TY - JOUR
T1 - Deep water inflow slowed offshore expansion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet at the Eocene-Oligocene transition
AU - Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele
AU - Gohl, Karsten
AU - Hochmuth, Katharina
AU - Salzmann, Ulrich
AU - Larter, Robert D.
AU - Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter
AU - Klages, Johann P.
AU - Science Team of Expedition PS104
N1 - Funding information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - The stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is threatened by the incursion of warm Circumpolar Deepwater which flows southwards via cross-shelf troughs towards the coast there melting ice shelves. However, the onset of this oceanic forcing on the development and evolution of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet remains poorly understood. Here, we use single- and multichannel seismic reflection profiles to investigate the architecture of a sediment body on the shelf of the Amundsen Sea Embayment. We estimate the formation age of this sediment body to be around the Eocene-Oligocene Transition and find that it possesses the geometry and depositional pattern of a plastered sediment drift. We suggest this indicates a southward inflow of deep water which probably supplied heat and, thus, prevented West Antarctic Ice Sheet advance beyond the coast at this time. We conclude that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has likely experienced a strong oceanic influence on its dynamics since its initial formation.
AB - The stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is threatened by the incursion of warm Circumpolar Deepwater which flows southwards via cross-shelf troughs towards the coast there melting ice shelves. However, the onset of this oceanic forcing on the development and evolution of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet remains poorly understood. Here, we use single- and multichannel seismic reflection profiles to investigate the architecture of a sediment body on the shelf of the Amundsen Sea Embayment. We estimate the formation age of this sediment body to be around the Eocene-Oligocene Transition and find that it possesses the geometry and depositional pattern of a plastered sediment drift. We suggest this indicates a southward inflow of deep water which probably supplied heat and, thus, prevented West Antarctic Ice Sheet advance beyond the coast at this time. We conclude that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has likely experienced a strong oceanic influence on its dynamics since its initial formation.
KW - Cryospheric science
KW - Environmental impact
KW - Geophysics
KW - Palaeoceanography
KW - Sedimentology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132180756&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s43247-022-00369-x
DO - 10.1038/s43247-022-00369-x
M3 - Article
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 3
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 36
ER -