The AA. present a revised reconstruction of the Ross ice drainage system of Antarctica at th Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) based on a recent convergence of terrestrial and marine data. The Ross drainage system includes all ice flowlines that enter
the marine Ross Embayment. Today, it encompasses one fourth of the ice-sheet surface, extending far inland into both East and West Antarctica.
This paper is part of the geologic foundation necessary to address 2 fundamental scientific questions. One concerns the contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global sea-level changes at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The second key question
involves the stability (instability) of the marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet. An understanding of the response of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to a variety of forcing mechanisms can come from examining its past behavior. Answers to these questions
require detailed mapping and chronology of glacial deposits in order to reconstruct the former changes in ice-sheet extent and volume.
During the Last Glacial Maximum, a coalescent ice mass consisting of the grounded Ross Sea ice sheet and an expanded Wilson Piedmont Glacier covered the southern Scott Coast. Based on marine deposits, features of marine erosion, radiocarbon dates
of raised beaches, marine shells, lacustrine algae, most recession of grounded ice in Ross Sea Embayment occurred in mid to late Holocene time, after deglacial sea-level rise due to melting of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets essentially was accomplished
The overall results in this paper afford a background for interpreting the glacial chronology of eastern Taylor Valley and for reconstructing a grounded ice sheet in the overall Ross Embayment at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)
Geochemical data and geophysical measurements from a 554-m ice-core from Taylor Dome, East Antarctica, provide the basis for climate reconstruction in the western Ross Embayment through the entire Wisconsinan and Holocene. Finally, the AA. discuss
the significance of the Taylor Dome record in the context of Antarctic ice sheet configuration, regional outlet and alpine glaciers, and global climate dynamics.
Radiocarbon chronology of Ross Sea drift, eastern Taylor Valley, Antarctica : evidence for a grounded ice sheet in the Ross Sea at the Last Glacial Maximum
Glacial and paleoclimatic history of the Ross ice drainage system of Antarctica. Special issue
More than 250 radiocarbon dates of lacustrine algae and marine shells afford a chronology for Ross Sea drift in eastern Taylor Valley. Four major drift sheets in eastern Taylor Valley are differentiated. Evidence from ice-dammed lakes in Taylor
Valley and from shells from McMurdo Sound suggests grounding-line retreat from the vicinity of Ross island between 6500 and 8340 C 14 yr BP. Rising sea level may have triggered internal mechanisms within the ice sheet that led to retreat, but did
not in itself drive continued ice-sheet recession. Ice retreat, once set in motion, continued in the absence of sea-level forcing.
Proglacial lake-ice conveyors : a new mechanism for deposition of drift in polar environments
Glacial and paleoclimatic history of the Ross ice drainage system of Antarctica. Special issue
This paper describes a new mechanism observed in a modern perennially ice-covered proglacial lake that documents the movement of glacial debris beyond the grounding line across the surface of the lake. This mechanism accounts for the absence
of moraines and other ice-contact features on the valley floors, as well as for the presence of the other deposits and landforms mentioned above.
Glacial and paleoclimatic history of the Ross ice drainage system of Antarctica. Special issue
This paper describes glacial drift at Cape Bird, located near the northern tip of Ross Island, that points to ice-surface elevations in excess of 590 m in north-eastern McMurdo Sound, consistent with the model of extensive grounded ice at the Last
Glacial and paleoclimatic history of the Ross ice drainage system of Antarctica. Special issue
The aim of this paper is to document the response of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) near the Dry Valleys to the excess warmth of the last interglaciation by establishing the behavior of Taylor Glacier. The AA. present a model for the deposition
Glacial and paleoclimatic history of the Ross ice drainage system of Antarctica. Special issue
This study focuses on glaciogenic sediments in Taylor Valley, which features Taylor Glacier, an outlet of the peripheral Taylor Dome of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). Here, the AA. present the geochronology of Bonney drift.