Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet
Studies of the sedimentary architecture and characteristics of the Antarctic continental margin provide clues about past ice sheet advance-retreat cycles and help improve constraints for paleo-ice dynamic models since early glacial periods. A first seismostratigraphic analysis of the Amundsen Sea Em...
Published in: | Marine Geology |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
2013
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/1/Gohl-etal_seismic-stratigraphy-ASE-shelf_Marine-Geology_2013.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868.d001 |
id |
ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:32531 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Studies of the sedimentary architecture and characteristics of the Antarctic continental margin provide clues about past ice sheet advance-retreat cycles and help improve constraints for paleo-ice dynamic models since early glacial periods. A first seismostratigraphic analysis of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf and slope of West Antarctica reveals insights into the structural architecture of the continental margin and shows stages of sediment deposition, erosion and transport reflecting the history from pre-glacial times to early glaciation and to the late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles. The shelf geometry consists of a large pre- and syn-rift basin in the middle shelf region between basement cropping out on the inner shelf and buried basement ridge and highs on the outer shelf. A subordinate basin within the large basin on the mid-shelf may be associated with motion along an early West Antarctic Rift System branch. At least 4 km of pre-glacial strata have been eroded from the present inner shelf and coastal hinterland by glacial processes. Six major sedimentary units (ASS-1 to ASS-6) separated by five major erosional unconformities (ASS-u1 to ASS-u5) are distinguished from bottom to top. Unconformity ASS-u4 results from a major truncational event by glacial advance to the middle and outer shelf, which was followed by several episodes of glacial advance and retreat as observed from smaller-scale truncational unconformities within the units above ASS-u4. Some of the eroded sediments were deposited as a progradional wedge that extends the outer shelf by 25 to 65 km oceanward of the pre-glacial shelf-break. We compare the observed seismic characteristics with those of other Antarctic shelf sequences and assign an Early Cretaceous age to bottom sedimentary unit ASS-1, a Late Cretaceous to Oligocene age to unit ASS-2, an Early to Mid-Miocene age to unit ASS-3, a Mid-Miocene age to unit ASS-4, a Late Miocene to Early Pliocene age to unit ASS-5, and a Pliocene to Pleistocene age to the top unit ASS-6. Buried grounding zone wedges in the upper part of unit ASS-5 on the outer shelf suggest pronounced warming phases and ice sheet retreats during the early Pliocene as observed for the Ross Sea shelf and predicted by paleo-ice sheet models. Our data also reveal that on the middle and outer shelf the flow-path of the Pine Island-Thwaites paleo-ice stream system has remained stationary in the central Pine Island Trough since the earliest glacial advances, which is different from the Ross Sea shelf where glacial troughs shifted more dynamically. This study and its stratigraphic constraints will serve as a basis for future drilling operations required for an improved understanding of processes and mechanisms leading to change in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, such as the contemporary thinning and grounding line retreat in the Amundsen Sea drainage sector. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gohl, Karsten Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele Larter, Robert D. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Hochmuth, Katharina Kalberg, Thomas Weigelt, Estella Davy, Bryan Kuhn, Gerhard Nitsche, Frank O. |
spellingShingle |
Gohl, Karsten Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele Larter, Robert D. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Hochmuth, Katharina Kalberg, Thomas Weigelt, Estella Davy, Bryan Kuhn, Gerhard Nitsche, Frank O. Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet |
author_facet |
Gohl, Karsten Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele Larter, Robert D. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Hochmuth, Katharina Kalberg, Thomas Weigelt, Estella Davy, Bryan Kuhn, Gerhard Nitsche, Frank O. |
author_sort |
Gohl, Karsten |
title |
Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet |
title_short |
Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet |
title_full |
Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet |
title_fullStr |
Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet |
title_sort |
seismic stratigraphic record of the amundsen sea embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: evidence for a dynamic west antarctic ice sheet |
publisher |
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/1/Gohl-etal_seismic-stratigraphy-ASE-shelf_Marine-Geology_2013.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868.d001 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-101.841,-101.841,-75.011,-75.011) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Ross Sea West Antarctica Amundsen Sea West Antarctic Ice Sheet Pine Island Trough |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Ross Sea West Antarctica Amundsen Sea West Antarctic Ice Sheet Pine Island Trough |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Pine Island Ross Sea West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Pine Island Ross Sea West Antarctica |
op_source |
EPIC3Marine Geology, ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, 344, pp. 115-131, ISSN: 0025-3227 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/1/Gohl-etal_seismic-stratigraphy-ASE-shelf_Marine-Geology_2013.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868.d001 Gohl, K. orcid:0000-0002-9558-2116 , Uenzelmann-Neben, G. orcid:0000-0002-0115-5923 , Larter, R. D. , Hillenbrand, C. D. , Hochmuth, K. orcid:0000-0003-2789-2179 , Kalberg, T. , Weigelt, E. orcid:0000-0003-1598-456X , Davy, B. , Kuhn, G. orcid:0000-0001-6069-7485 and Nitsche, F. O. (2013) Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet , Marine Geology, 344 , pp. 115-131 . doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2013.06.011 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2013.06.011> , hdl:10013/epic.41868 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2013.06.011 |
container_title |
Marine Geology |
container_volume |
344 |
container_start_page |
115 |
op_container_end_page |
131 |
_version_ |
1766376680885059584 |
spelling |
ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:32531 2023-05-15T13:23:58+02:00 Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet Gohl, Karsten Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele Larter, Robert D. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Hochmuth, Katharina Kalberg, Thomas Weigelt, Estella Davy, Bryan Kuhn, Gerhard Nitsche, Frank O. 2013-10-01 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/1/Gohl-etal_seismic-stratigraphy-ASE-shelf_Marine-Geology_2013.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868.d001 unknown ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32531/1/Gohl-etal_seismic-stratigraphy-ASE-shelf_Marine-Geology_2013.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41868.d001 Gohl, K. orcid:0000-0002-9558-2116 , Uenzelmann-Neben, G. orcid:0000-0002-0115-5923 , Larter, R. D. , Hillenbrand, C. D. , Hochmuth, K. orcid:0000-0003-2789-2179 , Kalberg, T. , Weigelt, E. orcid:0000-0003-1598-456X , Davy, B. , Kuhn, G. orcid:0000-0001-6069-7485 and Nitsche, F. O. (2013) Seismic stratigraphic record of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf from pre-glacial to recent times: Evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic ice sheet , Marine Geology, 344 , pp. 115-131 . doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2013.06.011 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2013.06.011> , hdl:10013/epic.41868 EPIC3Marine Geology, ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, 344, pp. 115-131, ISSN: 0025-3227 Article isiRev 2013 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2013.06.011 2021-12-24T15:38:28Z Studies of the sedimentary architecture and characteristics of the Antarctic continental margin provide clues about past ice sheet advance-retreat cycles and help improve constraints for paleo-ice dynamic models since early glacial periods. A first seismostratigraphic analysis of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf and slope of West Antarctica reveals insights into the structural architecture of the continental margin and shows stages of sediment deposition, erosion and transport reflecting the history from pre-glacial times to early glaciation and to the late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles. The shelf geometry consists of a large pre- and syn-rift basin in the middle shelf region between basement cropping out on the inner shelf and buried basement ridge and highs on the outer shelf. A subordinate basin within the large basin on the mid-shelf may be associated with motion along an early West Antarctic Rift System branch. At least 4 km of pre-glacial strata have been eroded from the present inner shelf and coastal hinterland by glacial processes. Six major sedimentary units (ASS-1 to ASS-6) separated by five major erosional unconformities (ASS-u1 to ASS-u5) are distinguished from bottom to top. Unconformity ASS-u4 results from a major truncational event by glacial advance to the middle and outer shelf, which was followed by several episodes of glacial advance and retreat as observed from smaller-scale truncational unconformities within the units above ASS-u4. Some of the eroded sediments were deposited as a progradional wedge that extends the outer shelf by 25 to 65 km oceanward of the pre-glacial shelf-break. We compare the observed seismic characteristics with those of other Antarctic shelf sequences and assign an Early Cretaceous age to bottom sedimentary unit ASS-1, a Late Cretaceous to Oligocene age to unit ASS-2, an Early to Mid-Miocene age to unit ASS-3, a Mid-Miocene age to unit ASS-4, a Late Miocene to Early Pliocene age to unit ASS-5, and a Pliocene to Pleistocene age to the top unit ASS-6. Buried grounding zone wedges in the upper part of unit ASS-5 on the outer shelf suggest pronounced warming phases and ice sheet retreats during the early Pliocene as observed for the Ross Sea shelf and predicted by paleo-ice sheet models. Our data also reveal that on the middle and outer shelf the flow-path of the Pine Island-Thwaites paleo-ice stream system has remained stationary in the central Pine Island Trough since the earliest glacial advances, which is different from the Ross Sea shelf where glacial troughs shifted more dynamically. This study and its stratigraphic constraints will serve as a basis for future drilling operations required for an improved understanding of processes and mechanisms leading to change in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, such as the contemporary thinning and grounding line retreat in the Amundsen Sea drainage sector. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Pine Island Ross Sea West Antarctica Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Antarctic The Antarctic Ross Sea West Antarctica Amundsen Sea West Antarctic Ice Sheet Pine Island Trough ENVELOPE(-101.841,-101.841,-75.011,-75.011) Marine Geology 344 115 131 |