Holocene Deglaciation of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica

Surface exposure ages of glacial deposits in the Ford Ranges of western Marie Byrd Land indicate continuous thinning of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by more than 700 meters near the coast throughout the past 10,000 years. Deglaciation lagged the disappearance of ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Stone, John O, Balco, Gregory A, Sugden, David, Caffee, Marc W, Sass III, Louis C, Cowdery, Seth G, Siddoway, Christine
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2003
Subjects:
Antarctic
West Antarctica
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Byrd
Marie Byrd Land
Ford Ranges
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1842/461
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/299/5603/99
Description
Summary:Surface exposure ages of glacial deposits in the Ford Ranges of western Marie Byrd Land indicate continuous thinning of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by more than 700 meters near the coast throughout the past 10,000 years. Deglaciation lagged the disappearance of ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere by thousands of years and may still be under way. These results provide further evidence that parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are on a long-term trajectory of decline. West Antarctic melting contributed water to the oceans in the late Holocene and may continue to do so in the future.

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