Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins
Low-relief plateaus separated by deeply incised fjords are hallmarks of glaciated, passive continental margins. Spectacular examples fringe the once ice-covered North Atlantic coasts of Greenland, Norway and Canada, but low-relief plateau landscapes also underlie present-day ice sheets in Antarctica...
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ftubpotsdam:oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:46481 2023-05-15T13:50:38+02:00 Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins Egholm, David L. Jansen, John D. Braedstrup, Christian F. Pedersen, Vivi K. Andersen, Jane Lund Ugelvig, Sofie V. Larsen, Nicolaj K. Knudsen, Mads F. 2017 https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46481 https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2980 eng eng https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46481 https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2980 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Institut für Geowissenschaften article doc-type:article 2017 ftubpotsdam https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2980 2022-07-28T20:49:08Z Low-relief plateaus separated by deeply incised fjords are hallmarks of glaciated, passive continental margins. Spectacular examples fringe the once ice-covered North Atlantic coasts of Greenland, Norway and Canada, but low-relief plateau landscapes also underlie present-day ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. Dissected plateaus have long been viewed as the outcome of selective linear erosion by ice sheets that focus incision in glacial troughs, leaving the intervening landscapes essentially unaffected. According to this hypothesis, the plateaus are remnants of preglacial low-relief topography. However, here we use computational experiments to show that, like fjords, plateaus are emergent properties of long-term ice-sheet erosion. Ice sheets can either increase or decrease subglacial relief depending on the wavelength of the underlying topography, and plateau topography arises dynamically from evolving feedbacks between topography, ice dynamics and erosion over million-year timescales. This new mechanistic explanation for plateau formation opens the possibility of plateaus contributing significantly to accelerated sediment flux at the onset of the late Cenozoic glaciations, before becoming stable later in the Quaternary. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic University of Potsdam: publish.UP Canada Greenland Norway Nature Geoscience 10 8 592 597 |
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University of Potsdam: publish.UP |
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ftubpotsdam |
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English |
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Institut für Geowissenschaften |
spellingShingle |
Institut für Geowissenschaften Egholm, David L. Jansen, John D. Braedstrup, Christian F. Pedersen, Vivi K. Andersen, Jane Lund Ugelvig, Sofie V. Larsen, Nicolaj K. Knudsen, Mads F. Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins |
topic_facet |
Institut für Geowissenschaften |
description |
Low-relief plateaus separated by deeply incised fjords are hallmarks of glaciated, passive continental margins. Spectacular examples fringe the once ice-covered North Atlantic coasts of Greenland, Norway and Canada, but low-relief plateau landscapes also underlie present-day ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. Dissected plateaus have long been viewed as the outcome of selective linear erosion by ice sheets that focus incision in glacial troughs, leaving the intervening landscapes essentially unaffected. According to this hypothesis, the plateaus are remnants of preglacial low-relief topography. However, here we use computational experiments to show that, like fjords, plateaus are emergent properties of long-term ice-sheet erosion. Ice sheets can either increase or decrease subglacial relief depending on the wavelength of the underlying topography, and plateau topography arises dynamically from evolving feedbacks between topography, ice dynamics and erosion over million-year timescales. This new mechanistic explanation for plateau formation opens the possibility of plateaus contributing significantly to accelerated sediment flux at the onset of the late Cenozoic glaciations, before becoming stable later in the Quaternary. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Egholm, David L. Jansen, John D. Braedstrup, Christian F. Pedersen, Vivi K. Andersen, Jane Lund Ugelvig, Sofie V. Larsen, Nicolaj K. Knudsen, Mads F. |
author_facet |
Egholm, David L. Jansen, John D. Braedstrup, Christian F. Pedersen, Vivi K. Andersen, Jane Lund Ugelvig, Sofie V. Larsen, Nicolaj K. Knudsen, Mads F. |
author_sort |
Egholm, David L. |
title |
Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins |
title_short |
Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins |
title_full |
Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins |
title_fullStr |
Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins |
title_full_unstemmed |
Formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins |
title_sort |
formation of plateau landscapes on glaciated continental margins |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46481 https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2980 |
geographic |
Canada Greenland Norway |
geographic_facet |
Canada Greenland Norway |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46481 https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2980 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2980 |
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Nature Geoscience |
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10 |
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8 |
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592 |
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597 |
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1766253788427976704 |