Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea
Chronologies of glacier deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains provide important constraints on grounding-line retreat during the last deglaciation in the Ross Sea. However, between Beardmore Glacier and Ross Island – a distance of some 600 km – the existing chronologies are generally sparse and f...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00057501 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00057151/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3329/2021/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf |
id |
ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00057501 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
op_collection_id |
ftnonlinearchiv |
language |
English |
topic |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
spellingShingle |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung Hillebrand, Trevor R. Stone, John O. Koutnik, Michelle King, Courtney Conway, Howard Hall, Brenda Nichols, Keir Goehring, Brent Gillespie, Mette K. Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Chronologies of glacier deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains provide important constraints on grounding-line retreat during the last deglaciation in the Ross Sea. However, between Beardmore Glacier and Ross Island – a distance of some 600 km – the existing chronologies are generally sparse and far from the modern grounding line, leaving the past dynamics of this vast region largely unconstrained. We present exposure ages of glacial deposits at three locations alongside the Darwin–Hatherton Glacier System – including within 10 km of the modern grounding line – that record several hundred meters of Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene thickening relative to present. As the ice sheet grounding line in the Ross Sea retreated, Hatherton Glacier thinned steadily from about 9 until about 3 ka. Our data are equivocal about the maximum thickness and Mid-Holocene to Early Holocene history at the mouth of Darwin Glacier, allowing for two conflicting deglaciation scenarios: (1) ∼500 m of thinning from 9 to 3 ka, similar to Hatherton Glacier, or (2) ∼950 m of thinning, with a rapid pulse of ∼600 m thinning at around 5 ka. We test these two scenarios using a 1.5-dimensional flowband model, forced by ice thickness changes at the mouth of Darwin Glacier and evaluated by fit to the chronology of deposits at Hatherton Glacier. The constraints from Hatherton Glacier are consistent with the interpretation that the mouth of Darwin Glacier thinned steadily by ∼500 m from 9 to 3 ka. Rapid pulses of thinning at the mouth of Darwin Glacier are ruled out by the data at Hatherton Glacier. This contrasts with some of the available records from the mouths of other outlet glaciers in the Transantarctic Mountains, many of which thinned by hundreds of meters over roughly a 1000-year period in the Early Holocene. The deglaciation histories of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers are best matched by a steady decrease in catchment area through the Holocene, suggesting that Byrd and/or Mulock glaciers may have captured roughly half of the catchment area of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers during the last deglaciation. An ensemble of three-dimensional ice sheet model simulations suggest that Darwin and Hatherton glaciers are strongly buttressed by convergent flow with ice from neighboring Byrd and Mulock glaciers, and by lateral drag past Minna Bluff, which could have led to a pattern of retreat distinct from other glaciers throughout the Transantarctic Mountains. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hillebrand, Trevor R. Stone, John O. Koutnik, Michelle King, Courtney Conway, Howard Hall, Brenda Nichols, Keir Goehring, Brent Gillespie, Mette K. |
author_facet |
Hillebrand, Trevor R. Stone, John O. Koutnik, Michelle King, Courtney Conway, Howard Hall, Brenda Nichols, Keir Goehring, Brent Gillespie, Mette K. |
author_sort |
Hillebrand, Trevor R. |
title |
Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea |
title_short |
Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea |
title_full |
Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea |
title_fullStr |
Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea |
title_sort |
holocene thinning of darwin and hatherton glaciers, antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the ross sea |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00057501 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00057151/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3329/2021/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(174.900,174.900,-83.350,-83.350) ENVELOPE(170.000,170.000,-84.500,-84.500) ENVELOPE(159.000,159.000,-79.883,-79.883) ENVELOPE(157.583,157.583,-79.917,-79.917) ENVELOPE(166.417,166.417,-78.517,-78.517) |
geographic |
Beardmore Beardmore Glacier Byrd Darwin Glacier Hatherton Glacier Minna Bluff Ross Island Ross Sea Transantarctic Mountains |
geographic_facet |
Beardmore Beardmore Glacier Byrd Darwin Glacier Hatherton Glacier Minna Bluff Ross Island Ross Sea Transantarctic Mountains |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Beardmore Glacier Darwin Glacier Hatherton Glacier Ice Sheet Ross Island Ross Sea The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Beardmore Glacier Darwin Glacier Hatherton Glacier Ice Sheet Ross Island Ross Sea The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00057501 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00057151/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3329/2021/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
3329 |
op_container_end_page |
3354 |
_version_ |
1766094052085727232 |
spelling |
ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00057501 2023-05-15T13:37:33+02:00 Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea Hillebrand, Trevor R. Stone, John O. Koutnik, Michelle King, Courtney Conway, Howard Hall, Brenda Nichols, Keir Goehring, Brent Gillespie, Mette K. 2021-07 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00057501 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00057151/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3329/2021/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00057501 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00057151/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3329/2021/tc-15-3329-2021.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2021 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021 2022-02-08T22:33:35Z Chronologies of glacier deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains provide important constraints on grounding-line retreat during the last deglaciation in the Ross Sea. However, between Beardmore Glacier and Ross Island – a distance of some 600 km – the existing chronologies are generally sparse and far from the modern grounding line, leaving the past dynamics of this vast region largely unconstrained. We present exposure ages of glacial deposits at three locations alongside the Darwin–Hatherton Glacier System – including within 10 km of the modern grounding line – that record several hundred meters of Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene thickening relative to present. As the ice sheet grounding line in the Ross Sea retreated, Hatherton Glacier thinned steadily from about 9 until about 3 ka. Our data are equivocal about the maximum thickness and Mid-Holocene to Early Holocene history at the mouth of Darwin Glacier, allowing for two conflicting deglaciation scenarios: (1) ∼500 m of thinning from 9 to 3 ka, similar to Hatherton Glacier, or (2) ∼950 m of thinning, with a rapid pulse of ∼600 m thinning at around 5 ka. We test these two scenarios using a 1.5-dimensional flowband model, forced by ice thickness changes at the mouth of Darwin Glacier and evaluated by fit to the chronology of deposits at Hatherton Glacier. The constraints from Hatherton Glacier are consistent with the interpretation that the mouth of Darwin Glacier thinned steadily by ∼500 m from 9 to 3 ka. Rapid pulses of thinning at the mouth of Darwin Glacier are ruled out by the data at Hatherton Glacier. This contrasts with some of the available records from the mouths of other outlet glaciers in the Transantarctic Mountains, many of which thinned by hundreds of meters over roughly a 1000-year period in the Early Holocene. The deglaciation histories of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers are best matched by a steady decrease in catchment area through the Holocene, suggesting that Byrd and/or Mulock glaciers may have captured roughly half of the catchment area of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers during the last deglaciation. An ensemble of three-dimensional ice sheet model simulations suggest that Darwin and Hatherton glaciers are strongly buttressed by convergent flow with ice from neighboring Byrd and Mulock glaciers, and by lateral drag past Minna Bluff, which could have led to a pattern of retreat distinct from other glaciers throughout the Transantarctic Mountains. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Beardmore Glacier Darwin Glacier Hatherton Glacier Ice Sheet Ross Island Ross Sea The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Beardmore ENVELOPE(174.900,174.900,-83.350,-83.350) Beardmore Glacier ENVELOPE(170.000,170.000,-84.500,-84.500) Byrd Darwin Glacier ENVELOPE(159.000,159.000,-79.883,-79.883) Hatherton Glacier ENVELOPE(157.583,157.583,-79.917,-79.917) Minna Bluff ENVELOPE(166.417,166.417,-78.517,-78.517) Ross Island Ross Sea Transantarctic Mountains The Cryosphere 15 7 3329 3354 |