atoll reef island formation and response to sea level change west island cocos keeling islands abstract reef islands around the margin of coral atolls generally comprise unconsolidated holocene sands and gravels overlying a reef flat or cemented conglomerate platform such islands have accreted within the last 3000 4000 years since sea level has reached a level close to present and the reef flat and conglomerate platform have formed island morphology consists of an oceanward ridge a less distinct lagoonward ridge and low lying central depression several alternative models of how such reef islands might have developed are examined in relation to chronology and sediment provenance particularly in the context of the cocos keeling islands where this issue has been debated since darwin visited the atoll which of these models appears most appropriate for an elongate reef island on the atoll margin is assessed using conventional radiocarbon dating of coral shingle and accelerator mass spectrometry ams radiocarbon dating of individual sand grains from pits across west island the dating results suggest that both coral clasts and individual grains of various components are generally reliable and replicable indicators of the chronology of island accumulation implying rapid transport of skeletal material after death of the contributing organisms across the reef flat zone and relatively little reworking the central part of west island appears to have formed first with oceanward accretion up until about 2000 years bp gradual oceanward accretion with lesser lagoonward extension has continued beyond 2000 years bp at the northern and southern ends of the island and a sequence of lagoonward recurving spits has formed adjacent to the inter island passage at the southern end of the island radiocarbon dating of fossil microatolls indicates a gradual fall of sea level over this period which appears to have had little effect on the pattern of island accretion

ice sheet sources of sea level rise and freshwater discharge during the last deglaciation we review and synthesize the geologic record that constrains the sources of sea level rise and freshwater discharge to the global oceans associated with retreat of ice sheets during the last deglaciation the last glacial maximum 26 19 ka was terminated by a rapid 5 10 m sea level rise at 19 0 19 5 ka sourced largely from northern hemisphere ice sheet retreat in response to high northern latitude insolation forcing sea level rise of 8 20 m from 19 to 14 5 ka can be attributed to continued retreat of the laurentide and eurasian ice sheets with an additional freshwater forcing of uncertain amount delivered by heinrich event 1 the source of the abrupt acceleration in sea level rise at 14 6 ka meltwater pulse 1a 14 15 m includes contributions of 6 5 10 m from northern hemisphere ice sheets of which 2 7 m represents an excess contribution above that derived from ongoing ice sheet retreat widespread retreat of antarctic ice sheets began at 14 0 15 0 ka which together with geophysical modeling of far field sea level records suggests an antarctic contribution to this meltwater pulse as well the cause of the subsequent younger dryas cold event can be attributed to eastward freshwater runoff from the lake agassiz basin to the st lawrence estuary that agrees with existing lake agassiz outlet radiocarbon dates much of the early holocene sea level rise can be explained by laurentide and scandinavian ice sheet retreat with collapse of laurentide ice over hudson bay and drainage of lake agassiz basin runoff at 8 4 8 2 ka to the labrador sea causing the 8 2 ka event

holocene fringing reefs and sea level change in mangaia island southern cook islands abstract holocene relative sea levels in oceanic islands that are situated sufficiently far from glaciated regions provide basic information for the study of the melting histories of the continental ice sheets and of the rheological structure of the earth we have studied mangaia island south cooks as one such oceanic island located in the middle pacific ocean in addition to the usual geological and geomorphological observations of geomorphic features associated with former shorelines we have used a portable drilling sampler for shallow borings of coral reefs geological and geomorphological studies of the coast of mangaia island have revealed that there was a higher sea level than the present in the mid holocene the heights and ages of emerged microatolls on the emerged bench indicate that the sea reached a maximum level of 1 7 m around 4000 3400 yr b p and then emergence is considered to have occurred between 3400 and 2900 yr b p at the same time the reef crest formed in the period from 5000 to 3400 yr b p emerged above the sea and suffered erosion as a result of this change in sea level upward reef growth from the fore reef slope began to form a new reef crest by 2000 yr b p to seaward of the old reef crest the reef margin of mangaia grew outward intermittently with seaward jump of the reef front in accordance with a fall of sea level in the late holocene the presence of fossil reef crests or eroded algal ridges on modern reef flats is a rather common feature in the south pacific the geomorphic development of such features on reef flats can be explained by the effect of the late holocene fall in sea level

rapid forearc uplift and subsidence caused by impinging bathymetric features examples from the new hebrides and solomon arcs 1 isotopically dated corals from the central new hebrides and new georgia island group solomon islands indicate that both forearcs underwent rapid late quaternary subsidence that was abruptly replaced by hundreds of meters of uplift at rates up to 8 mm yr while total plate convergence was only a few kilometers two mechanisms that might account for these rapid reversals in vertical motion include 1 a displacement mechanism in which the forearc is displaced upward by the volume of an object passing beneath on the subducting plate as the object moves deeper and vacates the base of the forearc the forearc subsides to near its original position and 2 a crustal shortening mechanism in which the forearc thickens and uplifts because of horizontal shortening when a large object impinges on the forearc and abruptly increases interplate coupling on the shallow end of the main thrust zone rapid subsidence follows when the impinging object is broken or otherwise decoupled shallow interplate coupling becomes weak and the uplifted forearc extends and subsides the displacement mechanism surely plays a role on timescales over which plates converge tens of kilometers but it fails to explain the geographic pattern short time frame and abruptness of the change from subsidence to uplift that we observe the crustal shortening mechanism is preferred because it allows the observed abrupt uplift when an object impinges on a forearc and causes locking of a shallow segment of the interplate thrust zone

the subglacial thermal organisation sto of ice sheets abstract this paper examines ice sheet wide variations in subglacial thermal regime and ice dynamics using the landform record exposed on the beds of former mid latitude ice sheets the laurentide cordilleran fennoscandian and british irish ice sheets we compare the landform patterns beneath these former ice sheets to the flow organisation beneath parts of the contemporary antarctic ice sheet inferred from radarsat 1 antarctic mapping project ramp data the evidence preserved in the landform record and observed on contemporary ice masses can be grouped into four major ice dynamical components that collectively define the subglacial thermal organisation sto of ice sheets these ice dynamical components are frozen bed patches ice streams ice stream tributaries and lateral shear zones frozen bed patches appear at a wide range of spatial scales spanning four orders of magnitude in some areas frozen bed zones comprise large proportions of the bed e g near the ice divide in continental areas whilst in other areas they constitute isolated islands in areas dominated by thawed bed conditions ice streams narrow zones of fast flow in ice sheets that are otherwise dominated by slow sheet flow are also common features of quaternary ice sheets tributaries to ice streams flow at velocities intermediate between full ice stream and sheet flow and may divert ice drainage from one primary ice stream corridor to an adjacent one sharp lateral boundaries between landforms indicate sliding and non sliding conditions respectively these lateral boundaries represent important discontinuities in the glacial landscape and mark the location of shear zones between thawed bed ice streams and intervening frozen bed areas we use the landform evidence in the area around great bear lake canada to trace the evolution of an ice stream web through time demonstrating that frozen bed patches are integral components of this complex system we conclude that frozen bed patches are important for the stability of ice sheets because they laterally constrain and isolate peripheral drainage basins and their ice streams

vegetation change in the coastal lowland rainforest at avai o vuna swamp vava u kingdom of tonga avai o vuna swamp a small coastal wetland in vava u kingdom of tonga produced a 4500 year pollen and sediment record results are 1 a mid holocene sea level highstand is confirmed for tonga between about 4500 and 2600 14 c yr b p marine clay contains pollen from mangroves rhizophora mangle coastal forest trees barringtonia asiatica and cocos nucifera and rainforest trees alphitonia rhus hedycarya and calophyllum 2 microscopic charcoal first appeared at 2600 14 c yr b p coincident with the arrival of polynesians 3 cocos pandanus excoecaria macaranga and elaeocarpaceae pollen reflects the establishment of a mixed coastal lowland rainforest in the last 2500 years 4 the loss of hedycarya elaeocarpus calophyllum and guettarda and the reduction of terminalia and taxa in the papilionaceae family by about 1000 years ago may be due to habitat destruction and the loss of dispersal capabilities of some species through the extinction of the two largest pigeons in tonga d 2005 university of washington all rights reserved

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

recent sea level contributions of the antarctic and greenland ice sheets after a century of polar exploration the past decade of satellite measurements has painted an altogether new picture of how earth s ice sheets are changing as global temperatures have risen so have rates of snowfall ice melting and glacier flow although the balance between these opposing processes has varied considerably on a regional scale data show that antarctica and greenland are each losing mass overall our best estimate of their combined imbalance is about 125 gigatons per year of ice enough to raise sea level by 0 35 millimeters per year this is only a modest contribution to the present rate of sea level rise of 3 0 millimeters per year however much of the loss from antarctica and greenland is the result of the flow of ice to the ocean from ice streams and glaciers which has accelerated over the past decade in both continents there are suspected triggers for the accelerated ice discharge surface and ocean warming respectively and over the course of the 21st century these processes could rapidly counteract the snowfall gains predicted by present coupled climate models

binge purge oscillations of the laurentide ice sheet as a cause of the north atlantic s heinrich events ice rafted debris in sediment cores from the north atlantic suggests that the laurentide ice sheet lis periodically disgorged icebergs in brief but violent episodes which occurred approximately every 7 000 years here i propose that heinrich events i e what these episodes are called were caused by free oscillations in the flow of the laurentide ice sheet which arose because the floor of hudson bay and hudson strait is covered with soft unconsolidated sediment that forms a slippery lubricant when thawed the proposed heinrich event cycle has two phases the growth phase occurs when the sediment is frozen and the lis is stranded immobile on a rigid bed the volume of the lis slowly grows during this phase at a rate dictated by snow accumulation the purge phase occurs when the basal sediment thaws and a basally lubricated discharge pathway i e an ice stream such as those which occur in west antarctica today developes through hudson strait the volume of the lis rapidly equilibrates to the reduced basal friction during this phase by dumping icebergs into the labrador sea the periodicity t k sl2g 2 7000 years of the proposed heinrich event cycle is a function of the thermal conductivity and diffusivity of ice k and respectively the atmospheric sea level temperature sl in degrees celsius and the excess geothermal heat flux defined by g g k where is the atmospheric lapse rate and g is the geothermal heat flux agreement between the predicted t and the apparent periodicity implied by the marine record is the main virtue of the free oscillation mechanism i propose an alternative mechanism in which heinrich events are forced by periodic variations in external climate is implausible because periodic atmospheric temperature perturbations are strongly attenuated with depth in an ice sheet

bedform signature of a west antarctic palaeo ice stream reveals a multi temporal record of flow and substrate control abstract the presence of a complex bedform arrangement on the sea floor of the continental shelf in the western amundsen sea embayment west antarctica indicates a multi temporal record of flow related to the activity of one or more ice streams in the past mapping and division of the bedforms into distinct landform assemblages reveals their time transgressive history which implies that bedforms can neither be considered part of a single downflow continuum nor a direct proxy for palaeo ice velocity as suggested previously a main control on the bedform imprint is the geology of the shelf which is divided broadly between rough bedrock on the inner shelf and smooth dipping sedimentary strata on the middle to outer shelf inner shelf bedform variability is well preserved revealing information about local complex basal ice conditions meltwater flow and ice dynamics over time these details which are not apparent at the scale of regional morphological studies indicate that past ice streams flowed across the entire shelf at times and often had onset zones that lay within the interior of the antarctic ice sheet today in contrast highly elongated subglacial bedforms on sedimentary strata of the middle to outer shelf represent a timeslice snapshot of the last activity of ice stream flow and may be a truer representation of fast palaeo ice flow in these locations a revised model for ice streams on the shelf captures complicated multi temporal bedform patterns associated with an antarctic palaeo ice stream for the first time and confirms a strong substrate control on a major ice stream system that drained the west antarctic ice sheet during the late quaternary

archaeological and sedimentological data indicate lapita settlement on a newly formed coastal plain tavua island mamanuca group fiji the timing and choice of initial settlement location are examined on the small island of tavua in fiji s mamanuca group the mid to late holocene sea level retreat influenced the island s coastal landforms through the acceleration of coastal progradation and the production of habitable land archaeological sedimentological and chronological data are integrated to better understand the island s settlement and geomorphological history these datasets are then compared with regional and modeled sea level curves for fiji in order to constrain the time period for the onset of coastal regression the results indicate that tavua was initially settled around 3000 years ago within a few centuries of the formation of the coastal plain integrating archaeological sedimentological and sea level datasets helps produce a more precise understanding of the relationship between sea level change and the timing of settlement on small islands in oceania

alternative routing of lake agassiz overflow during the younger dryas new dates paleotopography and a re evaluation abstract overflow from glacial lake agassiz has been implicated in affecting late glacial ocean circulation and climate the timing of the diversion of lake agassiz overflow away from its southern routing to the gulf of mexico correlates closely with the younger dryas ca 11 10 14 c ka new models of paleotopography in the eastern outlet region of lake agassiz adjusted for differential isostatic rebound show that overflow to the superior basin would have occurred when the lake formed its herman norcross and tintah beaches just after 10 9 14 c ka if the laurentide ice sheet lis had retreated from the thunder bay ontario region by that time however the absence of coarse flood deposits normally associated with large overflows plus the morphology of possible overflow channels in the thunder bay region suggest that agassiz overflow may not have been routed into the great lakes during the younger dryas as previously believed in addition non carbonate radiocarbon dates in the thunder bay area are all younger than 10 14 c ka suggesting that this area may not have been deglaciated until after the younger dryas thus preventing lake agassiz overflow through this area an alternative route of overflow from lake agassiz during the younger dryas could have been through the northwestern clearwater outlet to the arctic ocean although all research to date shows that this region was covered by ice until 10 14 c ka on the other hand it is possible that older and coarser overflow sediment may now lie buried beneath finer deposits associated with the 10 14 c ka marquette readvance of the lis which ponded waters in valleys between lake agassiz and lake superior or that eastward overflow in this area was not catastrophic

geophysical evidence for post miocene rotation of the island of viti levu fiji and its relationship to the tectonic development of the north fiji basin geophysical studies of the island of viti levu fiji show largeamplitude magnetic anomalies of up to 1500 nt to be located above the tavua volcanic center field sampling of the volcanic rocks from the intrusive and extrusive centers of the volcano show the rock samples to have initial intensities of natural remanent magnetization of up to 380 a m radiometric dating of fifteen oriented samples show an age range of 2 9 to 7 0 m y b p for the suite of rocks collected from the mba basaltic group paleomagnetic analysis of the dated rocksshows declination vectors ranging from 325 9 for an age of 2 9 0 2 m y b p to 290 4 for an age of 7 0 0 4 m y b p as a group the paleomagnetic declination values of the samples systematically decrease with age this decrease is attributed to progressive anticlockwise rotation of viti levu during the process of formation of the north fiji basin a linear least squares analysis of the paleomagnetic data indicates that the island has rotated in an anticlockwise direction through 90 during the past 7 m y at a rate of 13 7 per million years declination values as low as 245 measured for some sites not dated suggest that anticlockwise rotation of viti levu and development of the north fiji basin could have commenced as early as 10 m y b p following the breakup of the ancient solomons new hebrides fiji lau island arc large rotations of microplates may have occurred along other island arcs and marginal basin systems elsewhere in the western pacific and such rotational histories may reflect in detail the evolutionary development of these arcs and basins

compilation of geophysical geochronological and geochemical evidence indicates a rapid mediterranean derived submergence of the black sea s shelf and subsequent substantial salinification in the early holocene abstract our knowledge of rate and processes in which semi enclosed environments alternate from lacustrine to marine is commonly limited because of the paucity of specific proxies for sea level and salinity here we investigate the timing rate and key mechanisms involved in the transformation of the previously isolated black sea lake to the modern partly enclosed marine sea using a suite of geophysical geochemical and geochronological methods cores were collected in transects across shelves of ukraine romania bulgaria and turkey biogenic carbonate from these cores was analyzed for radiocarbon and strontium oxygen and carbon isotopes strontium results indicate that the submergence of the black sea shelf at 9300 calendar years bp was caused by the ingress of mediterranean water and was abrupt taking radiocarbon years are calibrated to calendar years by tuning the oxygen and carbon isotope composition of the mollusk record to that of the u th dated sofular cave stalagmites the match shows a reduction of the lake s prior high reservoir age accompanying the inflow of the mediterranean water in 900 years the salinity reached a threshold that excluded all previous black sea lacustrine fauna these results imply that any substantial postglacial submergence of the black sea shelves did not occur prior to entry of mediterranean water

late glacial landforms of wollaston peninsula victoria island northwest territories product of ice marginal retreat surge and mass stagnation an analysis of glacial landforms on a regional scale leads to an interpretation of the dynamics of late wisconsinan glaciation on wollaston peninsula victoria island northwest territories the glacial record is dominated by four adjacent belts of landforms i ground moraine till plains and ice marginal drainage features ii hummocky moraine iii lateral and shear moraine and iv streamlined landforms the landform belts are considered as representing four distinct glacial ice conditions or regimes 1 ice margin retreat during extending flow of thin active ice 2 marginal ice stagnation following compressional flow 3 a surging ice margin producing massive shear moraines and 4 large scale flooding and mass ice stagnation following a surge these landform belts were arranged in zones by topographically controlled glacial dynamics the latter two defining a former ice stream glaciological inferences can be extended by examining the sediments and processes that produced each landform set

stratigraphic constraints on late pleistocene glacial erosion and deglaciation of the chukchi margin arctic ocean at least two episodes of glacial erosion of the chukchi margin at water depths to 450 m and 750 m have been indicated by geophysical seafloor data we examine sediment stratigraphy in these areas to verify the inferred erosion and to understand its nature and timing our data within the eroded areas show the presence of glaciogenic diamictons composed mostly of reworked local bedrock the diamictons are estimated to form during the last glacial maximum lgm and an earlier glacial event possibly between ois 4 to 5d both erosional events were presumably caused by the grounding of ice shelves originating from the laurentide ice sheet broader glaciological settings differed between these events as indicated by different orientations of flutes on eroded seafloor postglacial sedimentation evolved from iceberg dominated environments to those controlled by sea ice rafting and marine processes in the holocene a prominent minimum in planktonic foraminiferal 18 o is identified in deglacial sediments at an estimated age near 13 000 cal yr bp this 18 o minimum also reported elsewhere in the amerasia basin is probably related to a major laurentide meltwater pulse at the younger dryas onset the bering strait opening is also marked in the composition of late deglacial chukchi sediments

the origin and flux of icebergs released into the last glacial maximum northern hemisphere oceans the impact of ice sheet topography the precipitation fields of a palaeoatmospheric general circulation model are used to derive estimates of the geographical distribution and flux of icebergs from the laurentide fennoscandinavian and eastern siberian ice sheets at the last glacial maximum lgm the atmospheric model fields from lgm simulations using climap or peltier ice 4g ice orography were studied to test the sensitivity of the predicted flux the estimated northern hemispheric lgm iceberg flux is 3500 4000 km3 yr 1 of which about 60 issued directly into the north atlantic the iceberg flux from the st lawrence area is of similar significance to that issuing from hudson strait in all estimates both the north pacific and the arctic received substantial iceberg fluxes ca 700 km3 yr 1 with relatively minor differences occurring between the two ice sheet reconstructions apparent discrepancies between arctic deep sea core samples of ice rafted debris and our estimates of mean glacial iceberg flux may be ascribed to coastal trapping of bergs the existence of floating ice tongues or a rapid exit of icebergs from the arctic basin into the greenland sea through the fram strait copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

arctic ice export events and their potential impact on global climate during the late pleistocene 1 ice sheets in the north american arctic and to a lesser extent those in northern eurasia calved large quantities of icebergs that drifted through fram strait into the greenland sea several times during the late pleistocene these icebergs deposited fe oxide grains 45 250 m and coarse lithic clasts 250 m matched to specific circum arctic sources four massive arctic iceberg export events are identified from the laurentide and the innuitian ice sheets between 14 and 34 ka calendar years in a sediment core from fram strait these relatively short duration 1 4 kyr events contain 3 5 times the background levels of fe oxide grains they began suddenly as indicated by a steep rise in the number of grains matched to an ice sheet source suggesting rapid purges of ice through fram strait due perhaps to collapse of ice sheets the larger events from the northwestern laurentide ice sheet are preceded by events from the innuitian ice sheet despite the chronological uncertainties the arctic export events appear to occur prior to heinrich events

lateglacial ice dynamics of the cordilleran ice sheet in northern british columbia and southern yukon territory retreat pattern of the liard lobe reconstructed from the glacial landform record the liard lobe formed a part of the northeastern sector of the cordilleran ice sheet and drained ice from accumulation areas in the selwyn pelly cassiar and skeena mountains this study reconstru

palaeo ice streams in the northern keewatin sector of the laurentide ice sheet evidence for ice streams in the laurentide ice sheet is widespread in the region of northern keewatin and the boothia peninsula nunavut canada palaeo ice streams have been recognized but their location size and potential role in ice sheet dynamics are poorly constrained based on the interpretation of satellite imagery we produce a palaeo ice stream map of this region glacial directional landforms eskers and moraines were mapped and integrated into landform assemblages using a glacial geological inversion model palaeo frozen bed areas were also identified relative age of the geomorphic swarms was assessed by cross cutting relationships and radiocarbon ages where available using this information we obtained a glaciologically plausible picture of ice stream evolution within the northernmost laurentide ice sheet on the m clintock channel corridor three generations of pure ice streams are found on baffin island and the gulf of boothia glaciation was dominated by frozen bed zones located on high plateaus and ice streams running along the troughs i e topographic ice streams a massive convergent pattern at the head of committee bay drained ice from both the keewatin and foxe sectors and was probably one of the main deglaciation channels of the laurentide ice sheet finally our results indicate that streaming flow was present in the deep interior of the laurentide ice sheet as recently shown for the greenland and antarctic ice sheets

evolution of subglacial bedforms along a paleo ice stream antarctic peninsula continental shelf geophysical data from the antarctic peninsula continental shelf reveal streamlined subglacial bedforms in a cross shelf trough bedforms exhibit progressive elongation with distance along the trough and record flow of a paleo ice stream from the antarctic peninsula ice sheet during the last glacial maximum downflow evolution of the bedforms indicates increasing flow velocities as the ice stream traversed the shelf this in turn is related to a transition from crystalline bedrock on the inner shelf to a soft sedimentary substrate on the outer shelf although streaming flow operated across both substrates the highest flow velocities occurred over the soft bed spatial variation in the inferred nature of fast flow from sliding to subglacial sediment deformation and or ploughing was also lithologically controlled these data highlight the control of subglacial geology on ice stream dynamics in the geological record and demonstrate a direct relationship between the formation of streamlined subglacial bedforms and paleo ice streams

evidence for a holocene high sea level stand vanua levu fiji abstract two distinct elevations of emerged notches can be recognized on the southeastern coast of vanua levu the higher notch is 2 22 to 3 30 m above low tide level and the lower 1 52 to 1 65 m above low tide level many emerged holocene corals encrust higher notch floors and benches or occur as microatolls and from these radiocarbon ages ranging from 6000 to 3400 yr b p were obtained the higher notches are significantly higher than present high tide level even allowing for relative tectonic uplift this is supported by elevations of emerged microatolls and their 14 c ages thus mean sea level of the mid holocene was higher than that at present

major end moraines of younger dryas age on wollaston peninsula victoria island canadian arctic implications for paleoclimate and for formation of hummocky moraine some of the most extensive and massive end moraines of younger dryas age 11 10 14c ka bp yet recognized in north america occur on wollaston peninsula of victoria island on the western part of the peninsula numerous closely spaced end moraines formed in the interval starting 11 100 100 radiocarbon years ago and ending about 10 500 10 200 years ago net recession was generally slow throughout and was punctuated by moraine building and at least two readvances recession is mapped with a resolution that is approximately decadal the moraines form an orderly nested succession and are consistently associated with westward shedding of meltwater which formed a sequence of marine limit deltas we lack firm independent proxy climate evidence needed to assess whether these moraines formed because of cold younger dryas climate rather than because of controls such as topographic setting and water depth but climatic control seems probable the moraines evidently retain glacier ice cores as do most similarly

expanded late wisconsinan ice cap and ice sheet margins in the western queen elizabeth islands arctic canada abstract recent mapping of surficial geology and geomorphology in the western canadian high arctic melville and eglinton islands together with new radiocarbon dates acquired from ice contact raised marine sediments document expanded late wisconsinan ice limits for the northwest laurentide ice sheet and the western innuitian ice sheet an extension of the northwestern margin of the laurentide ice sheet onto eglinton island is proposed based on evidence from till containing erratics derived from the canadian shield and a pattern of meltwater channels indicating ice retreat offshore into m clure strait expansion of the western melville island ice cap part of the western lowland sector of the innuitian ice sheet to its offshore late wisconsinan limit was facilitated by coalescence with the laurentide ice sheet whose buttressing allowed thickening to occur estimates of ice extent and thickness 500 m of the western melville island ice cap are in agreement with high marine limits 70 m asl lateral and proglacial meltwater channels moraines and glaciomarine glaciolacustrine and glaciofluvial deposits indicate radial retreat of the western melville island ice cap onto central highlands after 13 0 cal ka bp older marine limit shorelines on southern eglinton island 13 6 cal ka bp are broadly synchronous with the early and rapid deglaciation of other areas formerly glaciated by the northwestern laurentide ice sheet to the southeast and southwest 14 2 13 6 cal ka bp the collapse of the northwest laurentide ice sheet in m clure strait beginning at 14 2 cal ka bp in addition to prior inferred thinning opens the possibility that it made a significant contribution to meltwater pulse 1a

terrestrial record of laurentide ice sheet reorganization during heinrich events the glacial stratigraphy and geomorphology of the western lake superior region record a complex sequence of late wisconsinan ice advances and retreats of the laurentide ice sheet from accumulation centers in quebec and hudson bay geomorphic evidence indicates that three major late wisconsinan events occurred each marked by gradual buildup of ice formation of a prominent moraine and subsequent rapid ice retreat the established radiocarbon chronology indicates that these three events culminated ca 23 21 16 15 5 and 13 14c ka indicating that major glacial advances culminated immediately prior to heinrich events h 2 and h 1 and that ice underwent rapid retreat during heinrich events the possible linkage between western lake superior region ice dynamics and heinrich events is supported by the presence of indicator rock types in drift associated with each major glacial recession these indicators suggest that progressive southward shifts of the laurentide ice sheet ice divide accompanied each rapid glacial recession furthermore lithologic evidence indicates that there were two episodes of ice divide shifts one 400 600 km occurring during h 2 and a smaller shift occurring during h 1

late holocene coastal change in the southwestern cape south africa abstract radiocarbon dated elevated marine deposits and the record of anthropogenic and natural debris in archaeological deposits on the west coast of south africa indicate that significant coastal remodelling has taken place in the past 4300 years in response to sea level change geological and archaeological investigation of elevated deposits of sub fossil shell abandoned lagoons and washover bars has shown that many of these features relate to a mid holocene high stand of the sea of about 2 3 m above modern mean sea level the detailed course of local late holocene sea level change cannot be resolved from these elevated geological deposits but information from archaeological sites provides valuable indirect evidence of the effects of coastal change in response to minor fluctuations in relative sea level

geomorphological criteria for identifying pleistocene ice streams ice streams are critical regulatory mechanisms in contemporary ice sheets it has been inferred that they also had a significant effect on the dynamics of former ice sheets subsequently many people have invoked their widespread occurrence from a variety of formerly glaciated areas hypothesised locations however have often outweighed meaningful evidence this paper addresses the problem using the characteristics of contemporary ice streams as a basis for their identification from former ice sheet beds a convergence of knowledge gained from contemporary ice stream research coupled with theories of glacial geomorphology allows several geomorphological criteria to be identified as suggestive signatures of ice stream activity it is envisaged that the geomorphological criteria developed here will introduce a more objective approach to the study of former ice streams the criteria are used to construct conceptual land system models of the beds of former ice streams and it is hoped such models can provide an observational template upon which hypotheses of former ice streams can be better based

thermodynamics of basal freeze on predicting basal and subglacial signatures of stopped ice streams and interstream ridges we have constructed a numerical model that simulates the response of subglacial sediments to basal freeze on the model is set up to emulate the basal zone of drilling sites in the ross sea sector of thewest antarctic ice sheet we treatbasal freeze on atanice sedimentinterfaceasathermodynamicprocessthatcouplestheflowofwater heat and solutes inunfrozensubglacial sedimentsunderlyinga freezingicebase thecouplingof these flows occurs through the clapeyron equation which specifies the dependence of the basal freezing melting temperature on ice pressure water pressure solute concentration and surface tension effects thermally driven water flow is induced when an ice base becomes supercooled below the pressure melting point because ice water surface tension inhibits ice growth in small pore spaces of fine grained subglacial sediments our model results show that basal freeze on is capable of inducing considerable changes in the basal zone of both ice streams and interstream ridges these changes are associated with specific signatures that compare with borehole observations and geophysical surveys water pres sure levels are reduced and thick layers of debris laden basal ice develop these basal ice layers andunderlying sedimentscontain a distinct isotopic signal the predicted stable iso tope ratios reflect rayleigh type isotopic fractionation whose significance increases with increasing freezing rates supercooling of the ice base induces also measurable changes in the ice temperature profile of the glacier till porosity represents another quantity whose evolution is influenced strongly by basal freeze on in particular measurements of vertical porositydistributionbeneathstoppedicestreamscouldbeusedtoback calculatethetiming of the onsetof basal freezing our modelresults show thatthebasal zoneof ice streams and interstream ridges responds sensitively to changes inbasal melting freezing rates this sen sitivity may allow reconstruction of past conditions beneath ice streams and interstream ridges from measurements made on basal ice samples and subglacial sediment samples our model resultsalso indicate thatmeltwater from fast flowing ice streams may be driven towardsthe freezing icebase of interstream ridges

ice streams in the laurentide ice sheet identification characteristics and comparison to modern ice sheets this paper presents a comprehensive review and synthesis of ice streams in the laurentide ice sheet lis based on a new mapping inventory that includes previously hypothesised ice streams and includes a concerted effort to search for others from across the entire ice sheet bed the inventory includes 117 ice streams which have been identified based on a variety of evidence including their bedform imprint large scale geomorphology topography till properties and ice rafted debris in ocean sediment records despite uncertainty in identifying ice streams in hard bedrock areas it is unlikely that any major ice streams have been missed during the last glacial maximum laurentide ice streams formed a drainage pattern that bears close resemblance to the present day velocity patterns in modern ice sheets large ice streams had extensive onset zones and were fed by multiple tributaries and where ice drained through regions of high relief the spacing of ice streams shows a degree of spatial self organisation which has hitherto not been recognised topography exerted a primary control on the location of ice streams but there were large areas along the western and southern margin of the ice sheet where the bed was composed of weaker sedimentary bedrock and where networks of ice streams switched direction repeatedly and probably over short time scales as the ice sheet retreated onto its low relief interior several ice streams show no correspondence with topography or underlying geology perhaps facilitated by localised build up of pressurised subglacial meltwater they differed from most other ice stream tracks in having much lower length to width ratios and have no modern analogues there have been very few attempts to date the initiation and cessation of ice streams but it is clear that ice streams switched on and off during deglaciation rather than maintaining the same trajectory as the ice margin retreated we provide a first order estimate of changes in ice stream activity during deglaciation and show that around 30 of the margin was drained by ice streams at the lgm similar to that for present day antarctic ice sheets but this decreases to 15 and 12 at 12 cal ka bp and 10 cal ka bp respectively the extent to which these changes in the ice stream drainage network represent a simple and predictable readjustment to a changing mass balance driven by climate or internal ice dynamical feedbacks unrelated to climate or both is largely unknown and represents a key area for future work to address

flow dynamics and till genesis associated with a marine based antarctic palaeo ice stream geophysical and geological data indicate that during the last glacial cycle a palaeo ice stream drained the antarctic peninsula ice sheet apis through marguerite bay to the edge of the continental shelf via a bathymetric trough marguerite trough mega scale glacial lineations msgl in outer marguerite trough are formed in an acoustically transparent sediment unit consisting of a soft deformation till the association of msgl with deformation till indicates that bed deformation occurred beneath the ice stream and the thickness of the subglacial deforming layer was on the order of several metres msgl within outer marguerite trough are related to a pre existing thick sequence of soft sediments on the outer shelf and are inferred to have formed by a combination of subglacial sediment deformation by attenuation from a point source and groove ploughing morphologically the msgl differ in several respects from those documented elsewhere and this variation suggests a polygenetic origin for this subglacial landform an initial advance of the apis across the marguerite bay continental shelf at the lgm deposited a stiff subglacial till following this advance the ice margin within marguerite trough retreated 70 100 km before stabilising and depositing a grounding zone wedge an ice stream then developed in the trough and extended to the shelf edge forming a soft deformation till development of the ice stream may have been a glacio dynamic response to regional deglaciation subsequent retreat of the marguerite trough ice stream was underway by 13 490 uncorrected 14c years before present based on the geophysical and core data ice stream retreat appears to have been rapid and it contrasts with reconstructions of palaeo ice streams from other locations in antarctica this implies marked regional variations in antarctic ice stream dynamics during late quaternary deglaciation

switch of flow direction in an antarctic ice stream fast flowing ice streams transport ice from the interior of west antarctica to the ocean and fluctuations in their activity control the mass balance of the ice sheet the mass balance of the ross sea sector of the west antarctic ice sheet is now positive that is it is growing mainly because one of the ice streams ice stream c slowed down about 150 years ago1 here we present evidence from both surface measurements and remote sensing that demonstrates the highly dynamic nature of the ross drainage system we show that the flow in an area that once discharged into ice stream c has changed direction now draining into the whillans ice stream formerly ice stream b this switch in flow direction is a result of continuing thinning of the whillans ice stream and recent thickening of ice stream c further abrupt reorganization of the activity and configuration of the ice streams over short timescales is to be expected in the future as the surface topography of the ice sheet responds to the combined effects of internal dynamics and long term climate change we suggest that caution is needed when using observations of short term mass changes to draw conclusions about the large scale mass balance of the ice sheet

development of the topography controlled upper odra ice lobe scandinavian ice sheet in the fore mountain area of southern poland during the saalian glaciation abstract during the saalian drenthe glaciation the upper odra ice lobe constituted the most southern part of the scandinavian ice sheet in central europe the lobe was situated in an area with varied topography in the foreland of a mountain range the ice lobe had a complex form because it was subdivided into several smaller sublobes the primary factors that controlled the lobe were investigated it was found that the ice lobe development depended largely on the topography but the lithology of the ice sheet substratum was also highly important the topography controlled the main movement direction of the ice and caused a concentration of the ice flow in the axial part of the silesian lowland between subglacial morphological barriers which thereby formed a corridor of relatively fast flowing ice which was probably streaming and which supplied the lobe the topography also determined the ice flow within the lobe which strongly matched the valley system the presence of sediments with relatively low permeability at the base of the lobe the quaternary deposits are underlain by neogene clays caused high pore water pressure in the subglacial zone and triggered the basal movement of the ice sheet which promoted a rapid flow of the ice and favoured the development of the lobe the basal tills deposited from the active and passive ice and extant till patches without a fluvioglacial cover atop some parts of the studied area indicate spatially varying ice flow dynamics especially in the later stage of glaciation certain parts of the lobe underwent stagnation while in other parts the ice was probably still active the varied behaviour of the ice within the lobe was determined primarily by the topography and lithology of the substratum which produced spatially varied marginal compression and basal friction a model of the development of the lobe is proposed

extent and basal characteristics of the m clintock channel ice stream abstract the m clintock channel palaeo ice stream drained the northwestern margin victoria island arctic canada of the laurentide ice sheet functioning for 200 years prior to 10 ka bp from its bed imprint it is reconstructed as 720 140 km with a cross sectional area of 100 km2 comparable in size to the hudson strait ice stream it drained an estimated 80 000 km3 of ice enough to significantly affect the shrinking ice sheet and drive the keewatin ice divide south eastwards such discharges likely produced heinrich events and influenced the temperature and salinity of the western arctic ocean ice stream location was controlled by a topographic trough but glaciological regulation rather than properties of the bed controlled margin locations and hence ice stream width the ice stream eroded into pre existing unconsolidated sediments and left a pattern of subglacially produced landforms recording a snapshot view of the bed prior to shutdown frictional shutdown occurred once downcutting through sediments reached bedrock in places high sediment availability appears critical for ice stream functioning with a drift thickness of 50 m required to sustain its 200 year lifespan debris discharge was exceptionally high 73 000 m3 a 1 m 1 this ice stream demonstrates non steady response of ice sheets to climate change and their large impact on mass balance and stability of ice sheets

seismotectonics of the fiji plateau and lau basin abstract focal mechanism solutions of shallow earthquakes in the fiji plateau and lau basin provide significant contributions to the understanding of the recent tectonic movements beneath these marginal seas left lateral shear zones are identified on the linear shallow seismic zone extending from north of the fiji islands to the northern end of the lau basin in the central area of the fiji plateau and in the northern part of the lau basin nearly nw se trending opening tectonics is suggested nearly e w striking compressional tectonics is inferred near the western edge of the hazel holme fracture zone

rapid changes in ice discharge from greenland outlet glaciers using satellite derived surface elevation and velocity data we found major short term variations in recent ice discharge and mass loss at two of greenland s largest outlet glaciers their combined rate of mass loss doubled in less than a year in 2004 and then decreased in 2006 to near the previous rates likely as a result of fast re equilibration of calving front geometry after retreat total mass loss is a fraction of concurrent gravity derived estimates pointing to an alternative source of loss and the need for high resolution observations of outlet dynamics and glacier geometry for sea level rise predictions

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

a flowline map of glaciated canada based on remote sensing datathis paper is accompanied by a large foldout map entitled a flowline map of glaciated canada based on remote sensing data see pocket on back cover the map a flowline map of glaciated canada based on remote sensing data presents flowlines for the former laurentide and cordilleran ice sheets based on flow indicators derived from aggregated flo

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

multibeam bathymetric and sediment profiler evidence for ice grounding on the chukchi borderland arctic ocean multibeam bathymetry and 3 5 khz sub bottom profiler data collected from the us icebreaker healy in 2003 provide convincing evidence for grounded ice on the chukchi borderland off the northern alaskan margin arctic ocean the data show parallel glacially induced seafloor scours or grooves and intervening ridges that reach widths of 1000 m rim to rim and as much as 40 m relief following previous authors we refer to these features as bmegascale glacial lineations msgls q additional support for ice grounding is apparent from stratigraphic unconformities interpreted to have been caused by ice induced erosion most likely the observed sea floor features represent evidence for massive ice shelf grounding the general ese wnw direction of the msgls together with sediment evidently bulldozed off the chukchi plateau that is mapped on the western siberian side of the plateau suggests ice flow from the canada basin side of chukchi borderland two separate generations of glacially derived msgls are identified on the chukchi borderland from the healy geophysical data the deepest and oldest extensive msgls appear to be draped by sediments less than 5 m thick whereas no sediment drape can be distinguished within the resolution of the sub bottom profiles on the younger generation d 2005 university of washington all rights reserved

rapid response of modern day ice sheets to external forcing abstract the great ice sheets covering antarctica and greenland were traditionally believed to take thousands of years to respond to external forcing recent observations suggest however that major changes in the dynamics of parts of the ice sheets are taking place over timescales of years these changes were not predicted by numerical models and the underlying cause s remains uncertain it has been suggested that regional oceanic and or atmospheric warming are responsible but separating the influence and importance of these two forcings has not been possible in most cases the role of atmospheric versus oceanic control remains uncertain here we review the observations of rapid change and discuss the possible mechanisms in the light of advances in numerical modelling and our understanding of the processes that may be responsible

north american ice sheet build up during the last glacial cycle 115 21 kyr the last glacial maximum lgm outline and subsequent retreat pattern 21e7 kyr of north americanice sheets are reasonably well established however the evolution of the ice sheets during their build upphase towards the lgm between 115 and 21 kyr has remained elusive making it difficult to verifynumerical ice sheet models for this important time interval in this paper we outline the pre lgm icesheet evolution of the laurentide and cordilleran ice sheets by using glacial geological and geomorphologicalrecords to make a first order reconstruction of ice sheet extent and flow pattern we mappedthe entire area covered by the laurentide and cordilleran ice sheets in landsat mss images andapproximately 40 of this area in higher resolution landsat etm images mapping in aerial photographsadded further detail primarily in quebec labrador the cordilleran region and on baffin island our analysis includes the recognition of approximately 500 relative age relationships from crosscuttinglineations together with previously published striae and till fabric data these are used as the basis forrelative age assignments of regional flow patterns for the reconstruction of the most probable ice sheetevolution sequence we employ a stepwise inversion scheme with a clearly defined strategy for delineatingcoherent landforms swarms reflecting flow direction and configuration and linking these topreviously published constraints on relative and absolute chronology our results reveal that icedispersalcentres in keewatin and quebec were dynamically independent for most of pre lgm time andthat a massive quebec dispersal centre rivalling the lgm in extent existed at times when the sw sectorof the ice sheet had not yet developed the oldest flow system in eastern quebec labrador atlanticswarm had an ice divide closer to the labrador coast than later configurations a northern keewatin central arctic ice sheet existed prior to the lgm but is poorly chronologically constrained there is alsoevidence for older and more easterly cordilleran ice sheet divide locations than those that prevailedduring the late wisconsinan in terms of ice sheet build up dynamics it appears that residual ice capsafter warming phases may have played an important role in particular the location and size of remnantice masses at the end of major interstadials i e ois 5c and 5a must have been critical for subsequentbuild up patterns because such remnant uplands may have fostered much more rapid ice sheetgrowth than what would have occurred on a fully deglaciated terrain the ice sheet configuration duringstadials would also be governed largely by the additional topography that such residual ice constitutesbecause of inherent mass balance topography feedbacks

subglacial bedform evidence for a major palaeo ice stream and its retreat phases in amundsen gulf canadian arctic archipelago ascertaining the location of palaeo ice streams is crucial in order to produce accurate reconstructions of palaeo ice sheets and examine interactions with the ocean climate system this paper reports evidence for a major ice stream in amundsen gulf canadian arctic archipelago mapping from satellite imagery landsat etm and digital elevation models including bathymetric data is used to reconstruct flow patterns on southwestern victoria island and the adjacent mainland nunavut and northwest territories several flow sets indicative of ice streaming are found feeding into the marine trough and cross cutting relationships between these flow sets and utilising previously published radiocarbon dates reveal several phases of ice stream activity centred in amundsen gulf and dolphin and union strait a large erosional footprint on the continental shelf indicates that the ice stream ca 1000 km long and ca 150 km wide filled amundsen gulf probably at the last glacial maximum subsequent to this the ice stream reorganised as the margin retreated back along the marine trough eventually splitting into two separate low gradient lobes in prince albert sound and dolphin and union strait the location of this major ice stream holds important implications for ice sheet ocean interactions and specifically the development of arctic ocean ice shelves and the delivery of icebergs into the western arctic ocean during the late pleistocene copyright c 2006 john wiley sons ltd

revisiting late holocene sea level change from the gilbert islands kiribati west central pacific ocean new coral microatoll data allow presenting an updated late holocene sea level curve for the gilbert islands of kiribati examination of build up elevation and spatial distribution of microatolls along with radiocarbon age data from coral samples suggest an approximately 1 m sea level high stand possibly lasting from 3500 to 1900 cal yr bp our sea level curve which is similar to the one reported from the marshall islands is a baseline to reconstruct the evolution of reef flats and reef islands in addition it provides important contextual data to infer human settlement on islands in the west central pacific

ice stream flow switching during deglaciation of the southwestern barents sea ice streams dominate the discharge of continental ice sheets recent observations and reconstructions have revealed that large scale reorganizations in their flow trajectory flow switching can occur over relatively short time scales however the underlying causes of such behavior and the extent to which they are predictable are poorly known this paper documents a major episode of ice stream flow switching during the late weichselian deglaciation of the southwestern barents sea and explores various hypotheses for its causation regional bathymetric data show that two ice streams that had similar adjoining topographically constrained source areas had very different trajectories and dynamics on the outer shelf at the late weichselian maximum the hakjerringdjupet ice stream flowed westward along the cross shelf trough of hakjerringdjupet while the soroya trough ice stream flowed northward into ingoydjupet forming a tributary of the bjornoyrenna ice stream initial retreat of the hakjerringdjupet ice stream was rapid but with episodic periods of grounding as it retreated onto the higher rougher topography of the inner shelf we infer a reduction in ice velocity and a dramatic decrease in the pace of retreat as recorded by nested sequences of recessional moraines following and probably in response to this we suggest that there was a short lived surge readvance of an adjacent lobe onto fugloybanken in contrast the adjacent soroya trough ice stream remained active throughout deglaciation before retreating rapidly with no stillstands or readvances we argue that the different retreat histories of the ice streams were determined by variations in bed topography bathymetry which modulated the grounding line response to sea level variation such a mechanism is likely to be an important control on the long term behavior of marine based ice streams and outlet glaciers in antarctica and greenland and suggests that gathering data on their subglacial topography should be a priority

observed velocity fluctuations on a major antarctic ice stream most of the antarctic ice sheet is drained by systems comprising an area of slow sheet flow which converges into a much faster valley glacier or ice stream on reaching the coast this ice then either enters an ice shelf confined by embayments and ice rises or calves off into the ocean the higher speed of ice streams enables them to respond to changes in their environment faster than the slower ice sheet in the west antarctic where the ice sheet moves across bedrock well below sea level the ice streams have the potential to rapidly increase or decrease the ice discharge into the sea1 the timescale for these changes has been placed at a few hundred years if this is true then changes should be detectable by careful measurements on a decadal timescale by comparing recent ice velocity measurements with those collected ten years ago we establish that the ice in the mouth of ice stream b has decelerated by 20 we discuss the possible causes of this deceleration on the basis of our knowledge of the current regional dynamics and the possible ramifications of this deceleration on future ice stream behaviour

late pleistocene and holocene sea level change in the australian region and mantle rheology summary spatial and temporal variations in sea level are produced by the melting of the late pleistocene ice and by the earth s response to the redistribution in surface loads by examining different parts of the sea level curves of the past 20 000 yr from geographically widely distributed regions it becomes possible to constrain models of the melting history of the ice sheets and of the earth s rheology observations from sites away from the former arctic ice sheets such as the australian and south pacific region are particularly important for constraining the total meltwater volumes added into the oceans in the past 20 000 yr and the rates at which this occurred these observations indicate that the antarctic ice sheets provided a significant contribution to the sea level rise at a rate that was approximately synchronous with the melting of the laurentide ice sheet except for the interval 9000 6000 yr ago when it may have lagged behind minor melting of the antarctic ice sheet appears to have continued throughout the late holocene differential observations of the late holocene sea level change recorded at sites in the same region are particularly useful for estimating parameters describing the earth s non elastic response to surface loading the effective parameters used here are a lithospheric thickness an upper mantle viscosity and a lower mantle viscosity describing the response below 670 km depth with the observations used here it is not possible to separate the lithospheric thickness h from the upper mantle viscosity and the viscosity results are based on the assumption that 50 h 100 km neither do these observations provide a resolution of the depth dependence of viscosity in the upper mantle and the resulting estimates are effective parameters only differential sea levels along continental margins and along the shores of large gulfs and bays constrain the effective upper mantle viscosity to be about 1 2 1020 pa s 1 while differential values from islands of different sizes are suggestive of a somewhat lower value the lower mantle taken to be below 670 km depth viscosity is about two orders of magnitude greater than this the estimated ice and rheological models explain many of the holocene sea level observations throughout the australian and southern pacific region the tilting of continental margins as exemplified by observations of variable amplitudes of the holocene high stands and the variable times at which sea levels first reached their present level along the north queensland coast and great barrier reef is well represented by these models differential holocene sea levels observed along the narrow spencers gulf of south australia are also well explained by the models and in neither case is it necessary to invoke tectonic motions predicted late holocene sea levels at small to medium sized islands are characterized by small amplitude high stands that reached their maximum values about 4000 2000 yr ago consistent with observations from the society cook and tuamotu islands

contrasting glacial interglacial regimes in the western arctic ocean as exemplified by a sedimentary record from the mendeleev ridge distinct cyclicity in lithology and microfaunal distribution in sediment cores from the mendeleev ridge in the western arctic ocean water depths ca 1 5 km reflects contrasting glacial interglacial sedimentary patterns we conclude that during major glaciations extremely thick pack ice or ice shelves covered the western arctic ocean and its circulation was restricted in comparison with interglacial modern type conditions glacier collapse events are marked in sediment cores by increased contents of ice rafted debris notably by spikes of detrital carbonates and iron oxide grains from the canadian arctic archipelago composition of foraminiferal calcite n 18 o and n 13 c also shows strong cyclicity indicating changes in freshwater balance and or ventilation rates of the arctic ocean light stable isotopic spikes characterize deglacial events such as the last deglaciation at ca 12 14 c kyr bp the prolonged period with low n 18 o and n 13 c values and elevated contents of iron oxide grains from the canadian archipelago in the lower part of the mendeleev ridge record is interpreted to signify the pooling of freshwater in the amerasia basin possibly in relation to an extended glaciation in arctic north america unique benthic foraminiferal events provide a means for an independent stratigraphic correlation of sedimentary records from the mendeleev ridge and other mid depth locations throughout the arctic ocean such as the northwind and lomonosov ridges this correlation demonstrates the disparity of existing age models and underscores the need to establish a definitive chronostratigraphy for arctic ocean sediments 2003 elsevier b v all rights reserved

dynamics of the north american ice sheet complex during its inception and build up to the last glacial maximum the north american ice sheet complex played a major role in global sea level fluctuations during the late quaternary but our knowledge of its dynamics is based mostly on its demise from the last glacial maximum lgm a period characterised by non linear behaviour in the form of punctuated ice margin recession episodic ice streaming and major shifts in the location of ice divides in comparison knowledge of the pre lgm ice complex is poorly constrained largely because of the fragmentary nature of the evidence relating to ice sheet build up in this paper we explore the inception and growth of ice 120 20 ka using a glacial systems model which has been calibrated against a large and diverse set of data relating to the deglacial interval we make use of calibration data prior to the lgm but its scarcity introduces greater uncertainty which is partly alleviated by our large ensemble analysis results suggest that following the last interglaciation oxygen isotope stage ois 5e the ice complex initiated over the north eastern canadian arctic and in the cordillera within a few thousand years it then underwent rapid growth to an ois 5 maximum at 110 ka 5d and covered 70 of the area occupied by the lgm ice cover although only 30 by volume an ois 5 minimum is modelled at 80 ka 5a before a second phase of rapid growth at the start of ois 4 which culminated in a large ice complex at 65 ka almost as large as at the lgm subsequent deglaciation was rapid maximum modelled sea level contribution of 16 cm per century and resulted in an ois 3 minimum between ca 55 60 ka thereafter the ice complex grew towards its lgm configuration interrupted by several phases of successively less significant mass loss our results support and extend previous inferences based on geological evidence and reinforce the notion of a highly dynamic pre lgm ice complex e g with episodes of 10 s m of eustatic sea level equivalent in 50 but even the thin ois 5 ice sheets exhibit fast flow features several 1000 m a 1 in major topographic troughs notwithstanding the severe limitations imposed by the use of the shallow ice approximation we note that most fast flow features generated prior to the lgm correspond to the location of known ice streams during deglaciation i e in major topographic troughs and over soft sediments at the southern and western margins moreover the modelled flux of these ice streams sensu lato appears to be non linearly scaled to ice sheet volume i e there is no evidence that decay phases were associated with significantly increased ice stream activity this hypothesis requires testing using a model with higher order physics and future modelling would also benefit from additional pre lgm constraints e g dated ice free margin positions to help reduce and quantify uncertainties

a highly mobile laurentide ice sheet revealed by satellite images of glacial lineations satellite images of the north american continent reveal previously unrecognized patterns of crossing drift lineations reflecting unexpected shifts of centres of mass of the laurentide ice sheet throughout the last glacial cycle such shifts must must have been associated with major global atmospheric circulation changes

far field test of the ice 4g model of global isostatic response to deglaciation using empirical and theoretical holocene sea level reconstructions for the fiji islands southwestern pacific holocene paleosea level data for fiji represented by 77 dates and emergence magnitudes are presented screened and adjusted most data are from coral microatolls potentially the most precise paleosea level indicators in this region holocene sea level changes are reconstructed for five areas within fiji known to have had different late quaternary tectonic histories resulting analysis suggests that postglacial sea level in fiji reached its present level more than 6900 14c yr b p it also suggests either that a single maximum 5650 3200 14c yr b p perhaps 2 19 m but more likely 1 35 1 50 m occurred or that two maxima occurred 6100 4550 14c yr b p 0 75 1 85 m and 3590 2800 14c yr b p 0 90 2 46 m broad agreement exists between these empirical sea level reconstructions and those derived theoretically using the ice 4g model predicted maximum 4000 14c yr b p 2 1 m this suggests that both methods of reconstructing holocene sea level changes are valid as are the assumptions underpinning the ice 4g model the most important of these that eustatic sea level had effectively stopped rising by late middle holocene time 5000 4000 yr b p is confirmed by observations from fiji

paleoshoreline record of relative holocene sea levels on pacific islands abstract understanding the history of relative holocene sea levels on pacific islands is important for constraining fundamental geodynamic theories interpreting the environments of early human occupation sites and forecasting future environmental conditions on the islands an observational paleoshoreline record is provided by emergent paleoshoreline indicators formed at higher relative sea levels hence standing at higher elevations than modern counterparts emergent paleoshoreline notches in limestone seacliffs record paleo high tide levels and emergent paleoreef flats record paleo low tide levels whereas emergent paleobeachrock locally records paleo intertidal levels both paleonotches and paleoreefs occur along the coasts of high standing islands exposing volcanic bedrock and uplifted reef complexes but low lying coralline atolls lack sufficient relief to preserve paleonotches controls on relative holocene sea level include global eustatic and regional hydro isostatic changes in ambient sea level relative to island landmasses and shifts in the elevations of islands relative to sea level caused by thermal subsidence of the oceanic lithosphere or thermally rejuvenated loci of hotspot volcanism by flexure of the lithosphere under the load of growing volcanic edifices hawaii samoa society islands by arching of the lithosphere over trench forebulges loyalty islands niue bellona rennell and by tectonism within forearc belts between active volcanic chains and trenches mariana islands tonga vanuatu the dominant pattern of relative sea level change where not overprinted by local tectonism or lithospheric flexure was a uniform early holocene rise in eustatic sea level followed by a regionally variable late holocene hydro isostatic drawdown in sea level the resultant was a mid holocene highstand in relative sea level that affected the development of shoreline morphology throughout the tropical pacific ocean the earliest human migrations into intra oceanic island groups of both the northwestern and southwestern pacific ocean followed close on the heels of the mid holocene sea level highstand and took advantage of newly attractive coastal environments engendered by sea level drawdown the effects of the mid holocene highstand were modified to varying degrees in different island groups by geodynamic uplift or subsidence

palaeoglaciology of an ice sheet through a glacial cycle the european ice sheet through the weichselian abstract satellite images provide unique means of identifying large scale flow generated lineations produced by former ice sheets they can be interpreted to reconstruct the major elements which make up the integrated large scale structure of ice sheets ice divides ice streams interstream ridges ice shelves calving bays the evolving palaeoglaciological structure of the european ice sheet during its decay from the last glacial maximum lgm is reconstructed by reference to these components and in the context of a new map showing isochrons of retreat during the retreat phase in particular the time dependent dynamic evolution of the ice sheet and the pattern of ice stream development are reconstructed crossing lineations are widespread the older ones are suggested to have formed during molten bed phases of ice sheet growth and preserved by frozen bed conditions during the glacial maximum particularly in areas which lay during deglaciation beneath ice divides and inter ice stream ridges both areas of slow flow and possibly frozen bed conditions four phases of growth a1 to a4 and five phases of decay r1 to r5 are used to describe the major climatically and dynamically determined stages in the evolution of the ice sheet through the last glacial cycle the growth and decay patterns are quite different and associated with major shifts in the ice divide reflecting growth from the fennoscandian mountains and decay away from marine influenced margins these patterns were determined by the locations of nucleation areas spatial patterns of climate and calving at marine margins the prevalence of streaming within the retreating ice sheet suggests that the mean elevation of the ice sheet was lower than predicted from glaciological models which do not include streaming and that this might reconcile glaciological models and earth rheology models which infer paleao ice sheet thickness by inverting sea level data

reconstruction of palaeo ice sheets the use of geomorphological data the article discusses the nature of the glacial inversion problem which is defined as the extraction of time slice ice sheet flow patterns from the patchy and partly overprinted landform record present in former ice sheet areas a coherent inversion model for derivation of flow patterns and interior ice sheet configuration from geomorphological data is presented glacial landscapes are classified according to the three criteria of internal age gradients presence or absence of meltwater traces aligned to flow traces and basal condition frozen bed thawed bed inferred from morphology the inversion model uses landscapes classified accordingly spatially delineated into fans as input data relative chronologies at fan intersections are used to sort fans in a relative age stack that can be linked to stratigraphic dating information

late pleistocene and holocene meltwater events in the western arctic ocean accelerator mass spectrometer 14 c dated stable isotope data from neogloboquadrina pachyerma in cores raised from the mendeleyev ridge and slope provide evidence for significant influx of meltwater to the western arctic ocean during the early part of marine oxygen isotope stage 1 ois 1 and during several intervals within ois 3 the strongest ois 3 meltwater event occurred before ca 45 ka conventional radiocarbon age and was probably related to the deglaciation at the beginning of ois 3 major meltwater input to the western arctic ocean during the last deglaciation coincides closely with the maximum rate of global sea level rise as determined from the barbados sea level record demonstrating a strong link between the global record and changes in the central arctic ocean ois 2 which includes the last glacial maximum is very condensed or absent in the cores abundance and 13 c values for n pachyderma in the middle part of ois 3 are similar to modern values indicating high productivity and seasonal ice free areas along the arctic margin at that time these records indicate that the arctic ocean was a source of heat and moisture to the northern polar atmosphere during parts of ois 3

durations and propagation patterns of ice sheet instability events continued atmospheric and ocean warming places parts of the west antarctic ice sheet at risk for collapse through accelerated ice flow and grounding line retreat over reversed bed slopes however

lithospheric thickness antarctic deglaciation history and ocean basin discretization effects in a global model of postglacial sea level change a summary of some sources of nonuniqueness the global model of postglacial relative sea level variations that has been developed over the past decade is employed to investigate the constraints that it may be invoked to place on the timing of the deglaciation of west antarctica the analyses presented here confirm the suggestion of p wu and w r peltier 1983 geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society74 377 450 that the model of this event employed inj a clark and c s lingle 1979quaternary research11 279 298 may be simply modified to rectify the misfits between theory and observation that are otherwise obtained at southern hemisphere sites a large number of southern hemisphere relative sea level data are shown to require that the retreat of antarctic ice substantially lagged the retreat of northern hemisphere ice if the deglaciation of antarctica was abrupt the time of onset of antarctic deglaciation is thereby shown to coincide with the time of most rapid northern hemisphere deglaciation sensitivity tests are performed which demonstrate that this result is relatively insensitive to the discretization employed to represent the ocean basins the only exception to this general rule obtains at some coastal sites at which a trade off is revealed between the delay of west antarctic melting and the thickness of the lithosphere required to reconcile the observed local variations of relative sea level at such sites which are all in the far field of the ice sheets some attention must be paid to the accuracy of the local finite element representation of the oceans and to the details of the antarctic deglaciation history

fennoscandian palaeoglaciology reconstructed using a glacial geological inversion model the evolution of ice sheet configuration and flow pattern in fennoscandia through the last glacial cycle was reconstructed using a glacial geological inversion model i e a theoretical model that formalises the procedure of using the landform record to reconstruct ice sheets the model uses mapped flow traces and deglacial melt water landforms as well as relative chronologies derived from cross cutting striae and till lineations as input data flow trace systems were classified into four types i time transgressive wet bed deglacial fans ii time transgressive frozen bed deglacial fans iii surge fans and iv synchronous non deglacial event fans using relative chronologies and aggregation of fans into glaciologically plausible patterns a series of ice sheet configurations at different time slices was erected a chronology was constructed through correlation with dated stratigraphical records and proxy data reflecting global ice volume geological evidence exists for several discrete ice sheet configurations centred over the scandinavian mountain range during the early weichselian the build up of the main weichselian fennoscandian ice sheet started at approximately 70 ka and our results indicate that it was characterised by an ice sheet with a centre of mass located over southern norway this configuration had a flow pattern which is poorly reproduced by current numerical models of the fennoscandian ice sheet at the last glacial maximum the main ice divide was located overthe gulf of bothnia a major bend in the ice divide was caused by outflow of ice to the northwest over the lowest part of the scandinavian mountain chain widespread areas of preserved pre late weichselian landscapes indicate that the ice sheet had a frozen bed core area which was only partly diminished in size by inward transgressive wet bed zones during the decay phase

submarine landforms and the reconstruction of fast flowing ice streams within a large quaternary ice sheet the 2500 km long norwegian svalbard margin 57 80 n morphological interpretation of regional and detailed bathymetric data sets on the 2500 km long norwegian shelf from the north sea 57 n to svalbard 80 n has revealed a dynamic ice flow pattern along the western marginof the scandinavian and barents svalbard ice sheets about 20 cross shelf troughs with megascale glacial lineations msgl elongate ridges and grooves oriented parallel to trough long axes are interpreted as former pathways for fast flowing ice streams studies of large scale margin morphology and seismic profiles have identified large submarine fans at the mouths of several major cross shelf troughs less dynamic ice probably existed on shallower banks the two largest paleo ice streams were the norwegian channel ice stream and bear island trough ice stream each 150 200 km wide at the mouth the lengths of individual msgl vary from hundreds of meters to several tens of kilometers and the distance between ridges varies from 0 1 to 3 km msgl amplitudes reach 15 m but are commonly 10 m the onset of msgl and hence fast ice flow is generally close to the outer coast at the border zone between crystalline rocks and softer sedimentary rocks transverse submarine ridges on various scales commonly parallel to the shelf edge reflect either the maximum ice sheet position or the recessional pattern of the ice sheet lateral ice stream moraines several tens of kilometers long have also been mapped along the sides of several cross shelf troughs identifying the border zone between fast ice flow and stagnant or slow flowing ice on intervening banks

controls on bedrock bedform development beneath the uummannaq ice stream onset zone west greenland this paper investigates the controls on the formation of subglacially eroded bedrock bedforms beneath the topographically confined region upstream of the uummannaq ice stream uis during the last glacial cycle palaeoglaciological conditions are believed to have been similar for all sites in the study characterised by thick fast flowing ice moving over a rigid bedrock bed classic bedrock bedforms indicative of glacially eroded terrain were mapped including p forms roches moutonnees and whalebacks bedform long axes and plucked face orientations display close correlation parallel and perpendicular to palaeo ice flow directions inferred from striae measurements across all sites elongation ratios length to width varied by an order of magnitude between 0 8 1 and 8 4 1 bedform properties length height width and long axis orientation from four subsample areas form morphometrically distinct populations despite their close proximity and hypothesised similarity in palaeoglaciological conditions variations in lithology and geological structures e g joint frequency joint dip joint orientation bedding plane thickness and bedding plane dip provide lines of geological weakness which focus the glacial erosion in turn controlling bedform geometries determining the relationship s between bedding plane dip relative to palaeo ice flow and bedform shape relative length amplitude and wavelength has important ramifications for understanding subglacial bed roughness cavity formation and likely erosion style quarrying and or abrasion at the ice bed interface this paper demonstrates a direct link between bedrock bedform geometries and geological structure and emphasises the need to understand bedrock bedform characteristics when reconstructing palaeoglaciological conditions

paleoglaciological insights from the age and morphology of the jesse moraine belt western canadian arctic abstract the jesse moraine belt 350 km long was deposited by the northwest laurentide ice sheet on banks and victoria islands in the western canadian arctic archipelago during the last deglaciation the moraine belt is composed of ice cored controlled moraines that contrast markedly with adjacent glacial sediments deposited during preceding ice sheet retreat more than 80 radiocarbon ages from fossil molluscs illustrate that deposition of the moraine belt was brief occurring between 13 75 and 12 75 cal ka bp the chronology demonstrates that moraine deposition was coeval with ice sheet drawdown and ice streaming on adjacent victoria island detailed geomorphic mapping demonstrates that the moraine belt is the product of a regional change in ice marginal processes this involved a predominantly cold based ice margin giving way to polythermal bed conditions which were conducive to widespread deposition of controlled moraines and ice stream bedforms the expansion of warm based thermal regimes in the northwest laurentide ice sheet followed widespread ice sheet withdrawal from m clure strait and western amundsen gulf this suggests a re equilibration of regional ice divides in response to rapidly changing ice sheet margins and surface gradients the reconstructed dynamical behavior of the northwest laurentide ice sheet provides new insights regarding ice sheet responses to late glacial climate and relative sea level change among other variables

major changes in ice stream dynamics during deglaciation of the north western margin of the laurentide ice sheet abstract victoria island lies at the north western limit of the former north american laurentide ice sheet in the canadian arctic archipelago and displays numerous cross cutting glacial lineations previous work suggests that several ice streams operated in this region during the last wisconsinan glaciation and played a major role in ice sheet dynamics and the delivery of icebergs into the arctic ocean this paper produces the first detailed synthesis of their behaviour from the last glacial maximum through to deglaciation 21 9 5 cal ka bp based on new mapping and a previously published radiocarbon constrained ice sheet margin chronology over 70 discrete ice flow events flow sets are fitted to the ice margin configuration to allow identification of several ice streams ranging in size from large and long lived thousands of years to much smaller and short lived hundreds of years the reconstruction depicts major ice streams in m clure strait and amundsen gulf which underwent relatively rapid retreat from the continental shelf edge at some time between 15 2 and 14 1 cal ka bp a period which encompasses climatic warming and rapid sea level rise meltwater pulse 1a following this overall retreat was slower and the ice streams exhibited asynchronous behaviour the amundsen gulf ice stream continued to operate during ice margin retreat whereas the m clure strait ice stream ceased operating and was replaced by an ice divide within 1000 years this ice divide was subsequently obliterated by another short lived phase of ice streaming in m clintock channel 13 cal ka bp the timing of this large ice discharge event coincides with the onset of the younger dryas subsequently a minor ice divide developed once again in m clintock channel before final deglaciation of the island shortly after 9 5 cal ka bp it is concluded that large ice streams at the nw margin of the laurentide ice sheet equivalent in size to the hudson strait ice stream underwent major changes during deglaciation resulting in punctuated delivery of icebergs into the arctic ocean published radiocarbon dates constrain this punctuated delivery as far as is possible within the limits imposed by their precision and we note their coincidence with pulses of meltwater delivery inferred from numerical modelling and ocean sediment cores

accelerating late quaternary uplift of the new georgia island group solomon island arc in response to subduction of the recently active woodlark spreading center and coleman seamount abstract the new georgia island group of the solomon islands is one of four places where an active or recently active spreading ridge has subducted beneath an island arc we have used coral reef terraces paleobathymetry of neogene sedimentary rocks and existing marine geophysical data to constrain patterns of regional quaternary deformation related to subduction of the recently active woodlark spreading center and its overlying coleman seamount these combined data indicate the following vertical tectonic history for the central part of the new georgia island group 1 subsidence of the forearc region tetepare and rendova islands to water depths of 1500 m and deposition of marine turbidites until after 270 ka 2 late quaternary uplift of the forearc to sea level and erosion of an unconformity 3 subsidence of the forearc to 500 m bsl and deposition of bathyal sediments and 4 uplift of the forearc above sea level with holocene uplift rates up to at least 7 5 mm yr on tetepare and 5 mm yr on rendova in the northeastern part of the new georgia island group our combined data indicate a slightly different tectonic history characterized by lower amplitude vertical motions and a more recent change from subsidence to uplift barrier reefs formed around new georgia and vangunu islands as they subsided 300 m by 50 100 ka subsidence was replaced by uplift that accelerated to holocene rates of 1 mm yr on the volcanic arc compared with rates up to 7 5 mm yr in the forearc area of tetepare and rendova uplift mechanisms such as thermal effects due to subduction of spreading ridges tectonic erosion or underplating of deeply subducted bathymetric features are not likely to function on the 270 ka period that these uplift events have occurred in the new georgia island group a more likely uplift mechanism for the post 270 ka accelerating uplift of the forearc and volcanic arc of the new georgia island group is progressive impingement of the coleman seamount or other topographically prominent features on the subducting plate regional effects we relate to this ongoing subduction related process include 1 late quaternary post 270 ka accelerating uplift of the rendova tetepare forearc area in response to initial impingement of the coleman seamount followed by exponentially increasing collisional contact between the forearc and seamount 2 later quaternary propagation of uplift arcward to include the volcanic arc as the area of collisional contact between the forearc and seamount increased and 3 large wavelength folding that has produced regional variations in late holocene uplift rates observed in both forearc southern rendova tetepare and volcanic arc new georgia island areas we propose that the dominant tectonic effect of coleman seamount impingement is horizontal shortening of the forearc and arc crust that is produced by strong coupling between the subducting seamount and the unsedimented crystalline forearc of the new georgia island group the horizontal forces due to mechanical resistance to subducting rugged ridge and seamount topography may have terminated spreading of the woodlark spreading center entering the trench ghizo ridge and converted it to a presently active strike slip fault zone

arctic ocean glacial history while there are numerous hypotheses concerning glacial interglacial environmental and climatic regime shifts in the arctic ocean a holistic view on the northern hemisphere s late quaternary ice sh

diffuse back arc deformation in the southwestern pacific earthquake distribution and focal mechanisms from the lau and north fiji back arc basins indicate a diffuse and shear dominated system of deformation at odds with traditional plate tectonic models of lithospheric accretion in back arc basins the entire back arc region between the tonga and new hebrides arcs is more realistically modelled as a giant internally deformed pull apart basin formed along a left step in the transform boundary between the pacific and indo australian plates

why is it hard to predict the future of ice sheets ice sheet retreat hypotheses of instability could be missing important processes that limit the rate or extent of retreat or conversely ice sheet behavior is strongly influenced by processes at its margin and base observations of rapid changes at these boundaries are helping modelers to improve predictions of future changes

a conceptual model of the deglaciation of atlantic canada abstract we present a conceptual model for the deglaciation of atlantic canada in which a role is played by ice streams the ice margin lay close to the edge of the continental shelf at the last glacial maximum ice streams occupying shelf troughs comprised 1 a major ice stream in the laurentian channel 2 secondary streams in the bay of fundy gulf of maine trinity trough and notre dame channel and 3 lesser ice streams elsewhere early retreat in the northeast notre dame bay and in the southwest bay of fundy gulf of maine was mainly by calving along embayments by 18 ka radiocarbon years a calving embayment had opened on emerald basin scotian shelf retreat along channels marooned ice on intervening banks a major calving episode beginning just before 14 ka removed ice from the gulf of st lawrence triggering re advances down secondary troughs isolation of a newfoundland ice cap produced radial drainage via fiords and more extensive flow into the st george s bay lowlands on the west coast by 13 ka most ice was on land and was ablating by melting rather than calving shelf ice caps persisted until 11 ka

stagnation of ice stream c west antarctica by water piracy the dynamic behavior of the west antarctic ice sheet is of interest because of the possibility that it may change and cause rapid sea level rise attention is focused on the fast moving and rapidly responding ice streams that drain the ice sheet one of these ice stream c largely stopped about a century ago and some models for this shutdown postulate negative feedbacks that would tend to stabilize the ice sheet here new data are presented indicating that the slowdown of the ice stream is restricted to its lower part and occurred because of loss of lubrication on localized sticky spots at the bed of the ice stream the increased friction probably arises from a topographic accident of the glacier bed that has directed lubricating water to the neighboring ice stream b together with slow drawdown of the ice sheet rather than from any general stabilizing feedbacks