Excess ice loads in the Indian Ocean sector of East Antarctica during the last glacial period

An accurate reconstruction of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is essential in order to develop an understanding of ice-sheet responses to global climate changes. However, the erosive nature of ice-sheet expansion and the difficulty of accessing much of Antarctica make it challenging to obtain field-based ev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2021-10, Vol.49 (10), p.1182-1186
Main Authors: Ishiwa, Takeshige, Okuno, Jun'ichi, Suganuma, Yusuke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
absolute age
Antarctic ice sheet
Antarctica
C-14
carbon
Cenozoic
Climate change
East Antarctic ice sheet
East Antarctica
Geochronology
Geology
glacial environment
Glacial periods
Glaciation
Global climate
Global sea level
Ice
Ice ages
Ice loads
Ice sheets
isostatic compensation
Isotopes
Last Glacial Maximum
Load history
loading
Loads (forces)
Lutzow-Holm Bay
MIS 3
Oceans
paleoenvironment
Pleistocene
Polar environments
Prydz Bay
Quaternary
Quaternary geology
Queen Maud Land
radioactive isotopes
Sea level changes
Southern Ocean
thickness
upper Pleistocene
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Summary:An accurate reconstruction of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is essential in order to develop an understanding of ice-sheet responses to global climate changes. However, the erosive nature of ice-sheet expansion and the difficulty of accessing much of Antarctica make it challenging to obtain field-based evidence of ice-sheet and sea-level changes before the Last Glacial Maximum. Limited sedimentary records from Lützow-Holm and Prydz Bays in East Antarctica demonstrate that the sea level during Marine Isotope Stage 3 was close to the present level despite the global sea-level drop lower than -40 m. We demonstrate glacial isostatic adjustment modeling with refined Antarctic Ice Sheet loading histories. Our experiments reveal that the Indian Ocean sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet would have been required to experience excess ice loads before the Last Glacial Maximum in order to explain the observed sea-level highstands during Marine Isotope Stage 3. As such, we suggest that the Antarctic Ice Sheet partly reached its maximum thickness before the global Last Glacial Maximum.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G48830.1