Episodes of early Pleistocene West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat recorded by Iceberg Alley sediments

Bailey, Ian; Hemming, Sidney; Reilly, Brendan T.; Rollinson, Gavyn; Williams, Trevor; Weber, Michael E.; Raymo, Maureen E.; Peck, Victoria L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7948-6853; Ronge, Thomas A.; Brachfeld, Stefanie; O'Connell, Suzanne; Tauxe, Lisa; Warnock, Jonathan P.; Armbrecht, Linda; Cardillo, Fabricio G.; Du, Zhiheng; Fauth, Gerson; Garcia, Marga; Glueder, Anna; Guitard, Michelle; Gutjahr, Marcus; Hernández‐Almeida, Ivan; Hoem, Frida S.; Hwang, Ji‐Hwan; Iizuka, Mutsumi; Kato, Yuji; Kenlee, Bridget; Martos, Yasmina M.; Perez, Lara F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6229-4564; Seki, Osamu; Tripathi, Shubham; Zheng, Xufeng. 2022 Episodes of early Pleistocene West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat recorded by Iceberg Alley sediments. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 37 (7), e2022PA004433. 26, pp. 10.1029/2022PA004433

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Official URL: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.102...

Abstract/Summary

Ice loss in the Southern Hemisphere has been greatest over the past 30 years in West Antarctica. The high sensitivity of this region to climate change has motivated geologists to examine marine sedimentary records for evidence of past episodes of West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) instability. Sediments accumulating in the Scotia Sea are useful to examine for this purpose because they receive iceberg-rafted debris (IBRD) sourced from the Pacific- and Atlantic-facing sectors of West Antarctica. Here we report on the sedimentology and provenance of the oldest of three centimeter-scale coarse-grained layers recovered from this sea at IODP Site U1538. These layers are preserved in opal-rich sediments deposited ∼1.2 Ma during a relatively warm regional climate. Our microCT-based analysis of the layer’s in-situ fabric confirms its ice-rafted origin. We further infer that it is the product of an intense but short-lived episode of IBRD deposition. Based on the petrography of its sand fraction and the Phanerozoic 40Ar/39Ar ages of hornblende and mica it contains, we conclude that this IBRD was likely sourced from the Weddell Sea and/or Amundsen Sea embayment(s) of West Antarctica. We attribute the high concentrations of IBRD in these layers to ‘dirty’ icebergs calved from the WAIS following its retreat inland from its modern grounding line. These layers also sit at the top of a ∼366-m thick Pliocene and early Pleistocene sequence that is much more dropstone-rich than its overlying sediments. We speculate this fact may reflect that WAIS mass-balance was highly dynamic during the ∼41-kyr (inter)glacial world.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1029/2022PA004433
ISSN:	2572-4517
Additional Keywords:	Provenance, Ar-Ar, Scotia Sea, ice rafted debris, Antarctic Ice Sheet, West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Date made live:	21 Jun 2022 15:12 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532789

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1029/2022PA004433

ISSN:

2572-4517

Additional Keywords:

Provenance, Ar-Ar, Scotia Sea, ice rafted debris, Antarctic Ice Sheet, West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Date made live:

21 Jun 2022 15:12 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532789