Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake
Lakes beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet are of fundamental scientific interest for their ability to contain unique records of ice sheet history and microbial life in their sediments. However, no records of subglacial lake sedimentation have yet been acquired from beneath the interior of the ice sheet,...
Published in: | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.011 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/1/Smith%20et%20al%20-%20Evidence%20for%20the%20long-term%20sedimentary%20environment%20in%20an%20Antarctic%20subglacial%20lake%20OA.pdf |
id |
ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:36385 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:36385 2023-05-15T13:56:54+02:00 Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake Smith, Andrew M. Woodward, John Ross, Neil Bentley, Michael Hodgson, Dominic Siegert, Martin King, Edward 2018-12-15 text https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.011 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/1/Smith%20et%20al%20-%20Evidence%20for%20the%20long-term%20sedimentary%20environment%20in%20an%20Antarctic%20subglacial%20lake%20OA.pdf en eng Elsevier https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/1/Smith%20et%20al%20-%20Evidence%20for%20the%20long-term%20sedimentary%20environment%20in%20an%20Antarctic%20subglacial%20lake%20OA.pdf Smith, Andrew M., Woodward, John, Ross, Neil, Bentley, Michael, Hodgson, Dominic, Siegert, Martin and King, Edward (2018) Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 504. pp. 139-151. ISSN 0012-821X cc_by_4_0 CC-BY F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftunivnorthumb https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.011 2022-09-25T06:08:23Z Lakes beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet are of fundamental scientific interest for their ability to contain unique records of ice sheet history and microbial life in their sediments. However, no records of subglacial lake sedimentation have yet been acquired from beneath the interior of the ice sheet, and understanding of sediment pathways, processes and structure in subglacial lake environments remains uncertain. Here we present an analysis of seismic data from Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, showing that the lake bed comprises very fine-grained sediments deposited in a low energy environment, with low water- and sediment-fluxes. Minimum sediment thickness is 6 m, the result of prolonged low sedimentation rates. Based on the few available analogues, we speculate this sediment age range is a minimum of 150 ka, and possibly >1 Ma. Sediment mass movements have occurred, but they are rare and have been buried by subsequent sedimentation. We present a new conceptual model of subglacial lake sedimentation, allowing a framework for evaluating processes in subglacial lake environments, and for determining future lake access locations and interpreting subglacial lake samples. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) Antarctic The Antarctic Earth and Planetary Science Letters 504 139 151 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnorthumb |
language |
English |
topic |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Smith, Andrew M. Woodward, John Ross, Neil Bentley, Michael Hodgson, Dominic Siegert, Martin King, Edward Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake |
topic_facet |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
description |
Lakes beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet are of fundamental scientific interest for their ability to contain unique records of ice sheet history and microbial life in their sediments. However, no records of subglacial lake sedimentation have yet been acquired from beneath the interior of the ice sheet, and understanding of sediment pathways, processes and structure in subglacial lake environments remains uncertain. Here we present an analysis of seismic data from Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, showing that the lake bed comprises very fine-grained sediments deposited in a low energy environment, with low water- and sediment-fluxes. Minimum sediment thickness is 6 m, the result of prolonged low sedimentation rates. Based on the few available analogues, we speculate this sediment age range is a minimum of 150 ka, and possibly >1 Ma. Sediment mass movements have occurred, but they are rare and have been buried by subsequent sedimentation. We present a new conceptual model of subglacial lake sedimentation, allowing a framework for evaluating processes in subglacial lake environments, and for determining future lake access locations and interpreting subglacial lake samples. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Andrew M. Woodward, John Ross, Neil Bentley, Michael Hodgson, Dominic Siegert, Martin King, Edward |
author_facet |
Smith, Andrew M. Woodward, John Ross, Neil Bentley, Michael Hodgson, Dominic Siegert, Martin King, Edward |
author_sort |
Smith, Andrew M. |
title |
Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake |
title_short |
Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake |
title_full |
Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake |
title_fullStr |
Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake |
title_sort |
evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an antarctic subglacial lake |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.011 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/1/Smith%20et%20al%20-%20Evidence%20for%20the%20long-term%20sedimentary%20environment%20in%20an%20Antarctic%20subglacial%20lake%20OA.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/36385/1/Smith%20et%20al%20-%20Evidence%20for%20the%20long-term%20sedimentary%20environment%20in%20an%20Antarctic%20subglacial%20lake%20OA.pdf Smith, Andrew M., Woodward, John, Ross, Neil, Bentley, Michael, Hodgson, Dominic, Siegert, Martin and King, Edward (2018) Evidence for the long-term sedimentary environment in an Antarctic subglacial lake. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 504. pp. 139-151. ISSN 0012-821X |
op_rights |
cc_by_4_0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.011 |
container_title |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
container_volume |
504 |
container_start_page |
139 |
op_container_end_page |
151 |
_version_ |
1766264500322828288 |