Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Surface melting along Antarctic ice sheet margins is the most poorly understood input in models of future sea level rise. Alluvial fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys originate from meltwater produced from high-elevation glaciers and snowbanks along these margins but many show no evidence for recent mel...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Thesis |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
North Dakota State University
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26872 |
id |
ftnorthdakotasta:oai:library.ndsu.edu:10365/26872 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftnorthdakotasta:oai:library.ndsu.edu:10365/26872 2023-10-29T02:32:28+01:00 Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet Zamora, Felix 2013 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26872 unknown North Dakota State University https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26872 NDSU Policy 190.6.2 Thesis 2013 ftnorthdakotasta 2023-10-05T17:40:31Z Surface melting along Antarctic ice sheet margins is the most poorly understood input in models of future sea level rise. Alluvial fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys originate from meltwater produced from high-elevation glaciers and snowbanks along these margins but many show no evidence for recent melting. These fans could serve as a record of past melting along terrestrial ice sheet margins, which would help quantify inputs to sea-level rise.To describe how melting has taken place in the past, five representative fans were examined. Fans are composed of thin, planar-bedded gravelly sands deposited by sheetflooding. Geospatial analsysis suggests the distance of the meltwater source from the Ross Sea is the predominant control on fan activity, and that aggradation results when regional climatic gradients shift inland. Geomorphic observations suggest centuries to millennia pass between periods of aggradation. OSL dating indicates that fans are no older than Holocene in age. Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet McMurdo Dry Valleys Ross Sea North Dakota State University (NDSU) Digital Repository |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
North Dakota State University (NDSU) Digital Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftnorthdakotasta |
language |
unknown |
description |
Surface melting along Antarctic ice sheet margins is the most poorly understood input in models of future sea level rise. Alluvial fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys originate from meltwater produced from high-elevation glaciers and snowbanks along these margins but many show no evidence for recent melting. These fans could serve as a record of past melting along terrestrial ice sheet margins, which would help quantify inputs to sea-level rise.To describe how melting has taken place in the past, five representative fans were examined. Fans are composed of thin, planar-bedded gravelly sands deposited by sheetflooding. Geospatial analsysis suggests the distance of the meltwater source from the Ross Sea is the predominant control on fan activity, and that aggradation results when regional climatic gradients shift inland. Geomorphic observations suggest centuries to millennia pass between periods of aggradation. OSL dating indicates that fans are no older than Holocene in age. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Zamora, Felix |
spellingShingle |
Zamora, Felix Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
author_facet |
Zamora, Felix |
author_sort |
Zamora, Felix |
title |
Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_short |
Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_full |
Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_fullStr |
Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Alluvial Fans in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: A Proxy for Melting Along Terrestrial Margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_sort |
alluvial fans in the mcmurdo dry valleys: a proxy for melting along terrestrial margins of the east antarctic ice sheet |
publisher |
North Dakota State University |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26872 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet McMurdo Dry Valleys Ross Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet McMurdo Dry Valleys Ross Sea |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26872 |
op_rights |
NDSU Policy 190.6.2 |
_version_ |
1781053933536411648 |