Submarine landforms reveal varying rates and styles of deglaciation in North-West Greenland fjords ...

An understanding of the former configuration and dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet is needed to provide a context for modern observations, to constrain numerical models and to predict the likely future ice-sheet response to climatic change. Whereas previous geophysical investigations of the North-...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Batchelor, CL, Dowdeswell, JA, Rignot, E
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.12499
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/267694
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Summary:An understanding of the former configuration and dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet is needed to provide a context for modern observations, to constrain numerical models and to predict the likely future ice-sheet response to climatic change. Whereas previous geophysical investigations of the North-West Greenland margin have focused on the mapping of full-glacial and deglacial landforms on the mid to outer shelf, relatively little is known about more recent ice-sheet dynamics on the inner shelf and in the fjords. We present swath-bathymetric data from the inner shelf and fjords of North-West Greenland. Streamlined subglacial landforms, including ice-sculpted bedrock and mega-scale glacial lineations, reveal the direction of Late Quaternary ice flow through fjords and across the inner shelf. Landforms that are transverse to the former ice-flow direction, including small recessional moraines, major moraine ridges and grounding-zone wedges, show the locations of former still-stands in the grounding zone during ...