An Interdisciplinary approach towards understanding late Pleistocene ice sheet change

• Main Author: Cuzzone, Joshua K.
• Other Authors: Clark, Peter, Carlson, Anders, Valls, Andrew, Hostetler, Steve, Wettstein, Justin, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University. Graduate School
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Paleoclimatology > Pleistocene; Sea level; Ice sheets; Paleoclimatology > Holocene; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Greenland; Norway; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/3t945w463

The results presented in this dissertation address a number of questions regarding late Pleistocene and Holocene ice-sheet and climate interactions, spanning disciplines involving paleoclimatology and atmospheric science. These studies use various techniques in geochemistry, climate modeling, and ice-sheet modeling to address ice- sheet response to climate and the attendant interactions between the atmosphere and ice- sheets. An important question in paleoclimatology involves the response of past ice sheets to a warming climate, with the end goal of providing context for understanding the response of future ice sheets to anthropogenic warming. A longstanding question regards the timing and rate of retreat for the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) during the Holocene. Much work has been done to constrain the retreat of the SIS from the last glacial maximum to the well-defined Younger Dryas moraines, however, little is known regarding the SIS Holocene retreat. Presented is a compilation of 87 ¹⁰Be surface exposure ages from Sweden and Norway. These ages provide a high-resolution reconstruction of the SIS deglaciation during the Holocene, and allow for close comparison with proxies of temperature and insolation. The results suggest an asymmetric deglaciation of the SIS, with retreat forced by both a warming climate and and ice-sheet dynamics depending on time and location. The record also provides a means for evaluating the SIS contribution to Holocene sea-level rise. Combining this with estimates from the Laurentide Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet, our results suggest that ~23 m of residual sea-level rise exists at the start of the Holocene. We suggest an Antarctic source, which has implications for understanding the sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to Holocene climate change. Ice-sheets exert a large presence on the overlying atmosphere, with these interactions influencing the general circulation and ultimately the surface mass balance of the ice sheet. Prior work has indicated striking differences in the ...