Investigating Antarctic subglacial hydrologic processes from marine sediment cores ...

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Virginia 2023
• Subjects: sedimentology; microtexture; glacial sediments; meltwater plume deposits; subglacial discharge; Thwaites Glacier; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18130/6dgw-xd98; https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/qb98mg861

Understanding processes operating beneath glacial ice is imperative for holistic knowledge of glaciated regions and for accurately projecting future behavior of and sea-level contributions from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Evolution of subglacial hydrologic networks is one such process where knowledge gaps persist, in large part because of the challenges in observing the subglacial environment and the subsequent paucity of empirical data spanning decadal to millennial temporal scales. Sediment cores from deglaciated continental shelves preserve evidence of subglacial drainage events into the ocean, providing a link between the marine geologic record and the subglacial hydrologic network through time. Yet, several analytical methods with the potential to reveal details of subglacial sedimentary processes and paleo-subglacial hydrological networks from meltwater plume deposits were heretofore unexplored. Five sediment cores from the calving margin of Thwaites Glacier, the most rapidly changing glacial system in ...