The Magnitude and Proximate Cause of Ice-Sheet Growth Since 35,000 yr B.P.
Abstract The magnitude of late Wisconsinan (post-35,000 yr B.P.) ice-sheet growth in the Northern Hemisphere is not well known. Ice volume at ∼35,000 yr B.P. may have been as little as 20% or as much as 70% of the volume present at the last glacial maximum (LGM). A conservative evaluation of glacial...
| Published in: | Quaternary Research |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2001
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.2001.2272 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922720?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922720?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400010334 |
| Summary: | Abstract The magnitude of late Wisconsinan (post-35,000 yr B.P.) ice-sheet growth in the Northern Hemisphere is not well known. Ice volume at ∼35,000 yr B.P. may have been as little as 20% or as much as 70% of the volume present at the last glacial maximum (LGM). A conservative evaluation of glacial–geologic, sea level, and benthic δ 18 O data indicates that ice volume at ∼35,000 yr B.P. was approximately 50% of that extant at the LGM (∼20,000 yr B.P.); that is, it doubled in about 15,000 yr. On the basis of literature for the North Atlantic and a sea-surface temperature (SST) data compilation, it appears that this rapid growth may have been forced by low-to-mid-latitude SST warming in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with attendant increased moisture transport to high latitudes. The SST ice-sheet growth notion also explains the apparent synchroneity of late Wisconsinan mountain glaciation in both hemispheres. |
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