New evidence for the LGM maximum extent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet on the eastern Amundsen Sea shelf


Contact
Johann.Klages [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

Defining the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) extent of the Antarctic Ice Sheet on today’s continental shelves remains challenging. Scouring iceberg keels that have largely eradicated potential seafloor evidence, as well as current winnowing and ambiguous dating significantly hamper meaningful reconstructions, particularly on outer shelf regions, where the ice sheet is assumed to have terminated during the LGM. Here we present new geological and geophysical evidence from the outer shelf portion of Abbot Trough in the eastern Amundsen Sea Embayment, reliably showing that this part of the continental shelf was not covered by grounded ice during the last glacial period. This is in contrast to previous reconstructions that suggest a full LGM shelf glaciation, and therefore opens new doors in reconstructing and simulating past ice-sheet conditions, as well as disclosing a new potential site for a glacial refuge, where shelf benthos may have survived the last glacial period.



Item Type
Conference (Invited talk)
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Primary Division
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Publication Status
Published
Event Details
Lamont MGG-SGT Seminar Series, 23 Nov 2016 - 23 Nov 2016, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory - Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA.
Eprint ID
42307
Cite as
Klages, J. P. (2016): New evidence for the LGM maximum extent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet on the eastern Amundsen Sea shelf , Lamont MGG-SGT Seminar Series, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory - Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA, 23 November 2016 - 23 November 2016 .


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