Journal
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
Volume 480, Issue -, Pages 75-86Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.09.014
Keywords
Antarctica; ice sheet; cosmogenic nuclides; Pliocene; Pleistocene; paleoclimate
Categories
Funding
- MBIE
- Victoria Doctoral Scholarship
- New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute grant
- Antarctica New Zealand - New Zealand Government (MBIE) [C05X1001]
- Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) [10925]
- University of Otago
- Antarctic Science Bursary grant
- AINSE grant [09015]
- New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) [C05X1001] Funding Source: New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE)
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Understanding past changes in the Antarctic ice sheets provides insight into how they might respond to future climate warming. During the Pliocene and Pleistocene, geological data show that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet responded to glacial and interglacial cycles by remaining relatively stable in its interior, but oscillating at its marine-based margin. It is currently not clear how outlet glaciers, which connect the ice sheet interior to its margin, responded to these orbitally-paced climate cycles. Here we report new ice surface constraints from Skelton Glacier, an outlet of the East Antarctic ice sheet, which drains into the Ross Ice Shelf. Our multiple-isotope (Be-10 and Al-26) cosmogenic nuclide data indicate that currently ice-free areas adjacent to the glacier underwent substantial periods of exposure and ice cover in the past. We use an exposure-burial model driven by orbitally-paced glacial-interglacial cycles to determine the probable ice surface history implied by our data. This analysis shows that: 1) the glacier surface has likely fluctuated since at least the Pliocene; 2) the ice surface was > 200 m higher than today during glacial periods, and the glacier has been thicker than present for similar to 75-90% of each glacial-interglacial cycle; and 3) ice cover at higher elevations possibly occurred for a relatively shorter time per Pliocene cycle than Pleistocene cycle. Our multiple-nuclide approach demonstrates the magnitude of ice surface fluctuations during the Pliocene and Pleistocene that are linked to marine-based ice margin variability. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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