes in this article we synthesize results from three regional seismic stratigraphic studies of the continental shelf to evaluate the relative frequency of extreme advances of the ice sheets during the late neogene for different sectors of the antarctic ice sheet detailed analyses of glacial unconformities on the eastern and western ross sea outer continental shelf indicate that there were at least eight episodes during the late neogene when the east antarctic ice sheet eais and the west antarctic ice sheet wais were significantly larger the seismic results from the shelf do not support the conventional view that the land based eais was relatively stable and that the marine based wais was relatively dynamic glacial unconformities on the pacific continental shelf of the antarctic peninsula indicate that there were at least 30 outer shelf ice sheet expansions during the late neogene this suggests that the small land based antarctic peninsula ice cap apic may have been the most dynamic component of the antarctic cryosphere conversely the greater number of grounding events on the antarctic peninsula shelf may be a result of the margin s younger thermal age and hence greater potential to preserve units and unconformities during the late neogene we acknowledge that the available chronostratigraphic control from the antarctic margin is poor and that more chronological data are needed to confirm our late neogene age assignments

late weichselian submarine debris flow deposits on the bear island trough mouth fan sedimentary processes on the bear island trough mouth fan during the last glacial were studied using high resolution reflection seismics and gravity cores the fan succession is dominated by large debris flow deposits of up to 24 km in width and 50 m thick debris lobes can be followed over 100 km downslope and the largest cover an area of 1880 km2 the large debris flows were generated when the barents sea ice sheet reached the shelf break glacigenic sediments transported to the grounding line were temporarily stored on the upper slope due to the high sedimentation rate the sediments were unstable and earthquakes oversteepening and or build up of excess pore pressure triggered sediment release generating large debris flows sediments were also eroded and incorporated during the downslope flow debris flows were the most important sediment distributing process due to the relatively high shear strength low flow mobility of the glacigenic diamicton and the low fan gradient the weichselian evolution of the fan was characterized by a relatively low sedimentation rate during the early and mid weichselian the barents sea ice sheet might have reached the shelf break twice during the late weichselian on average one large debris flow comprising 18 km3 of sediments was released between every 35 to 75 years during the last glacial maximum

seismic investigations in the weddell sea embayment abstract seismic multi channel data collected during norwegian antarctic research expeditions in 1976 1977 and 1978 1979 outline aspects of the cenozoic depositional environment in the weddell sea embayment acoustic basement probably representing the east antarctic craton is exposed in a 50 100 km wide swath along the ice barrier between 78 s 75 5 s on the eastern side of the crary trough the shelf prograded westward and northward from the craton into a subsiding basin colinear with the transantarctic mountain range measured sediment thicknesses exceed 5 km during middle and late tertiary times a submarine fan complex the crary fan developed on the southeastern margin of the weddell sea embayment the glacially eroded crary trough is located at the contact between the craton and a sedimentary basin to the west the entire sedimentary section is undisturbed by faulting or folding which indicates that any movements related to cenozoic uplift of the trans antarctic mountains and or relative motion of east antarctica had little effect in the area north of the filchner ice shelf east of 41 w

pliocene pleistocene glaciomarine sedimentation in eastern prydz bay and development of the prydz trough mouth fan odp sites 1166 and 1167 east antarctica abstract lithostratigraphy grain sizes and down hole logs of site 1166 on the continental shelf and site 1167 on the upper slope are analyzed to reconstruct glacial processes in eastern prydz bay and the development of the prydz trough mouth fan in eastern prydz bay upper pliocene lower pleistocene glaciomarine sediments occur interbedded with open marine muds and grade upward into waterlaid tills and subglacial tills lower pleistocene sediments of the trough mouth fan consist of coarse grained debrites interbedded with bottom current deposits and hemipelagic muds indicating repeated advances and retreats of the lambert glacier amery ice shelf system with respect to the shelf break systematic fluctuations in lithofacies and down hole logs characterize the upper pliocene lower pleistocene transition at sites 1166 and 1167 and indicate that an ice stream advanced and retreated within the prydz channel until the mid pleistocene the record from site 1167 shows that the grounding line of the lambert glacier did not extend to the shelf break after 0 78 ma published ice rafted debris records in the southern ocean show peak abundances in the pliocene and the early pleistocene suggesting a link between the nature of the glacial drainage system as recorded by the trough mouth fans and increased delivery of ice rafted debris to the southern ocean

late cenozoic glacial history of the ross embayment antarctica abstract knowledge of the cenozoic terrestrial and marine glacial history of antarctica has been developed through studies of on land surface outcrops and subsurface drillcores and through examination of drillcores and piston cores obtained from a variety of offshore marine geological settings these field and laboratory endeavors have been a major target of the antarctic earth science community for more than thirty years the ross sea sedimentary basins including the byrd basin west antarctica wilkes and pensacola basins east antarctica and the transantarctic mountains provide significant data on the cenozoic glacial record a record that has been traced back to at least 38 ma close to the eocene oligocene boundary this paper reviews the late cenozoic history of the transantarctic mountains and flanking sedimentary basins with emphasis on the debate between the stabilist view of antarctic ice sheet history see clapperton and sugden 1990 and our favored multi glacial dynamic ice sheet model

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

mesozoic seafloor spreading in the southern weddell sea a re evaluation of weddell sea magnetic anomaly data in the light of satellite gravity maps provides important constraints on plate kinematics prior to chron c34 83 ma although m series anomalies are difficult to identify the evidence favours younger ages than previously suggested based on the assumption that these anomalies formed at the south america antarctica plate boundary geosat derived free air gravity maps show a distinct anomaly anomaly t associated with the southern termination of a herring bone pattern of flow lines the associated magnetic anomaly has been identified previously as anomaly m20 on the basis of a model of very slow spreading but is interpreted here as an edge effect associated with an abrupt decline in spreading rate which occurred between m4 126 ma and m0 118 ma and which induced the fine segmentation pattern to the north although anomalies are present to the south of anomaly t they are of reduced amplitude and are difficult to correlate over distances of more than c 100 km nevertheless they appear to strike approximately w e sub parallel to the younger anomalies to the north and show a resemblance to anomalies m4 m12 modelled at a rate of 15 km ma 1 flow line modelling based on published rotations for the southwest indian ridge and southern mid atlantic ridge gives a reasonable fit to the observed trends of weddell sea gravity ridges two alternative models for the m series reconstruction of africa and antarctica are employed corresponding to the two m2 fits suggested by bergh although it is not possible to reject either of the models the tighter fit of the two gives slightly better agreement with weddell sea trends in both models a drop in rates occurs at m0 time anomalies farther south correspond with previously identified features such as the orion explora and andenes anomalies and the polarstern bank all characterized by magnetic anomaly highs attributed to excess volcanism during early break up

the record of pliocene sea level change at enewetak atoll abstract detailed seismic stratigraphy lithostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy indicate that atoll wide subaerial exposure surfaces major disconformities developed during major sea level lowstands form prominent seismic reflectors and are coincident with biostratigraphic breaks in the plio pleistocene on enewetak atoll sea level models based on the stratigraphic position and age of major disconformities suggest a maximum sea level highstand elevation of 36 m above present sea level and a maximum sea level lowstand elevation of 63 m below present sea level for the pliocene

effect of cenozoic ice sheet fluctuations in antarctica on the stratigraphic signature of the neogene stratigraphic successions from the gulf of mexico offshore alabama northeast java indonesia ross sea antarctica and several other continental margins have been examined all are characterized by very similar neogene stratal geometries in seismic profiles and well log cross sections from these areas a large mid oligocene i e latest early oligocene earliest late oligocene basinward shift in coastal onlap is followed by a major early miocene transgression and aggradation which is in turn followed by early middle miocene transgressions and late middle and late miocene progradational episodes the succession culminates in plio pleistocene high frequency progradations and transgressions the interregional character of the neogene stratal signature and its similarity to the stratal geometry found in seismic data from the ross sea continental shelf antarctica suggest that the neogene stratal signature is a manifestation of glacioeustatic fluctuations a review of the literature and an analysis of recently acquired and published data indicate that the first major ice sheet grounding event in the ross sea occurred during middle to late oligoce time the ross sea is the repository for ice flowing from a major portion of the continental interior thus the glacial record of the ross sea should serve as a gage of ice volume changes on the continent that were large enough to influence global eustasy the ice advance onto the ross sea continental shelf during middle to late oligocene time may have been the result of a decrease in the rate of shelf subsidence as rifting in the ross sea slowed or ceased advance of the ice sheet resulted in widespread erosion of the continental shelf and shelf overdeepening it is hypothesized that metastable marine based ice sheets have waxed and waned on the antarctic continental shelf since at least the oligocene and that the these waxing and waning events were responsible for the development of a global neogene stratigraphic signature

the importance of sediment gravity flow to sediment transport and sorting in a glacial marine environment eastern weddell sea antarctica offshore sediment transport on the eastern weddell sea continental margin cannot be modeled after examples from nonglaciated margins transport of terrigenous material to the marine environment is accomplished by floating or grounded ice instead of fluvial processes there is no coastal zone where sediments are washed as they enter the marine environment and because the average shelf depth is 400 m wind or wave generated currents have little if any influence on sediments texturally immature glacial sediment on the continental shelf and slope remains unsorted except by processes of sediment gravity flow piston core coverage demonstrates that downslope transitions between slumps debris flows and turbidity currents are active on the unstable intercanyon slope areas and on the glacially scoured continental shelf sediment textural analyses indicate that size sorting and mineralogic maturity are achieved within sediment gravity flow transitions and that lithic 40 lithics glacial sediment is transformed into sorted arkosic sand 3 lithics over distances of less than 10 km on the upper continental slope and shelf arkosic or quartz sand thus generated is often interbedded with diamictons which are either glacial or nonglacial slumps and debris flows in origin therefore such associations in ancient sequences do not rule out a glacial origin for diamictites or mixtites nor do they mandate deep water sedimentation canyon systems are at present isolated from major sediment input however an extensive 662 000 km2 abyssal submarine fan complex containing glaciogenic sands implies canyon activity since initial glaciation of the region sediment may have been supplied to canyons in the past by subglacial meltwater discharge at times of maximum ice grounding sand may also have been generated directly at canyon heads by strong contour currents impinging on the shelf break as typically occurs elsewhere around the antarctic margin today this focus of current energy at the shelf break does not exist in the eastern weddell sea today thus given the great depth of the continental shelf eustasy is far less important than glacial and oceanographic conditions that is the position of the ice sheet grounding line relative to the shelf break and the level and intensity of contour currents in regulating sediment supply to submarine canyons in the absence of major canyon activity intercanyon sediment transport appears to be the most significant source of slope and abyssal sands

mass wasting processes in the western wilkes land margin possible implications for east antarctic glacial history abstract multichannel seismic data collected off western wilkes land east antarctica reveal widespread sediment mass movement events mainly in the form of mega debris flows deposited on the continental rise in places they have a seaward extent of more than 200 km and a thickness of up to 400 m debris flow units are commonly separated by thin deposits of well stratified facies interpreted as glaciomarine mixed contouritic and distal turbidite deposits possibly with some hemipelagic sediments these units due to a dominant contouritic component represent weakened layers and could then play a major role in the slope instability based on stratigraphic correlation with dsdp site 268 it is suggested that slope failures in the western wilkes land occurred mostly during the miocene inferred high sedimentation rates due to large amounts of sediment delivered from a temperate wet based ice sheet would have constituted a key factor in the sediment failures the distribution of mass wasting related features appears also strongly related to the amount of meltwater discharge the main trigger mechanism would probably have been earthquakes enhanced by isostatic rebounds following major ice sheet retreats

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

tectonic activity evolution of the scotia antarctic plate boundary from mass transport deposit analysis the spatial distribution and temporal occurrence of mass transport deposits mtds in the sedimentary infill of basins and submerged banks near the scotia antarctic plate boundary allowed us to decode the evolution of the tectonic activity of the relevant structures in the region from the oligocene to present day the 1020 mtds identified in the available data set of multichannel seismic reflection profiles in the region are subdivided according to the geographic and chronological distributions of these features their spatial distribution reveals a preferential location along the eastern margins of the eastern basins this reflects local deformation due to the evolution of the scotia antarctic transcurrent plate boundary and the impact of oceanic spreading along the east scotia ridge esr the vertical distribution of the mtds in the sedimentary record evidences intensified regional tectonic deformation from the middle miocene to quaternary intensified deformation started at about 15 ma when the esr progressively replaces the west scotia ridge wsr as the main oceanic spreading center in the scotia sea coevally with the wsr demise at about 6 5 ma increased spreading rates of the esr and numerous mtds were formed the high frequency of mtds during the pliocene mainly along the western basins is also related to greater tectonic activity due to uplift of the shackleton fracture zone by tectonic inversion and extinction of the antarctic phoenix ridge and involved changes at late pliocene the presence of mtds in the southern scotia sea basins is a relevant indicator of the interplay between sedimentary instability and regional tectonics

a major trough mouth fan on the continental margin of the bellingshausen sea west antarctica the belgica fan a 330 km length of the little known continental shelf edge and slope of the bellingshausen sea west antarctica is investigated using multibeam swath bathymetric and sub bottom profiler evidence the shelf break is at 650 700 m across the 150 km wide belgica trough and to either side is about 500 m when full glacial ice advanced across the shelf to reach the shelf break it was partitioned into fast and slow flowing elements with an ice stream filling the trough this had important consequences for the nature and rate of sediment delivery to the adjacent continental slope off belgica trough the upper continental slope has convex outward contours indicating a major sedimentary depocentre of gradient 1 2 degrees acoustic profiles and cores from the depocentre show a series of diamictic glacigenic debris flows the depocentre is interpreted as a trough mouth fan built largely by debris delivered from the ice stream the slope is steeper beyond the trough margins at up to 6 degrees the main morphological features on the bellingshausen sea slope are gully systems and channels major canyons and late quaternary slides are absent most gullies and channels are found on the fan gullies are about 15 25 m deep a few hundred metres wide and some are 25 km long the largest channel is over 60 km long about a kilometre wide and 10 to 15 m deep the channels provide pathways for sediment by passing of the upper slope and transfer to the continental rise and beyond by turbidity currents gullies on the bellingshausen sea margin cut through debris flows on the slope assuming the debris flows are linked mainly to downslope transport of diamictic debris when ice was at the shelf edge under full glacial conditions then those gullies cut into them formed during deglaciation belgica fan is 22 000 km 2 in area and about 60 000 km 3 in volume it is the largest depocentre identified to date on the continental margin of the west antarctic ice sheet fed by an interior ice sheet basin of approximately 200 000 km 2 c 2008 elsevier b v all rights reserved

reconstruction of changes in the weddell sea sector of the antarctic ice sheet since the last glacial maximum the weddell sea sector is one of the main formation sites for antarctic bottom water and an outlet for about one fifth of antarctica s continental ice volume over the last few decades studies on glacial geological records in this sector have provided conflicting reconstructions of changes in ice sheet extent and ice sheet thickness since the last glacial maximum lgm at ca 23 19 calibrated kiloyears before present cal ka bp terrestrial geomorphological records and exposure ages obtained from rocks in the hinterland of the weddell sea ice sheet thickness constraints from ice cores and some radiocarbon dates on offshore sediments were interpreted to indicate no significant ice thickening and locally restricted grounding line advance at the lgm other marine geological and geophysical studies concluded that subglacial bedforms mapped on the weddell sea continental shelf subglacial deposits and sediments over compacted by overriding ice recovered in cores and the few available radiocarbon ages from marine sediments are consistent with major ice sheet advance at the lgm reflecting the geological interpretations different ice sheet models have reconstructed conflicting lgm ice sheet configurations for the weddell sea sector consequently the estimated contributions of ice sheet build up in the weddell sea sector to the lgm sea level low stand of 130 m vary considerably in this paper we summarise and review the geological records of past ice sheet margins and past ice sheet elevations in the weddell sea sector we compile marine and terrestrial chronological data constraining former ice sheet size thereby highlighting different levels of certainty and present two alternative scenarios of the lgm ice sheet configuration including time slice reconstructions for post lgm grounding line retreat moreover we discuss consistencies and possible reasons for inconsistencies between the various reconstructions and propose objectives for future research the aim of our study is to provide two alternative interpretations of glacial geological datasets on antarctic ice sheet history for the weddell sea sector which can be utilised to test and improve numerical ice sheet models

glacial eustasy during the cenozoic sequence stratigraphic implications a newly constructed composite oxygen isotope record is a proxy for eustasy that extends back to the cretaceous tertiary boundary and provides an independent test of sequence stratigraphic based eustatic curves the isotope record shows several eustatic episodes that are consistent with the geological record of ice sheet evolution the first evidence for the existence of an ice sheet in east antarctica occurs near the lower middle eocene boundary base of the lutetian stage there is no evidence for a large ice sheet on antarctica prior to this time however strata of this age are lacking over most of the continent the isotope curve also indicates that the ice sheet experienced phases of growth during the late eocene and middle oligocene followed by a decrease in volume in the early miocene the ross sea stratigraphic record indicates initial evolution of the west antarctica ice sheet during the early miocene by the middle miocene the ice sheet spread across the ross sea weddell sea and antarctic peninsula continental shelves the pliocene pleistocene record of glaciation in antarctica includes numerous glacial erosion surfaces on the continental shelf indicating repeated advance and retreat of both east and west antarctica ice sheets these volume changes in the antarctica ice sheet were in response to the rise and fall of sea level caused by expanding and contracting northern hemisphere ice sheets there is a reasonable correlation between eustatic curves derived from sequence stratigraphic studies and the composite oxygen isotope record since the middle eocene this correlation indicates that glacial eustasy has been the principal factor regulating stratal stacking patterns on a global scale since the middle eocene

formation and disintegration of the antarctic ice sheet a model of the antarctic ice sheet has been used to simulate the ice sheet in warmer climates in order to investigate what kind of ice sheet geometries one canreasonably expect under what kind of climatic conditions and to find out which physical mechanisms may be involved to explain them the results of theseexperiments reveal the large stability of in particular the east antarctic ice sheet it would require a temperature rise of between 17 and 20k above presentlevels to remove this ice sheet from the subglacial basins in the interior of the continent and of 25k to melt the antarctic ice sheet completely down for atemperature rise below 5k the model actually predicts a larger antarctic ice sheet than today as a result of increased snowfall whereas the west antarctic icesheet was found not to survive temperatures more than 8 10k above present values furthermore basal temperature conditions in these experiments point tothe problems involved to raise the base to the pressure melting point over the large areas necessary to consider the possibility of sliding instability theseresults bear on a lively debate regarding the late cenozoic glacial history of antarctica in particular based on these findings it appears difficult to reconcile ahighly variable east antarctic ice sheet up to the pliocene with the modest warmings recorded in for instance the deep sea records for the late neogene

pliocene paleoclimate and east antarctic ice sheet history from surficial ash deposits the preservation age and stratigraphic relation of an in situ ashfall layer with an underlying desert pavement in arena valley southern victoria land indicate that a cold desert climate has persisted in arena valley during the past 4 3 million years these data indicate that the present east antarctic ice sheet has endured for this time and that average temperatures during the pliocene in arena valley were no greater than 3 c above present values one implication is that the collapse of the east antarctic ice sheet due to greenhouse warming is unlikely even if global atmospheric temperatures rise to levels last experienced during mid pliocene times

ice 3g a new global model of late pleistocene deglaciation based upon geophysical predictions of post glacial relative sea level change a new high resolution global model of late pleistocene deglaciation is inferred on the basis of geophysical predictions of postglacial relative sea level variations in which the ice ocean solid earth interaction is treated in a gravitationally self consistent fashion for the purpose of these analyses the radial viscoelastic structure of the planet is assumed known on the basis of previously published sensitivity tests on solutions of the forward problem only radiocarbon controlled relative sea level histories from sites that were actually ice covered with one or two additions are employed to constrain the model leaving relative sea level rsl data from sites that were not ice covered to be employed to confirm its consistency results for these confirmatory analyses are reported elsewhere here the new deglaciation model referred to as ice 3g is compared to previous models derived by several independent means and tested against a number of additional observations other than sea level histories including geologically controlled retreat isochrones oxygen isotope data from deep sea sedimentary cores and coral terrace elevations the latter two observations strongly constrain the net sea level rise that has occurred since the onset of deglaciation and therefore the mass of ice that melted during the last glacial interglacial transition

on the architecture of high latitude continental margins the influence of ice sheet and sea ice processes in the polar north atlantic abstract the presence of ice during the late cenozoic distinguishes the nature and rates of processes on high latitude margins from those elsewhere ice sheets terminating in marine waters deliver icebergs meltwater and debris to high latitude seas sea ice influences ocean salinity structure and downslope water and sediment transfer and also transports fine grained sediments over long distances these cryospheric processes have led to the development of a distinctive sedimentary architecture on modern high latitude continental margins large submarine fans made up almost entirely of stacked debris flows are present around the norwegian greenland sea large slides are located in a variety of settings relative to rates of sediment delivery from quaternary ice sheet margins but no large slides have been mapped on the east greenland margin however extensive channel systems and sediment wave fields are present in the greenland basin probably related to intermittent downslope flow of dense water and turbidity currents the extensive ne greenland shelf was not innundated by ice sheet advance during recent full glacial conditions allowing sea ice and deep water production during both interglacials and full glacials changes in the nature and rate of sedimentation within the greenland basin should provide clues on the rate of dense water production with implications for thermohaline circulation in the north atlantic other erosional and depositional features on the norwegian greenland sea margins include canyons and contourite drifts high relief tectonic features influence sediment reworking by turbidity currents at abyssal depths a simple conceptual model for glacier influenced marine sedimentation summarizes the role of cryospheric processes in high latitude margin sedimentary environments

late cenozoic environments in the barents sea we examine the paleoceanography and paleogeography of the barents sea during the late cenozoic glacial regime by seismostratigraphy and core analysis during the smaller glaciations which probably dominated the first period of the glaciogenic regime approximately 2 5 0 8 ma glaciomarine processes with sediment influx from the adjacent mainland prevailed the barents sea has been covered by grounded ice sheets several five to 10 times during the late cenozoic we speculate that these glaciations occurred during the last 0 8 ma during these larger glaciations the margin of the ice sheet expanded to the shelf edge and the continental shelf break and slope acted as a depocenter and prograded rapidly frequent sediment gravity flows accumulated on the lower continental slope during interglacials the barents sea was converted to a starved continental margin most of the barents sea was glaciated during the maximum of the last glaciation 19 16 ka a two stepped deglaciation 16 to 13 ka and 13 to 10 ka occurred incipient atlantic water reached the western areas about 13 ka and totally replaced the arctic water by 10 ka these paleoceanographic events were delayed in the eastern barents sea

relict subglacial deltas on the antarctic peninsula outer shelf the first deep tow boomer survey on the antarctic continental margin has revealed relict subglacial deltas on the outer continental shelf off the antarctic peninsula progradation of subglacial deltas is thought to take place at the grounding lines of ice streams which flow on deforming subglacial till acoustic characteristics and estimation of likely sediment transport rates suggest that these features were produced by late stage readvance of grounding lines during the waning of the last ice sheet that covered the shelf this readvance could have taken place during the younger dryas 12 9 11 6 ka but changes in sea level and climate may not be the only important controls on subglacial delta formation the discovery of relict subglacial deltas on the outer shelf is consistent with the hypothesis that the grounded ice sheet in these areas was low profile and fast flowing if low profile grounded ice extended to the shelf edge in many places around antarctica at times of glacial maximum this could explain the greater glacial maximum ice sheet extent in interpretations based on offshore data compared with reconstructions based on onshore data and numerical glaciological models

glacigenic sediments on a passive continental margin as exemplified by the barents sea abstract reflection seismics data borehole data and gravity cores have been used to map the sedimentary facies of the epicontinental southwestern barents sea its continental margin and adjacent coastal areas an upper unconformity with a glacially eroded morphology extends over most of the continental shelf up to 300 m of stratiform glacigenic sediments overlie this unconformity these sediments can be grouped into seismic units which are separated by smooth or irregular erosional surfaces each sequence may be up to 150 m thick normally with a lateral extent of 100 300 km three dominant seismic signatures may be discerned semi transparent stratified and chaotic reflection patterns these sediments are partly glacifluvial in origin but on the whole they represent more or less tectonized glacimarine deposits the deeper troughs on the continental shelf contain an undeformed postglacial glacimarine marine trough fill the greatest thickness up to 1000 m of glacigenic sediments occurs at the shelf break and below the upper slope the depocentres are situated at trough mouth fans the sediments comprise several prograding sequences with a complex sigmoid oblique character indicating alternating upbuilding and depositional bypass erosion in the topset segment small and large scale slide scars are observed on the upper slope and debris lobes on the lower slope a marked progradation seems to have occurred during the plio pleistocene glacial periods this progradation also resulted in an unstable slope with various types of sediment gravity flows currents flowing along the slope were established during interglacials and gullying by cold dense shelf water and downslope transport occurred maximum net sedimentation rates are 0 2 m ka continental slope 0 4 m ka shelf break 0 1 m ka shelf stratiform diamictons 1 m ka shelf trough fills and 60 m ka fjord trough fills

continuous simulations over the last 40 million years with a coupled antarctic ice sheet sediment model abstract much of the knowledge of antarctic ice sheet variations since its inception 34 ma derives from marine sediments on the continental shelf deposited in glacimarine or sub ice environments by advancing and retreating grounded ice and observed today by seismic profiling and coring here we apply a 3 d coupled ice sheet and sediment model from 40 ma to the present with the goal of directly linking ice sheet variations with the sediment record the ice sheet model uses vertically averaged ice dynamics and parameterized grounding line flux the sediment model includes quarrying of bedrock sub ice transport and marine deposition atmospheric and oceanic forcing are determined by uniform shifts to modern climatology in proportion to records of atmospheric co2 deep sea core 18o and orbital insolation variations the model is run continuously over the last 40 myr at coarse resolution 80 or 160 km modeling post eocene ice landscape evolution and off shore sediment packages in a single self consistent simulation strata and unconformities are tracked by recording times of deposition within the model sediment stacks which can be compared directly with observed seismic profiles the initial bedrock topography is initialized to 34 ma geologic reconstructions or an iterative procedure is used that yields independent estimates of paleo bedrock topography preliminary results are compared with recognized cenozoic ice sheet variations modern sediment distributions and seismic profiles and modern and paleo bedrock topographies

seismic data from the northern basin ross sea record extreme expansions of the east antarctic ice sheet during the late neogene abstract approximately 3700 km of intermediate resolution single channel seismic data from the northern basin were analyzed to investigate the late neogene history of east antarctic ice sheet eais grounding events on the shelf and to evaluate how glacial unconformities on the shelf are manifested on the upper slope the northern basin was chosen as the site of this study because ice sheet reconstructions show that the basin received sediment by ice emanating from east antarctica in addition seismic correlations to dsdp site 273 suggest that a relatively thick late neogene section exists on the basin s outer shelf and upper slope on the northern basin shelf glacial unconformities exhibiting broad low angle relief topset truncation and cross cutting relationships reveal a dynamic history of expansions and contractions during which the eais was larger than present on at least eight occasions during the late neogene on the upper slope the correlative conformities of the glacial unconformities are indistinct reflections within thick trough mouth fan tmf depocenters at the mouths of drygalsky and joides basins the glacial unconformities and correlative conformities define tmf sequences and each tmf sequence contains several topset truncated prograding slope reflectors we infer that the correlative conformities on the continental slope correspond to the interface between prograding glaciogenic deposits glacial maximum and diatomaceous glacial marine sediments glacial minimum the seismic stratigraphic analysis and regional mapping indicate that the upper slope does not contain a more complete late neogene section than that which exists on the shelf we infer that diatomaceous glacial marine sediments on the slope may be relatively undisturbed and hence may provide a means of dating the tmf sequences it is hoped that these results will stimulate efforts to core the late neogene section in the northern basin tmfs to investigate how these eais expansions and contractions relate to other records of late neogene climate and eustasy

quaternary seismic stratigraphy of the north sea fan glacially fed gravity flow aprons hemipelagic sediments and large submarine slides abstract approximately 1000 km of high resolution sleeve gun array transects on the north sea fan located at the mouth of the norwegian channel reveal three dominant styles of sedimentation within a thick 900 m quaternary sediment wedge comprising numerous sequences these are interpreted as terrigenous hemipelagic sedimentation large scale translational slides and aprons of glaciogenic debris flow deposits contributing to considerable fan construction four large buried translational slides involved sediment volumes upwards of 3000 km 3 each and preceded the similarly dimensioned first storegga slide on the ne fan flank several thick 100 m terrigenous hemipelagic deposits apparently represent long lived 150 200 kyr periods of sedimentation whose distribution indicates fan input via the norwegian channel the upper sequences are each made upper sequences are each made up of one or several thick 100 m aprons comprising stacked lensoid and or lobate forms which range from 2 to 40 km in width and 15 to 60 m in thickness they characterize debris flows attributed to periodic input from several phases of a norwegian channel ice stream reaching the shelf edge subsidence in the outer norwegian channel allowed preservation of several glaciation cycles represented by sheet erosion bounded tills and progradational units much of the shelf slope transition has been preserved allowing a preliminary chronology of the fan sequences through correlation with borehole sediments in the norwegian channel debris flows which signal the initial shelf edge glaciation are not recognized from the initial glaciation in the channel 1 1 myr but are associated with a middle pleistocene and all following glacial erosion surfaces ges in the outer norwegian channel this was followed by six further sequences probably totalling over 13 000 km 3 of sediment at least four of these were shelf edge ice maximum events the last of which was late weichselian age 14 c ams considering earlier glaciation related hemipelagic sedimentation material since removed by the large slides and extensive unmapped areas total quaternary fan sedimentation was in the vicinity of 20 000 km 3

a chronology of pliocene sea level fluctuations the u s middle atlantic coastal plain record abstract the sequence of marine and marginal marine silts and sands of the u s middle atlantic coastal plain preserves a relatively complete record of pliocene sea level highstands a general chronology for the deposition of these units has been developed previously from studies of the microfossil biostratigraphy complemented by a limited number of paleomagnetic and radiometric dates within this broad temporal framework it is currently difficult to assign ages to individual transgressive events with a resolution much better than 0 5 ma the age model proposed here attempts to refine the depositional history of the atlantic coastal plain by correlation with the more continuous deep ocean record the model assigns probable ages to the pliocene transgressions onto the atlantic coastal plain based on evidence for sea level highstands inferred from high resolution deep ocean 18 o records at least five major transgressive regressive events can be correlated with presumed eustatic fluctuations the temporal resolution for the timing of the transgressive events is greatly improved over that of the biostratigraphy alone many aspects of the proposed chronology require verification by more detailed field study but it is offered as a testable working hypothesis

depositional and erosional signatures in sedimentary successions on the continental slope and rise off prydz bay east antarctica implications for pliocene paleoclimate abstract the prydz bay region of antarctica is the immediate recipient of ice and sediments transported by the lambert glacier the single largest outflow from the east antarctic ice sheet the continental slope and rise provide records covering multiple glacial cycles and containing paleoclimatic information marine geological and geophysical data collected from the continental shelf and adjacent slope of prydz bay antarctica including seismic reflection data bathymetry and core records from odp drilling sites reveal the history of glacial sediment transport and deposition since the early pliocene times seismic facies are interpreted in terms of episodes of slope progradation contourite turbidite trough mouth fan and mass transport deposition two seismic units with estimated age of early to late pliocene and late pliocene to recent have been analyzed in detail for the area immediately offshore the lambert glacier and prydz bay and the adjacent mac robertson margin the upper slope is dominated by episodic mass transport deposits many of which accumulated to form a trough mouth fan since early pliocene times the trough mouth fan contrasts with the adjacent steep 4 6 continental slope of the mac robertson margin where glacigenic sediments have been transported down slope as high velocity turbidity currents via submarine channels the distal region exhibits evidence for contrasting effects of high energy traction dominated versus lower energy fallout dominated suspension flows the counter clockwise coriolis force modifies the erosion and deposition patterns of turbidity currents creating an asymmetric channel levee architecture since the early pliocene turbidite sedimentation surpassed the amount of sediment reworked and transported by westward flowing contour currents along the base of slope on the continental rise contourites and sediment waves were deposited in response to enhanced bottom water formation which is consistent with climatic cooling since late pliocene times this study based on existing seismic reflection and odp data highlights the need for a future scientific ocean drilling proposal on the prydz bay continental slope and rise in order to more accurately determine the timing of the important events that have influenced the evolution of this margin

vlf remote sensing of the auroral electrojet we investigate a new potential technique to determine the position of the auroral electrojet from ground based vlf amplitude and phase measurements the chief advantage of this technique over conventional ground magnetometer measurements is that it can provide data on a continental scale with a small number of receiving stations and with a minimum of data processing at the edge of the auroral zone where the electrojet current system flows high energy e 300 kev precipitating electrons cause local electron density enhancements in the ionosphere which cause phase and amplitude perturbations in vlf waves propagating in the earth ionosphere waveguide continuous measurements of the amplitude and phase of signals from the omega north dakota vlf transmitter were made in nome alaska using a two dimensional model of vlf propagation which accounts for ionospheric disturbances caused by the electron precipitation associated with the electrojet the amplitude and phase signatures of electrojet incursion across each propagation path were predicted seventeen nights of simultaneous vlf amplitude and phase data and ground magnetometer data were examined and catalogued based on the degree of temporal correlation between the two data sets and the degree to which the vlf events matched the propagation simulations of the nights exhibiting activity more than 60 exhibited excellent correlation between the magnetometer and vlf events and the majority of these showed good agreement with the model results an additional estimate of the electrojet position was provided for one of the studied nights by field aligned current measurements from the freja satellite a comparison of these independent means of determining the electrojet position shows that they are in good agreement for the night examined

trough mouth fans palaeoclimate and ice sheet monitors abstract trough mouth fans are fans at the mouth of transverse troughs channels on glaciated continental shelves on the northwest european glaciated continental margin eight trough mouth fans varying in size between 2700 and 215 000 km 2 have been identified the trough mouth fans are depocentres dominated by debris flows accumulated in front of ice streams draining the former large northwest european ice sheets the debris flow units are separated by hemmipelagic interglacial interstadial sediments it is inferred that the number of debris flow units record the number of shelfbreak positions of the ice sheet margins the number found varies between three in the south and eight in the north typical trough mouth fans and related debris flow units seem to have been formed later than the early mid pleistocene thus the north european ice sheets did not form ice streams extending to the shelfbreak in any appreciable length before the mid pleistocene besides being loci for sediment deposition the trough mouth fans were also the main sites of fresh water supply to the ocean in the form of icebergs during the mid late pleistocene ice ages

morphology and curvature of delta slopes in swiss lakes lessons for the interpretation of clinoforms in seismic data seismic surveys were conducted and bathymetric data obtained from four alpine lakes in switzerland the curvature of the delta slopes was analysed with mathematical equations linear or exponential profiles are observed representing planar or concave morphologies respectively planar profiles are interpreted to represent sediment that rests at the angle of repose the slope angle of these profiles shows a correlation with sediment calibre exponential profiles do not show a clear correlation between sediment calibre and slope angle they do not rest at the angle of repose and different kinds of sediment can rest at the same slope angle at the transition from lower slope to toeof slope the exponential equation fails to predict the present day morphology the toe of slope lies above the predicted trend this is attributed to a drastic increase in turbidite deposition that provides additional sediment and raises the basin floor profile above the predicted trend the breaks between delta plain and slope are sharp reflecting an abrupt change from transport by river flow and waves to gravity driven transport in these lakes the base level fluctuations relative to supply are small and insufficient to alter this sharp topographic break the absence of sigmoidal profiles on the swiss deltas is attributed to the high rate of progradation coupled with small fluctuations in base level