Geological constraints on Antarctic palaeo-ice-stream retreat

Reconstructing ice-sheet dynamics from subglacial sediments and landforms. Special issue

Auteurs :
Ó COFAIGH, C.
DOWDESWELL, J.A.
EVANS, J.
LARTER, R.D.
Ó COFAIGH, C.

Description :
Submarine landforms preserved in bathymetric troughs on the Antarctic continental shelf show that the style of ice stream retreat across the shelf following the last glacial maximum varied between different troughs. Three styles of retreat are inferred from the geological evidence : rapid, episodic and slow. They indicate that Antarctic palaeo-ice-streams did not respond uniformly to external forcing at the end of the last glacial cycle. Rather, their diachronous retreat reflects the dominance of local controls in the form of bathymetry and drainage basin size. These data provide important constraints for numerical models that attempt to predict the dynamics of large polar ice sheets.


Type de document :
Article de monographie

Source :
Earth surface processes and landforms, issn : 0197-9337, 2008, vol. 33, n°. 4, p. 513-525, nombre de pages : 13, Collation : Illustration, Références bibliographiques : 46 ref.

Date :
2008

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, Chichester, Wiley