The glacially sculptured landscape in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, formed by wet‐based mountain glaciation and not by the present ice sheet

• Published in: Boreas
• Main Authors: HOLMLUND, PER, NÄSLUND, JENS‐OVE
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1994
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; East Antarctica; Dronning Maud Land; Heimefrontfjella; Vestfjella; Maudheimvidda; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.1994.tb00594.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1502-3885.1994.tb00594.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1502-3885.1994.tb00594.x

The glacial landscape beneath the Maudheimvidda ice sheet in East Antarctica was most probably formed during a more temperate phase of Antarctic glaciation than the present. Overdeepened glacial cirques and U‐shaped valleys are found in the Heimefrontfjella and Vestfjella mountain ranges. These glacial landforms, located beneath the ice sheet, have been mapped with radio‐echo sounders. The present ice sheet covering these landforms is cold and frozen to its bed, and has a negligible erosive effect on the substrate. Ice sheet thickening during the Quaternary glacial periods is not believed to have caused any significant increase in erosion at the investigated sites. Instead, the glacial morphology was most likely formed by smaller, temperate glaciers when the Antarctic climate was warmer than at present. Datings of foraminifera and ash layers from the Transantarc‐tic Mountains indicate that the present cold ice sheet was formed 2.5 Ma years ago. Other studies imply that a cold Antarctic ice sheet has lasted even longer. The glacial landforms in Maudheimvidda may thus be of a pre‐Quaternary age.