Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole
Melting at the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet influences ice dynamics and our ability to recover ancient climatic records from deep ice cores. Basal melt rates are affected by geothermal flux, one of the least constrained properties of the Antarctic continent. Estimates of Antarctic geothermal flux...
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ftimperialcol:oai:spiral.imperial.ac.uk:10044/1/66028 2023-05-15T13:53:11+02:00 Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole Jordan, T Martin, C Ferraccioli, F Matsuoka, K Corr, H Forsberg, R Olesen, A Siegert, M Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) British Council (UK) 2018-10-31 http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/66028 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35182-0 unknown Nature Publishing Group Scientific Reports 2045-2322 http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/66028 doi:10.1038/s41598-018-35182-0 NE/G00465X/3 GEOG.RE2356 ICECAP-2 © 2018 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. CC-BY Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics ANTARCTIC ICE-SHEET CENTRAL EAST ANTARCTICA HEAT-FLUX SUBGLACIAL LAKES WEST ANTARCTICA TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS BASAL MELT FLOW INVENTORY EVOLUTION Journal Article 2018 ftimperialcol https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35182-0 2021-02-11T23:39:08Z Melting at the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet influences ice dynamics and our ability to recover ancient climatic records from deep ice cores. Basal melt rates are affected by geothermal flux, one of the least constrained properties of the Antarctic continent. Estimates of Antarctic geothermal flux are typically regional in nature, derived from geological, magnetic or seismic data, or from sparse point measurements at ice core sites. We analyse ice-penetrating radar data upstream of South Pole revealing a ~100 km long and 50 km wide area where internal ice sheet layers converge with the bed. Ice sheet modelling shows that this englacial layer configuration requires basal melting of up to 6 ± 1 mm a−1 and a geothermal flux of 120 ± 20 mW m−2, more than double the values expected for this cratonic sector of East Antarctica. We suggest high heat producing Precambrian basement rocks and hydrothermal circulation along a major fault system cause this anomaly. We conclude that local geothermal flux anomalies could be more widespread in East Antarctica. Assessing their influence on subglacial hydrology and ice sheet dynamics requires new detailed geophysical observations, especially in candidate areas for deep ice core drilling and at the onset of major ice streams. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet South pole South pole West Antarctica Imperial College London: Spiral Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica West Antarctica Transantarctic Mountains South Pole Scientific Reports 8 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Imperial College London: Spiral |
op_collection_id |
ftimperialcol |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics ANTARCTIC ICE-SHEET CENTRAL EAST ANTARCTICA HEAT-FLUX SUBGLACIAL LAKES WEST ANTARCTICA TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS BASAL MELT FLOW INVENTORY EVOLUTION |
spellingShingle |
Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics ANTARCTIC ICE-SHEET CENTRAL EAST ANTARCTICA HEAT-FLUX SUBGLACIAL LAKES WEST ANTARCTICA TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS BASAL MELT FLOW INVENTORY EVOLUTION Jordan, T Martin, C Ferraccioli, F Matsuoka, K Corr, H Forsberg, R Olesen, A Siegert, M Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole |
topic_facet |
Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics ANTARCTIC ICE-SHEET CENTRAL EAST ANTARCTICA HEAT-FLUX SUBGLACIAL LAKES WEST ANTARCTICA TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS BASAL MELT FLOW INVENTORY EVOLUTION |
description |
Melting at the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet influences ice dynamics and our ability to recover ancient climatic records from deep ice cores. Basal melt rates are affected by geothermal flux, one of the least constrained properties of the Antarctic continent. Estimates of Antarctic geothermal flux are typically regional in nature, derived from geological, magnetic or seismic data, or from sparse point measurements at ice core sites. We analyse ice-penetrating radar data upstream of South Pole revealing a ~100 km long and 50 km wide area where internal ice sheet layers converge with the bed. Ice sheet modelling shows that this englacial layer configuration requires basal melting of up to 6 ± 1 mm a−1 and a geothermal flux of 120 ± 20 mW m−2, more than double the values expected for this cratonic sector of East Antarctica. We suggest high heat producing Precambrian basement rocks and hydrothermal circulation along a major fault system cause this anomaly. We conclude that local geothermal flux anomalies could be more widespread in East Antarctica. Assessing their influence on subglacial hydrology and ice sheet dynamics requires new detailed geophysical observations, especially in candidate areas for deep ice core drilling and at the onset of major ice streams. |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) British Council (UK) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jordan, T Martin, C Ferraccioli, F Matsuoka, K Corr, H Forsberg, R Olesen, A Siegert, M |
author_facet |
Jordan, T Martin, C Ferraccioli, F Matsuoka, K Corr, H Forsberg, R Olesen, A Siegert, M |
author_sort |
Jordan, T |
title |
Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole |
title_short |
Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole |
title_full |
Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole |
title_fullStr |
Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole |
title_full_unstemmed |
Anomalously high geothermal flux near the South Pole |
title_sort |
anomalously high geothermal flux near the south pole |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/66028 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35182-0 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica West Antarctica Transantarctic Mountains South Pole |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica West Antarctica Transantarctic Mountains South Pole |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet South pole South pole West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet South pole South pole West Antarctica |
op_relation |
Scientific Reports 2045-2322 http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/66028 doi:10.1038/s41598-018-35182-0 NE/G00465X/3 GEOG.RE2356 ICECAP-2 |
op_rights |
© 2018 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35182-0 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766258164506820608 |