The ice sheets of Northern Eurasia and their role in the history of the ocean

Abstract

Abstract On the basis of a systems analysis of the end moraines and indicators of ice flow, the authors contend that the northern margins of Eurasia, including the arctic continental shelves, were entirely and repeatedly glaciated by vast marine ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages. All available information on late Pleistocene ice‐marginal features was included in a numerical reconstruction of a three‐dimensional model of the Eurasian Ice Sheet. This reconstruction suggested that the ice sheet was formed by the merging of three major ice domes (the Scandinavian, Kara, and East Siberian domes) and one lesser one (the Chukchi dome). These domes covered respectively 3.4, 6.1, 2.3, and 0.4 million km2, and the total areal extent of the ice sheet was 12.2 million km2. A further 2 million km2 was covered by mountain glacier complexes, and no less than 3 million km2 was inundated beneath proglacial lakes. According to different determinations, the volume of the last Eurasian Ice Sheet was about 15 to 18 m...