Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination
The retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet at the end of the last glacial period has been attributed to both sea-level rise and warming of the ocean at the margin of the ice sheet, but it has been challenging to test these hypotheses. Given the lack of constraints on the timing of retreat, it has b...
Published in: | Nature Geoscience |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2011
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/c292acbd-9377-48d3-a80a-a20d2b99a61a https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1061 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79952149361&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
id |
ftmacquarieunicr:oai:https://researchers.mq.edu.au:publications/c292acbd-9377-48d3-a80a-a20d2b99a61a |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftmacquarieunicr:oai:https://researchers.mq.edu.au:publications/c292acbd-9377-48d3-a80a-a20d2b99a61a 2024-09-30T14:26:00+00:00 Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination MacKintosh, Andrew Golledge, Nicholas Domack, Eugene Dunbar, Robert Leventer, Amy White, Duanne Pollard, David Deconto, Robert Fink, David Zwartz, Dan Gore, Damian Lavoie, Caroline 2011-03 https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/c292acbd-9377-48d3-a80a-a20d2b99a61a https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1061 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79952149361&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess MacKintosh , A , Golledge , N , Domack , E , Dunbar , R , Leventer , A , White , D , Pollard , D , Deconto , R , Fink , D , Zwartz , D , Gore , D & Lavoie , C 2011 , ' Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination ' , Nature Geoscience , vol. 4 , no. 3 , pp. 195-202 . https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1061 article 2011 ftmacquarieunicr https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1061 2024-09-11T23:44:59Z The retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet at the end of the last glacial period has been attributed to both sea-level rise and warming of the ocean at the margin of the ice sheet, but it has been challenging to test these hypotheses. Given the lack of constraints on the timing of retreat, it has been difficult to evaluate whether the East Antarctic ice sheet contributed to meltwater pulse 1a, an abrupt sea-level rise of approximately 20 m that occurred about 14,700 years ago. Here we use terrestrial exposure ages and marine sedimentological analyses to show that ice retreat in Mac. Robertson Land, East Antarctica, initiated about 14,000 years ago, became widespread about 12,000 years ago, and was completed by about 7,000 years ago. We use two models of different complexities to assess the forcing of the retreat. Our simulations suggest that, although the initial stage of retreat may have been forced by sea-level rise, the majority of the ice loss resulted from ocean warming at the onset of the Holocene epoch. In light of our age model we conclude that the East Antarctic ice sheet is unlikely to have been the source of meltwater pulse 1a, and, on the basis of our simulations, suggest that Antarctic ice sheets made an insignificant contribution to eustatic sea-level rise at this time. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Mac Robertson Land Mac. Robertson Land Macquarie University Research Portal Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet East Antarctica Mac. Robertson Land ENVELOPE(65.000,65.000,-70.000,-70.000) Nature Geoscience 4 3 195 202 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Macquarie University Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftmacquarieunicr |
language |
English |
description |
The retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet at the end of the last glacial period has been attributed to both sea-level rise and warming of the ocean at the margin of the ice sheet, but it has been challenging to test these hypotheses. Given the lack of constraints on the timing of retreat, it has been difficult to evaluate whether the East Antarctic ice sheet contributed to meltwater pulse 1a, an abrupt sea-level rise of approximately 20 m that occurred about 14,700 years ago. Here we use terrestrial exposure ages and marine sedimentological analyses to show that ice retreat in Mac. Robertson Land, East Antarctica, initiated about 14,000 years ago, became widespread about 12,000 years ago, and was completed by about 7,000 years ago. We use two models of different complexities to assess the forcing of the retreat. Our simulations suggest that, although the initial stage of retreat may have been forced by sea-level rise, the majority of the ice loss resulted from ocean warming at the onset of the Holocene epoch. In light of our age model we conclude that the East Antarctic ice sheet is unlikely to have been the source of meltwater pulse 1a, and, on the basis of our simulations, suggest that Antarctic ice sheets made an insignificant contribution to eustatic sea-level rise at this time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
MacKintosh, Andrew Golledge, Nicholas Domack, Eugene Dunbar, Robert Leventer, Amy White, Duanne Pollard, David Deconto, Robert Fink, David Zwartz, Dan Gore, Damian Lavoie, Caroline |
spellingShingle |
MacKintosh, Andrew Golledge, Nicholas Domack, Eugene Dunbar, Robert Leventer, Amy White, Duanne Pollard, David Deconto, Robert Fink, David Zwartz, Dan Gore, Damian Lavoie, Caroline Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination |
author_facet |
MacKintosh, Andrew Golledge, Nicholas Domack, Eugene Dunbar, Robert Leventer, Amy White, Duanne Pollard, David Deconto, Robert Fink, David Zwartz, Dan Gore, Damian Lavoie, Caroline |
author_sort |
MacKintosh, Andrew |
title |
Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination |
title_short |
Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination |
title_full |
Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination |
title_fullStr |
Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination |
title_full_unstemmed |
Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination |
title_sort |
retreat of the east antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/c292acbd-9377-48d3-a80a-a20d2b99a61a https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1061 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79952149361&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(65.000,65.000,-70.000,-70.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet East Antarctica Mac. Robertson Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet East Antarctica Mac. Robertson Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Mac Robertson Land Mac. Robertson Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Mac Robertson Land Mac. Robertson Land |
op_source |
MacKintosh , A , Golledge , N , Domack , E , Dunbar , R , Leventer , A , White , D , Pollard , D , Deconto , R , Fink , D , Zwartz , D , Gore , D & Lavoie , C 2011 , ' Retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial termination ' , Nature Geoscience , vol. 4 , no. 3 , pp. 195-202 . https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1061 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1061 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
195 |
op_container_end_page |
202 |
_version_ |
1811646542156660736 |