Deglacial history of the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica from glacial geomorphology and cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating

The retreat history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is important for understanding rapid deglaciation, as well as to constrain numerical ice sheet models and ice loading models required for glacial isostatic adjustment modelling. There is particular debate about the extent of grounded ice in the Weddell Sea embayment at the Last Glacial Maximum, and its subsequent deglacial history. Here we provide a new dataset of geomorphological observations and cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure ages of erratic samples that constrain the deglacial history of the Pensacola Mountains, adjacent to the present day Foundation Ice Stream and Academy Glacier in the southern Weddell Sea embayment. We show there is evidence of at least two glaciations, the first of which was relatively old and warm-based, and a more recent cold-based glaciation. During the most recent glaciation ice thickened by at least 450 m in the Williams Hills and at least 380 m on Mt Bragg. Progressive thinning from these sites was well underway by 10 ka BP and ice reached present levels by 2.5 ka BP, and is broadly similar to the relatively modest thinning histories in the southern Ellsworth Mountains. The thinning history is consistent with, but does not mandate, a Late Holocene retreat of the grounding line to a smaller-than-present configuration, as has been recently hypothesized based on ice sheet and glacial isostatic modelling. The data also show that clasts with complex exposure histories are pervasive and that clast recycling is highly site-dependent. These new data provide constraints on a reconstruction of the retreat history of the formerly-expanded Foundation Ice Stream, derived using a numerical flowband model

A community-based geological reconstruction of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum

A robust understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglacial history since the Last Glacial Maximum is important in order to constrain ice sheet and glacial-isostatic adjustment models, and to explore the forcing mechanisms responsible for ice sheet retreat. Such understanding can be derived from a broad range of geological and glaciological datasets and recent decades have seen an upsurge in such data gathering around the continent and Sub-Antarctic islands. Here, we report a new synthesis of those datasets, based on an accompanying series of reviews of the geological data, organised by sector. We present a series of timeslice maps for 20 ka, 15 ka, 10 ka and 5 ka, including grounding line position and ice sheet thickness changes, along with a clear assessment of levels of confidence. The reconstruction shows that the Antarctic Ice sheet did not everywhere reach the continental shelf edge at its maximum, that initial retreat was asynchronous, and that the spatial pattern of deglaciation was highly variable, particularly on the inner shelf. The deglacial reconstruction is consistent with a moderate overall excess ice volume and with a relatively small Antarctic contribution to meltwater pulse 1a. We discuss key areas of uncertainty both around the continent and by time interval, and we highlight potential priorities for future work. The synthesis is intended to be a resource for the modelling and glacial geological community

The pre-glacial landscape of Antarctica

The geomorphology of the hidden subglacial landscape of Antarctica is relevant to our understanding of the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and also to that of global interactions between plate tectonics and surface processes. We believe that geomorphology has much to contribute, but that the lack of coherent hypotheses about the origins of the subglacial landscape is holding back understanding. This paper approaches the problem by using southern hemisphere land masses in Africa and Madagascar as analogues. We find that the Antarctic landscape evolved in a similar way to passive margin evolution in southern Africa. Rifting associated with the breakup of Gondwana changed river base levels and caused rapid erosion on the flanks of rifts and was accompanied by the uplift of rift-margin mountains. Rift-margin plains, often coastal or extending inland along large rivers, are backed by an escarpment, while low-gradient continental river basins characterised the interior of Antarctica. In East Antarctica ice has removed pre-existing regolith from lowlands and excavated 2–3 km troughs below sea level along the course of major trunk rivers. The micro-continents of West Antarctica are comparable to Madagascar and apparently share a similar topography with coastal plains, backing escarpments and interior plateaux

Landscape evolution of Antarctica

The relative roles of fluvial versus glacial processes in shaping the landscape of Antarctica have been debated since the expeditions of Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton in the early years of the 20th century. Here we build a synthesis of Antarctic landscape evolution based on the geomorphology of passive continental margins and former northern mid-latitude Pleistocene ice sheets. What makes Antarctica so interesting is that the terrestrial landscape retains elements of a record of change that extends back to the Oligocene. Thus there is the potential to link conditions on land with those in the oceans and atmosphere as the world switched from a greenhouse to a glacial world and the Antarctic ice sheet evolved to its present state. In common with other continental fragments of Gondwana there is a fluvial signature to the landscape in the form of the coastal erosion surfaces and escarpments, incised river valleys, and a continent-wide network of river basins. A selective superimposed glacial signature reflects the presence or absence of ice at the pressure melting point. Earliest continental-scale ice sheets formed around 34 Ma, growing from local ice caps centered on mountain massifs, and featured phases of ice-sheet expansion and contraction. These ice masses were most likely cold-based over uplands and warm-based across lowlands and near their margins. For 20 million years ice sheets fluctuated on Croll-Milankovitch frequencies. At ~14 Ma the ice sheet expanded to its maximum and deepened a preexisting radial array of troughs selectively through the coastal mountains and eroded the continental shelf before retreating to its present dimensions at ~13.5 Ma. Subsequent changes in ice extent have been forced mainly by sea-level change. Weathering rates of exposed bedrock have been remarkably slow at high elevations around the margin of East Antarctica under the hyperarid polar climate of the last ~13.5 Ma, offering potential for a long quantitative record of ice-sheet evolution with techniques such as cosmogenic isotope analysis