Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The Eurasian ice sheet extended across the Barents and Kara Seas during the late Quaternary, yet evidence on past ice dynamics and thermal structure across its huge eastern periphery remains largely unknown. Here we use three-dimensional se...
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Geological Society of America
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ftunivcam:oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/304762 2024-01-14T10:04:51+01:00 Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea Montelli, A Dowdeswell, JA Pirogova, A Terekhina, Y Tokarev, M Rybin, N Martyn, A Khoshtariya, V 2020 application/pdf https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/304762 https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.51844 eng eng Geological Society of America http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/g46968.1 Geology https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/304762 doi:10.17863/CAM.51844 All rights reserved 37 Earth Sciences 3709 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience 3705 Geology Article 2020 ftunivcam https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.51844 2023-12-21T23:24:11Z <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The Eurasian ice sheet extended across the Barents and Kara Seas during the late Quaternary, yet evidence on past ice dynamics and thermal structure across its huge eastern periphery remains largely unknown. Here we use three-dimensional seismic data sets covering ∼4500 km2 of the Kara Sea west of Yamal Peninsula, Siberia (71°–73°N), to identify, for the first time in the Russian Arctic seas, several buried generations of vast subglacial tunnel valley networks. Individual valleys are up to 50 km long and are incised as much as 400 m deep; among the largest tunnel valleys ever reported. This discovery represents the first documentation of an extensively warm-based eastern margin of the Eurasian ice sheet during the Quaternary glaciations. The presence of major subglacial channel networks on the shallow shelf, with no evidence of ice streaming, suggests that significant meltwater discharge and subsequent freshwater forcing of ocean circulation may be long-lived rather than catastrophic, occurring during the latest stages of deglaciation in areas where the ice sheet flows slowly and is grounded largely above sea level. Furthermore, the first account of an extensive hydrological network across large areas of the Kara Sea provides important empirical evidence for active subglacial hydrological processes that should be considered in future numerical modeling of the eastern margin of the Quaternary Eurasian ice sheet.</jats:p> Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ice Sheet Kara Sea Yamal Peninsula Siberia Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository Arctic Kara Sea Yamal Peninsula ENVELOPE(69.873,69.873,70.816,70.816) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcam |
language |
English |
topic |
37 Earth Sciences 3709 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience 3705 Geology |
spellingShingle |
37 Earth Sciences 3709 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience 3705 Geology Montelli, A Dowdeswell, JA Pirogova, A Terekhina, Y Tokarev, M Rybin, N Martyn, A Khoshtariya, V Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea |
topic_facet |
37 Earth Sciences 3709 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience 3705 Geology |
description |
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The Eurasian ice sheet extended across the Barents and Kara Seas during the late Quaternary, yet evidence on past ice dynamics and thermal structure across its huge eastern periphery remains largely unknown. Here we use three-dimensional seismic data sets covering ∼4500 km2 of the Kara Sea west of Yamal Peninsula, Siberia (71°–73°N), to identify, for the first time in the Russian Arctic seas, several buried generations of vast subglacial tunnel valley networks. Individual valleys are up to 50 km long and are incised as much as 400 m deep; among the largest tunnel valleys ever reported. This discovery represents the first documentation of an extensively warm-based eastern margin of the Eurasian ice sheet during the Quaternary glaciations. The presence of major subglacial channel networks on the shallow shelf, with no evidence of ice streaming, suggests that significant meltwater discharge and subsequent freshwater forcing of ocean circulation may be long-lived rather than catastrophic, occurring during the latest stages of deglaciation in areas where the ice sheet flows slowly and is grounded largely above sea level. Furthermore, the first account of an extensive hydrological network across large areas of the Kara Sea provides important empirical evidence for active subglacial hydrological processes that should be considered in future numerical modeling of the eastern margin of the Quaternary Eurasian ice sheet.</jats:p> |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Montelli, A Dowdeswell, JA Pirogova, A Terekhina, Y Tokarev, M Rybin, N Martyn, A Khoshtariya, V |
author_facet |
Montelli, A Dowdeswell, JA Pirogova, A Terekhina, Y Tokarev, M Rybin, N Martyn, A Khoshtariya, V |
author_sort |
Montelli, A |
title |
Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea |
title_short |
Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea |
title_full |
Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea |
title_fullStr |
Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former Eurasian Ice Sheet in the Kara Sea |
title_sort |
deep and extensive meltwater system beneath the former eurasian ice sheet in the kara sea |
publisher |
Geological Society of America |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/304762 https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.51844 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(69.873,69.873,70.816,70.816) |
geographic |
Arctic Kara Sea Yamal Peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Kara Sea Yamal Peninsula |
genre |
Arctic Ice Sheet Kara Sea Yamal Peninsula Siberia |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ice Sheet Kara Sea Yamal Peninsula Siberia |
op_relation |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/304762 doi:10.17863/CAM.51844 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.51844 |
_version_ |
1788059292446752768 |