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Records of past ice sheet fluctuations in interior East Antarctica

Open-File Report 2007-1047-SRP-106
By: , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20071047SRP106

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Abstract

The results of a land-based multi-disciplinary study of the past ice surface elevation in the Grove Mountains of interior East Antarctica support a dynamic evolution of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). Moraine boulders of sedimentary rocks and spore pollen assemblage imply a significant shrinkage of the EAIS, with its margin retreating south of the Grove Mountains (~450 km south of recent coast line) before the middle Pliocene. The exposure ages indicate that the ice sheet subsequently re-advanced, with the ice surface rising locally at least 450 m higher than today. It then went back down constantly from before 2.3 Ma to 1.6 Ma. The glacial topography and existence of soil show that the ice surface fluctuation continued since the early Quaternary, but with highest levels never exceeding ~100 m higher than today.

Suggested Citation

Liu, X., Huang, F., Kong, P., Fang, A., and Li, X., 2007, Records of past ice sheet fluctuations in interior East Antarctica: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1047-SRP-106, 4 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20071047SRP106.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Records of past ice sheet fluctuations in interior East Antarctica
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2007-1047-SRP-106
DOI 10.3133/ofr20071047SRP106
Year Published 2007
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Description 4 p.
Larger Work Type Report
Larger Work Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Larger Work Title Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World--Online Proceedings for the Tenth International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences. Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.--August 26 to September 1, 2007
Other Geospatial Antarctica
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Additional publication details