Coeval fluctuations of the Greenland ice sheet and a local glacier, central East Greenland, during late glacial and early Holocene time

We present a 10 Be chronology of late glacial to early Holocene fluctuations of a Greenland ice sheet outlet glacier and the adjacent Milne Land ice cap in central East Greenland. Ages of boulders on bedrock indicate that both ice masses receded during the Younger Dryas (YD), likely due to rising su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Levy, Laura B., Kelly, Meredith A., Lowell, Thomas V., Hall, Brenda L., Howley, Jennifer A., Smith, Colby A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Be dating
Greenland
Late glacial
Moraines
Preboreal
Younger Dryas
Milne Land
East Greenland
glacier
Greenland ice core
Ice cap
ice core
Ice Sheet
Online Access:https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/5c1c63f5-af87-4470-94c9-31da9c7b512a
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067108
Description
Summary:We present a 10 Be chronology of late glacial to early Holocene fluctuations of a Greenland ice sheet outlet glacier and the adjacent Milne Land ice cap in central East Greenland. Ages of boulders on bedrock indicate that both ice masses receded during the Younger Dryas (YD), likely due to rising summer temperatures. Since Greenland ice core records register cold mean annual temperatures throughout the YD, these ice-marginal data support climate conditions characterized by strong seasonality. The ice sheet outlet glacier and ice cap deposited inner Milne Land Stade moraines at 11.4 ± 0.8 ka and 11.4 ± 0.6 ka, respectively (mean moraine ages and 1σ uncertainties). Based on the coeval moraine ages, we suggest that both ice masses responded to climate conditions acting on the ice margins, specifically ablation. Moreover, the ice sheet responded sensitively (i.e., on the same time scale as a small ice cap) to climate conditions.

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