A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change
The Princess Elizabeth Land sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is a significant reservoir of grounded ice and is adjacent to regions that experienced great change during Quaternary glacial cycles and Pliocene warm episodes. The existence of an extensive subglacial water system in Princess Elizab...
Published in: | Geology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Geological Society of America
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96662 https://doi.org/10.1130/G50009.1 |
id |
ftimperialcol:oai:spiral.imperial.ac.uk:10044/1/96662 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftimperialcol:oai:spiral.imperial.ac.uk:10044/1/96662 2023-05-15T13:43:46+02:00 A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change Yan, S Blankenship, D Greenbaum, J Young, D Li, L Rutishauser, A Guo, J Roberts, J Van Ommen, T Siegert, M Sun, B British Council (UK) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) 2022-03-17 http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96662 https://doi.org/10.1130/G50009.1 unknown Geological Society of America Geology (Boulder) 0091-7613 http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96662 doi:10.1130/G50009.1 ICECAP-2 NE/G00465X/3 © 2022 The Authors. Gold Open Access: This paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY 953 949 Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geology PRINCESS ELIZABETH LAND EVOLUTION ORIGIN SHEET Geochemistry & Geophysics 04 Earth Sciences Journal Article 2022 ftimperialcol https://doi.org/10.1130/G50009.1 2022-09-08T22:41:46Z The Princess Elizabeth Land sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is a significant reservoir of grounded ice and is adjacent to regions that experienced great change during Quaternary glacial cycles and Pliocene warm episodes. The existence of an extensive subglacial water system in Princess Elizabeth Land (to date only inferred from satellite imagery) bears the potential to significantly impact the thermal and kinematic conditions of the overlying ice sheet. We confirm the existence of a major subglacial lake, herein referred to as Lake Snow Eagle (LSE), for the first time using recently acquired aerogeophysical data. We systematically investigated LSE’s geological characteristics and bathymetry from two-dimensional geophysical inversion models. The inversion results suggest that LSE is located along a compressional geologic boundary, which provides reference for future characterization of the geologic and tectonic context of this region. We estimate LSE to be ~42 km in length and 370 km2 in area, making it one of the largest subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Additionally, the airborne ice-penetrating radar observations and geophysical inversions reveal a layer of unconsolidated water-saturated sediment around and at the bottom of LSE, which—given the ultralow rates of sedimentation expected in such environments—may archive valuable records of paleoenvironmental changes and the early history of East Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution in Princess Elizabeth Land. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Princess Elizabeth Land Imperial College London: Spiral Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet East Antarctica Princess Elizabeth Land ENVELOPE(80.367,80.367,-68.500,-68.500) Geology |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Imperial College London: Spiral |
op_collection_id |
ftimperialcol |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geology PRINCESS ELIZABETH LAND EVOLUTION ORIGIN SHEET Geochemistry & Geophysics 04 Earth Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geology PRINCESS ELIZABETH LAND EVOLUTION ORIGIN SHEET Geochemistry & Geophysics 04 Earth Sciences Yan, S Blankenship, D Greenbaum, J Young, D Li, L Rutishauser, A Guo, J Roberts, J Van Ommen, T Siegert, M Sun, B A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change |
topic_facet |
Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geology PRINCESS ELIZABETH LAND EVOLUTION ORIGIN SHEET Geochemistry & Geophysics 04 Earth Sciences |
description |
The Princess Elizabeth Land sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is a significant reservoir of grounded ice and is adjacent to regions that experienced great change during Quaternary glacial cycles and Pliocene warm episodes. The existence of an extensive subglacial water system in Princess Elizabeth Land (to date only inferred from satellite imagery) bears the potential to significantly impact the thermal and kinematic conditions of the overlying ice sheet. We confirm the existence of a major subglacial lake, herein referred to as Lake Snow Eagle (LSE), for the first time using recently acquired aerogeophysical data. We systematically investigated LSE’s geological characteristics and bathymetry from two-dimensional geophysical inversion models. The inversion results suggest that LSE is located along a compressional geologic boundary, which provides reference for future characterization of the geologic and tectonic context of this region. We estimate LSE to be ~42 km in length and 370 km2 in area, making it one of the largest subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Additionally, the airborne ice-penetrating radar observations and geophysical inversions reveal a layer of unconsolidated water-saturated sediment around and at the bottom of LSE, which—given the ultralow rates of sedimentation expected in such environments—may archive valuable records of paleoenvironmental changes and the early history of East Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution in Princess Elizabeth Land. |
author2 |
British Council (UK) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yan, S Blankenship, D Greenbaum, J Young, D Li, L Rutishauser, A Guo, J Roberts, J Van Ommen, T Siegert, M Sun, B |
author_facet |
Yan, S Blankenship, D Greenbaum, J Young, D Li, L Rutishauser, A Guo, J Roberts, J Van Ommen, T Siegert, M Sun, B |
author_sort |
Yan, S |
title |
A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change |
title_short |
A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change |
title_full |
A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change |
title_fullStr |
A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change |
title_full_unstemmed |
A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change |
title_sort |
newly discovered subglacial lake in east antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change |
publisher |
Geological Society of America |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96662 https://doi.org/10.1130/G50009.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(80.367,80.367,-68.500,-68.500) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet East Antarctica Princess Elizabeth Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet East Antarctica Princess Elizabeth Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Princess Elizabeth Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Princess Elizabeth Land |
op_source |
953 949 |
op_relation |
Geology (Boulder) 0091-7613 http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96662 doi:10.1130/G50009.1 ICECAP-2 NE/G00465X/3 |
op_rights |
© 2022 The Authors. Gold Open Access: This paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1130/G50009.1 |
container_title |
Geology |
_version_ |
1766193020622864384 |