Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years
The reconstruction of former ice sheets is important for testing Earth system models that can assess interactions between polar ice sheets and global climate, but information retrieved from contemporary glaciated margins is sparse. In particular, we need to know when ice sheets began to form marine...
Published in: | Nature Geoscience |
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Online Access: | https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/c5f09a1d-97b7-4cdc-8d6c-d4a571d83e33 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0340-8 https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/167740202/author_accepted_Knutz_etal.pdf |
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ftqueensubelpubl:oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:publications/c5f09a1d-97b7-4cdc-8d6c-d4a571d83e33 2024-05-19T07:37:55+00:00 Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years Knutz, Paul C. Newton, Andrew M. W. Hopper, John R. Huuse, Mads Gregersen, Ulrik Sheldon, Emma Dybkjær, Karen 2019-04-15 application/pdf https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/c5f09a1d-97b7-4cdc-8d6c-d4a571d83e33 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0340-8 https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/167740202/author_accepted_Knutz_etal.pdf eng eng https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/c5f09a1d-97b7-4cdc-8d6c-d4a571d83e33 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Knutz , P C , Newton , A M W , Hopper , J R , Huuse , M , Gregersen , U , Sheldon , E & Dybkjær , K 2019 , ' Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years ' , Nature geoscience , vol. 12 , pp. 361 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0340-8 /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water name=SDG 14 - Life Below Water article 2019 ftqueensubelpubl https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0340-8 2024-05-02T00:33:52Z The reconstruction of former ice sheets is important for testing Earth system models that can assess interactions between polar ice sheets and global climate, but information retrieved from contemporary glaciated margins is sparse. In particular, we need to know when ice sheets began to form marine outlets and the mechanisms by which they advance and retreat over timescales from decades to millions of years. Here, we use a dense grid of high-quality two-dimensional seismic reflection data to examine the stratigraphy and evolution of glacial outlets, or palaeo-ice streams, that drained the northwest Greenland Ice Sheet into Baffin Bay. Seismic horizons are partly age constrained by correlation with cores from drill sites. Progradational units separated by onlap surfaces record 11 major phases of shelf-edge ice advance and subsequent transgression since the first ice-sheet expansion 3.3–2.6 million years ago. The glacial outlet system appears to have developed in four stages, each potentially caused by tectonic and climatic changes. We infer that an abrupt change in ice-flow conditions occurred during the mid-Pleistocene transition, about 1 million years ago, when ice movement across the shelf margin changed from widespread to a more focused flow (ice streams), forming the present-day glacial troughs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Nature Geoscience 12 5 361 368 |
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Queen's University Belfast Research Portal |
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ftqueensubelpubl |
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English |
topic |
/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water name=SDG 14 - Life Below Water |
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/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water name=SDG 14 - Life Below Water Knutz, Paul C. Newton, Andrew M. W. Hopper, John R. Huuse, Mads Gregersen, Ulrik Sheldon, Emma Dybkjær, Karen Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years |
topic_facet |
/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water name=SDG 14 - Life Below Water |
description |
The reconstruction of former ice sheets is important for testing Earth system models that can assess interactions between polar ice sheets and global climate, but information retrieved from contemporary glaciated margins is sparse. In particular, we need to know when ice sheets began to form marine outlets and the mechanisms by which they advance and retreat over timescales from decades to millions of years. Here, we use a dense grid of high-quality two-dimensional seismic reflection data to examine the stratigraphy and evolution of glacial outlets, or palaeo-ice streams, that drained the northwest Greenland Ice Sheet into Baffin Bay. Seismic horizons are partly age constrained by correlation with cores from drill sites. Progradational units separated by onlap surfaces record 11 major phases of shelf-edge ice advance and subsequent transgression since the first ice-sheet expansion 3.3–2.6 million years ago. The glacial outlet system appears to have developed in four stages, each potentially caused by tectonic and climatic changes. We infer that an abrupt change in ice-flow conditions occurred during the mid-Pleistocene transition, about 1 million years ago, when ice movement across the shelf margin changed from widespread to a more focused flow (ice streams), forming the present-day glacial troughs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Knutz, Paul C. Newton, Andrew M. W. Hopper, John R. Huuse, Mads Gregersen, Ulrik Sheldon, Emma Dybkjær, Karen |
author_facet |
Knutz, Paul C. Newton, Andrew M. W. Hopper, John R. Huuse, Mads Gregersen, Ulrik Sheldon, Emma Dybkjær, Karen |
author_sort |
Knutz, Paul C. |
title |
Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years |
title_short |
Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years |
title_full |
Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years |
title_fullStr |
Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years |
title_full_unstemmed |
Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years |
title_sort |
eleven phases of greenland ice sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/c5f09a1d-97b7-4cdc-8d6c-d4a571d83e33 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0340-8 https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/167740202/author_accepted_Knutz_etal.pdf |
genre |
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Knutz , P C , Newton , A M W , Hopper , J R , Huuse , M , Gregersen , U , Sheldon , E & Dybkjær , K 2019 , ' Eleven phases of Greenland Ice Sheet shelf-edge advance over the past 2.7 million years ' , Nature geoscience , vol. 12 , pp. 361 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0340-8 |
op_relation |
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/c5f09a1d-97b7-4cdc-8d6c-d4a571d83e33 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0340-8 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
361 |
op_container_end_page |
368 |
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1799477314885517312 |