Pleistocene Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Scherer, Reed P., Aldahan, Ala, Tulaczyk, Slawek, Possnert, Göran, Engelhardt, Hermann, Kamb, Barclay
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1998
• Subjects: Antarctic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarc*; Ice Sheet; Ice Stream B
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5373.82; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.281.5373.82

Some glacial sediment samples recovered from beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet at ice stream B contain Quaternary diatoms and up to 10 8 atoms of beryllium-10 per gram. Other samples contain no Quaternary diatoms and only background levels of beryllium-10 (less than 10 6 atoms per gram). The occurrence of young diatoms and high concentrations of beryllium-10 beneath grounded ice indicates that the Ross Embayment was an open marine environment after a late Pleistocene collapse of the marine ice sheet.