"Submerged Shorelines" on Glaciated Continental Shelves: Solving the Puzzle?

• Main Author: Grosswald, M. G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Journal of Coastal Research 2012
• Subjects: Geoscience; Geography; Ocean Science; Oceanography; Marine Science; Coastal Geology; Earth and Environmental Sciences; Submarine terraces; ice shelves; grounding line; tidal pump; glacial erosion; marine ice sheet; glacioeustasy; sea level changes; Ross Ice Shelf; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: http://journals.fcla.edu/jcr/article/view/77846

A hypothesis is proposed which has been based upon an analysis of physical processes operating at the grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. It suggests that the submarine terrace- shaped benches of glaciated shelves were formed at the grounding lines of the Pleistocene marine ice sheets, well below the former sea levels. Consequently, present-day depths of the benches cannot indicate the sea levels of the past.