Upper mantle viscosity underneath northern Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula constrained by bedrock uplift and ice mass variability

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Samrat, NH, King, MA, Watson, C, Hay, A, Barletta, VR, Bordoni, A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. 2021
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Geophysics; Geodesy; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Marguerite; Rothera; Marguerite Bay; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097065; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/148439

We constrain viscoelastic Earth rheology and recent ice-mass change in the northern Marguerite Bay region of the Antarctic Peninsula. Global Positioning System (GPS) time series from Rothera and San Martin stations show bedrock uplift range of∼−0.81.8mm/year over 19992005 and 20162020 but ∼3.56.0mm/year over ∼20052016. Digital elevation models reveal substantial surface lowering, but at a lower rate since ∼2009. Using these data, we show that an elastic-only model cannot explain the non-linear uplift of the GPS sites but that a layered viscoelastic model can. We show close agreement between GPS uplift changes and viscoelastic models with effective elastic lithosphere thickness and upper-mantle viscosity ∼1095km and ∼0.1−910 18 Pa s, respectively. Our viscosity estimate is consistent with a north-south gradient in viscosity suggested by previous studies focused on specific regions within the Antarctic Peninsula and adds further evidence of the low viscosity upper mantle in the northern Antarctic Peninsula.