Ross Embayment Research Articles

Ross Sea paleo-ice sheet drainage and deglacial history during and since the LGM

Onshore and offshore studies show that an expanded, grounded ice sheet occupied the Ross Sea Embayment during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Results from studies of till provenance and the orientation of geomorphic features on the continental shelf show that more than half of the grounded ice sheet consisted of East Antarctic ice flowing through Transantarctic Mountain (TAM) outlet glaciers; the remainder came from West Antarctica. Terrestrial data indicate little or no thickening in the upper catchment regions in both West and East Antarctica during the LGM. In contrast, evidence from the mouths of the southern and central TAM outlet glaciers indicate surface elevations between 1000 m and 1100 m (above present-day sea level). Farther north along the western margin of the Ross Ice Sheet, surface elevations reached 720 m on Ross Island, and 400 m at Terra Nova Bay. Evidence from Marie Byrd Land at the eastern margin of the ice sheet indicates that the elevation near the present-day grounding line was more than 800 m asl, while at Siple Dome in the central Ross Embayment, the surface elevation was about 950 m asl. Farther north, evidence that the ice sheet was grounded on the middle and the outer continental shelf during the LGM implies that surface elevations had to be at least 100 m above the LGM sea level. The apparent low surface profile and implied low basal shear stress in the central and eastern embayment suggests that although the ice streams may have slowed during the LGM, they remained active.Ice-sheet retreat from the western Ross Embayment during the Holocene is constrained by marine and terrestrial data. Ages from marine sediments suggest that the grounding line had retreated from its LGM outer shelf location only a few tens of kilometer to a location south of Coulman Island by ∼13 ka BP. The ice sheet margin was located in the vicinity of the Drygalski Ice Tongue by ∼11 ka BP, just north of Ross Island by ∼7.8 ka BP, and near Hatherton Glacier by ∼6.8 ka BP. Farther south, 10Be exposure ages from glacial erratics on nunataks near the mouths of Reedy, Scott and Beardmore Glaciers indicate thinning during the mid to late Holocene, but the grounding line did not reach its present position until 2 to 3 ka BP. Marine dates, which are almost exclusively Acid Insoluble Organic (AIO) dates, are consistently older than those derived from terrestrial data. However, even these ages indicate that the ice sheet experienced significant retreat after ∼13 ka BP. Geomorphic features indicate that during the final stages of ice sheet retreat ice flowing through the TAM remained grounded on the shallow western margin of Ross Sea.The timing of retreat from the central Ross Sea remains unresolved; the simplest reconstruction is to assume that the grounding line here started to retreat from the continental shelf more or less in step with the retreat from the western and eastern sectors. An alternative hypothesis, which relies on the validity of radiocarbon ages from marine sediments, is that grounded ice had retreated from the outer continental shelf prior to the LGM. More reliable ages from marine sediments in the central Ross Embayment are needed to test and validate this hypothesis.

Glacial geomorphology of the Victoria Valley System, Ross Sea Region, Antarctica

During the 2011–2012 austral summer, we had the opportunity to verify a surficial geology map prepared nearly 50years ago for the Victoria Valley system (VVS), the largest of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. We used high-resolution landsat images and a digital elevation model to identify landforms and prepare detailed maps of each of the five valleys in the VVS, including lateral and end moraines, rock glaciers, gelifluction sheets, gravel ripples, and hummocky and ice-cored drifts. Our mapping suggests that the Bull drift is less extensive than previously thought, attains a maximum elevation of ~750m in Balham and Barwick Valleys and the upper Bull Pass region, and does not occur in McKelvey Valley. We found Insel drift to 850m elevation in eastern McKelvey Valley and upper Bull Pass and were able to trace Insel drift down Bull Pass where it becomes Peleus drift in Wright Valley. The Victoria Lower Glacier likely responded to grounding of ice in the Ross Embayment and was out-of-phase with alpine glaciers elsewhere in the VVS. We amplified and quantified Calkin's relative chronology and provide here our multiple-parameter relative chronology for the McMurdo Dry Valleys that is based on surface-boulder weathering, soil weathering, salt stage, degree of development of the desert pavement, and form of patterned ground. Except for Victoria Lower Valley, we correlate Packard drift with Taylor II drift (ca., 120ka), Vida drift with Taylor III drift (ca., 300ka), Bull drift with Taylor IVb drift (2.7–3.5Ma, and Insel drift with Peleus drift (>3.7Ma, <5.4Ma). The lack of a strong correlation between soil salt stage and depth of visible salts with elevation leads us to question whether a high-level lake (ca., 200m deep) existed in the VVS during the early Holocene.

Late Quaternary climate variability as recorded by micropalaeontological diatom data and geochemical data in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica

AbstractCores acquired from the Ross Sea continental shelf and continental slope during the XXX Italian Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA) were analysed and yielded interesting micropalaeontological, biostratigraphic diatom results and palaeoceanographic implications. These multi-proxy analyses enabled us to reconstruct the glacial/deglacial history of this sector of the Ross embayment over the last 40 000 years, advancing our understanding of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) environmental and sedimentological processes linked to the Ross Sea ice sheet/ice shelf fluctuations in a basin and continental-slope environment, and allowed us to measure some of the palaeoceanographic dynamics. The central sector of the Ross Sea and part of its coast (south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue) enjoyed open marine conditions in the pre-LGM era (27 500–24 000 years bp). The retreat of the ice sheet could have been influenced by a southward shift of a branch of the Ross gyre, which triggered early deglaciation at c. 18 600 cal bp with a significant Modified Circumpolar Deep Water inflow over the continental slope at c. 14 380 cal BP. We assume that a lack of depositional material in each core, although at different times, represents a hiatus. Other than problems in core collection, this could be due to the onset of modern oceanographic conditions, with strong gravity currents and strong High Salinity Shelf Water exportation. Moreover, we presume that improvements in biostratigraphy, study of reworked diatom taxa, and lithological and geochemical analyses will provide important constraints for the reconstruction of the LGM grounding line, ice-flow lines and ice-flow paths and an interesting tool for reconstructing palaeo-sub-bottom currents in this sector of the Ross embayment.

History of the grounded ice sheet in the Ross Sea sector of Antarctica during the Last Glacial Maximum and the last termination

Abstract Knowledge of variations in the extent and thickness of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is key for understanding the behaviour of Southern Hemisphere glaciers during the last ice age and for addressing issues involving global sea level, ocean circulation and climate change. Insight into past ice-sheet behaviour also will aid predictions of future ice-sheet stability. Here, we review terrestrial evidence for changes in ice geometry that occurred in the Ross Sea sector of Antarctica at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during subsequent deglaciation. During the LGM, a thick grounded ice sheet extended close to the continental shelf edge in the Ross Embayment. This ice reached surface elevations of more than 1000 m along the coast of the central and southern Transantarctic Mountains and Marie Byrd Land. The local LGM occurred by 18 ka on the coast, but as late as 7–10 ka inland. The first significant thinning took place at roughly 13 ka, with most ice loss happening in the Holocene. This history makes it unlikely that the Ross Sea sector was a major contributor to meltwater pulse 1A (MWP 1A). Resolution of a possible Antarctic origin for MWP 1A awaits detailed reconstructions from all sectors of the ice sheet.

Provenance indicators of West Antarctic subglacial till composition and past ice stream flow directions in the Ross Embayment, Antarctica

Provenance indicators of West Antarctic subglacial till composition and past ice stream flow directions in the Ross Embayment, Antarctica

Stability of landforms in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys during Pleistocene interglacials: a regional modeling study of the Ross Embayment

Continental drift processes such as major gateway openings have been historically advocated to explain the distribution of marine benthic taxa in the Southern Ocean (SO). The separation between Antarctic Peninsula and the southern tip of South America together with the onset of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) represent the final step for the complete isolation of the Antarctic region. However, there is still controversy concerning the timing and mode of this process, and especially about the role of the Scotia Arc geodynamics in the development of a fully deep and intensified ACC circulation. Based on mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I (COI) sequences obtained from different taxa, we performed molecular comparisons between Antarctic and South American relatives to provide independent time estimations of Antarctica's isolation. We include in the analyses congeneric Antarctic and Patagonian near-shore marine benthic invertebrates including indirect developers (Nacella, Yoldia, Sterechinus, and Parbolasia) and brooders (Xymenopsis and Trophonella). Considering the levels of genetic differentiation between relatives from both regions and assuming the molecular clock hypothesis, we estimated the onset of their respective divergence. On one hand, similar levels of genetic distance in broadcast–spawners (7%–8.3%) support the hypothesis that the development of an effective barrier between Antarctica and South America occurred almost simultaneously for these groups. Divergence time estimations based on specific substitution rates indicate that the separation occurred near the Mio-Pliocene transition, long after the physical separation of both continents. Genetic distance and divergence time estimation in direct developers indicate an older separation time, close to the mid-Miocene. Even when the analyzed groups included both broadcast–spawners and brooder organisms, the divergence between Antarctic and South America lineages rather than being related to processes of continental drift, seems to be associated more to major changes in the Southern Ocean such as the evolution of the Scotia Arc and the deepening of the Drake Passage. Accordingly, these results support a genetic continuity between Antarctica and South America, probably along the Scotia Ridge, until the middle Miocene and a late ACC intensification at the Mio-Pliocene boundary.

Reprint of: Modeling Antarctic ice sheet and climate variations during Marine Isotope Stage 31

Marine Isotope Stage 31 (MIS-31) is one of the major interglacials of the early Pleistocene ~1.08 to 1.06Ma. Data from proximal sediment cores around several sectors of Antarctica indicate strong sea surface warming and ice shelf and sea ice retreat. Benthic deep-sea-core δ18O values at this time are some of the lowest of the Pleistocene, indicating both deep sea warming and reduced global ice volume. A coeval alignment of orbital parameters produces one of the strongest high-latitude summer insolation anomalies of the last several million years. Here we use a 3-D ice sheet-shelf model to simulate the evolution of Antarctic ice sheets through the event, and a global climate model to simulate temperatures and sea ice during peak Antarctic warmth. The ice model predicts nearly complete collapse and subsequent recovery of marine ice in West Antarctica, and the ice and climate model results agree well with proximal sediment core data in the Ross Embayment recovered by the ANDRILL and Cape Roberts drilling projects. The dominant forcing is found to be variations in sub-ice-shelf oceanic melting, with insignificant surface melting of terrestrial ice flanks even during peak warmth. Implications are noted in light of other observations and theories of Pliocene–Pleistocene Antarctic ice sheet variability that do involve surface melt.

Modeling Antarctic ice sheet and climate variations during Marine Isotope Stage 31

Marine Isotope Stage 31 (MIS-31) is one of the major interglacials of the early Pleistocene ~1.08 to 1.06Ma. Data from proximal sediment cores around several sectors of Antarctica indicate strong sea surface warming and ice shelf and sea ice retreat. Benthic deep-sea-core δ18O values at this time are some of the lowest of the Pleistocene, indicating both deep sea warming and reduced global ice volume. A coeval alignment of orbital parameters produces one of the strongest high-latitude summer insolation anomalies of the last several million years. Here we use a 3-D ice sheet-shelf model to simulate the evolution of Antarctic ice sheets through the event, and a global climate model to simulate temperatures and sea ice during peak Antarctic warmth. The ice model predicts nearly complete collapse and subsequent recovery of marine ice in West Antarctica, and the ice and climate model results agree well with proximal sediment core data in the Ross Embayment recovered by the ANDRILL and Cape Roberts drilling projects. The dominant forcing is found to be variations in sub-ice-shelf oceanic melting, with insignificant surface melting of terrestrial ice flanks even during peak warmth. Implications are noted in light of other observations and theories of Pliocene–Pleistocene Antarctic ice sheet variability that do involve surface melt.

Reprint of: Revised magnetostratigraphic chronologies for New Harbour drill cores, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

The Taylor Valley (DVDP-10, -11) and Ferrar Fiord (CIROS-2) drill cores offer a window into the evolution of southern Victoria Land glaciers and the Antarctic climate system during the late-Neogene. Here we present new magnetostratigraphic chronologies, which we use to correlate the drill core successions with onshore dry-valleys geomorphic records and offshore deep-ocean records. Magnetostratigraphies were constructed using stepwise AF and/or thermal demagnetisation of discrete specimens from the drill cores. Correlation of magnetostratigraphies with the magnetic polarity timescale was guided by biostratigraphic and radiometric constraints. We recognise five styles of sedimentation in the Taylor/Ferrar fiords, which we correlate with discrete climate phases. During the latest Miocene–early Pliocene, wet based glaciers filled the Taylor and Ferrar fiords with active sedimentation in the Taylor Fiord and erosion of basement rocks in the Ferrar Fiord. Glaciers retreated during the Pliocene warm period leaving open marine conditions and deep fiords (>300m) at a time when the Ross Sea was free of ice and sea surface temperatures around Antarctica were at least 5°C warmer than today. We recognise the first significant cooling in DVDP-11 post 2.6Ma by a shift to current winnowed sediments sourced from the Ross Sea rather than from East Antarctic glaciers. Post 1.7Ma, lacustrine sediments were deposited behind ice-dammed lakes, which formed when West Antarctic ice expanded and grounded across the Ross Embayment and abutted the Transantarctic Mountains.

Pleistocene variability of Antarctic Ice Sheet extent in the Ross Embayment

Cores acquired by the ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf Project (AND-1B) provide the basis for a new sedimentation model for glacimarine depositional sequences that reflect cyclic glacial–interglacial fluctuations of a marine-based ice sheet in the western Ross Embayment over the past 2.0 Ma. Notwithstanding periodic erosion during advances of the ice sheet, uncertainties inherent to the sedimentological interpretation, and a limited number of chronological datums, it is clear that subglacial to grounding-zone sedimentation was dominant at the AND-1B site during the Late Pleistocene with interglacials being represented only by thin intervals of ice-shelf sediment. Each sequence is characterised by subglacial, massive diamictite that pass upwards into glacimarine diamictites and mudstones. This provides the first direct evidence that the marine-based Antarctic Ice Sheet has oscillated between a grounded and floating state at least 7 times in the Ross Embayment over the last 780ka, implying a Milankovitch orbital influence. An unconformity in AND-1B, that spans most (∼200 kyr) of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition is inferred to represent widespread expansion of a marine-based ice sheet in the Ross Embayment at 0.8 Ma. Prior to 1.0 Ma, interglacial periods are characterised by open-water conditions at the drill site with high abundances of volcanoclastic deposits and occasional diatomaceous sediments. These may have responded to precession (∼20-kyr) or obliquity (∼40-kyr) orbital control. The occurrence of 6.7 m of phonolitic glass reworked from Mt Erebus in interglacial deposits beneath Last Glacial Maximum till requires open ocean or ice shelf conditions in the western Ross Sea around the drill site within the past 250 ka and implies a Ross Ice Shelf similar to or less extensive than today during Marine Isotope Stage 7 or 5.

Early–Middle Miocene (17–14 Ma) Antarctic ice dynamics reconstructed from the heavy mineral provenance in the AND-2A drill core, Ross Sea, Antarctica

The Miocene Climatic Optimum (17–15Ma) and the rapid cooling of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (15–13Ma) together signal a major change in Earth's climate system. Here we examine the sediment provenance in the AND-2A drill core, located 10km from the East Antarctic coastline, to significantly increase our understanding of Antarctic ice development, glacial erosion, and transport in the Ross embayment during this time. Heavy minerals are very diagnostic of source rock types and assemblages can be used to track changes in the areas of maximum erosion under the margin of an ice sheet. We used a combination of optical mineralogy and SEM-EDS analysis to characterize the heavy mineral fractions of diamictites and sandstones in the upper 650m of AND-2A, which includes an expanded section dated between ~17 and 14Ma. We find four diagnostic heavy mineral assemblages distributed in intervals throughout the core: I. (650–552mbsf) elevated orthopyroxene, titanaugite, and carbonate contents; II. (552–308mbsf) abundant diopside, pigeonite, and orthopyroxene, with sillimanite and kyanite; III. (308–250mbsf) increasing contents of garnet and green hornblende; and IV. (250–20mbsf) abundant green hornblende, titanaugite, green augite, and carbonate. Based on the heavy mineral analysis we demonstrate that (1) the ice sheet was grounded on the shelf at ~17.7–17.1Ma, and it was eroding Cenozoic volcanic rocks to the south of the drillsite; (2) during the early part of the Miocene Climatic Optimum (~17.1–15.5Ma) the East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated landward into upland regions of the Transantarctic Mountains, where it eroded dolerite sills and high-grade metamorphic rocks; (3) immediately prior to the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (15.5–14.3Ma), the East Antarctic ice advanced and eroded granitic and low-medium grade metamorphic basement rocks in the coastal sections of the Transantarctic Mountains; and (4) following this initial phase of ice growth, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet coalesced into a larger than modern (interglacial) Antarctic Ice Sheet prior to 14.3Ma and eroded Cenozoic volcanic and low- to medium-grade metamorphic basement rocks to the south of the drillsite. Our results suggest that, although East Antarctica may have remained glaciated during the Miocene Climatic Optimum, ice extent was reduced to a configuration within the present interglacial extent, even during orbital-scale glacial maxima. Ice growth during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition commenced at ca. 15.5Ma in the Ross Sea basin, which is slightly earlier than inferred from deep-sea stable isotope records, but in agreement with low-latitude sea-level reconstructions.

Revised magnetostratigraphic chronologies for New Harbour drill cores, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

The Taylor Valley (DVDP-10, -11) and Ferrar Fiord (CIROS-2) drill cores offer a window into the evolution of southern Victoria Land glaciers and the Antarctic climate system during the late-Neogene. Here we present new magnetostratigraphic chronologies, which we use to correlate the drill core successions with onshore dry-valleys geomorphic records and offshore deep-ocean records. Magnetostratigraphies were constructed using stepwise AF and/or thermal demagnetisation of discrete specimens from the drill cores. Correlation of magnetostratigraphies with the magnetic polarity timescale was guided by biostratigraphic and radiometric constraints. We recognise five styles of sedimentation in the Taylor/Ferrar fiords, which we correlate with discrete climate phases. During the latest Miocene–early Pliocene, wet based glaciers filled the Taylor and Ferrar fiords with active sedimentation in the Taylor Fiord and erosion of basement rocks in the Ferrar Fiord. Glaciers retreated during the Pliocene warm period leaving open marine conditions and deep fiords (>300m) at a time when the Ross Sea was free of ice and sea surface temperatures around Antarctica were at least 5°C warmer than today. We recognise the first significant cooling in DVDP-11 post 2.6Ma by a shift to current winnowed sediments sourced from the Ross Sea rather than from East Antarctic glaciers. Post 1.7Ma, lacustrine sediments were deposited behind ice-dammed lakes, which formed when West Antarctic ice expanded and grounded across the Ross Embayment and abutted the Transantarctic Mountains.

Elevated East Antarctic outlet glaciers during warmer-than-present climates in southern Victoria Land

We document Plio-Pleistocene changes in the level of Taylor Glacier, an outlet glacier in southern Victoria Land that drains Taylor Dome on the periphery of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). Chronologic control comes from 3He cosmogenic-nuclide analyses of 27 boulders sampled from drifts and moraines in Kennar Valley, a small hanging valley that opens onto a peripheral lobe of Taylor Glacier in the Quartermain Mountains. Assuming a constant boulder-erosion rate of 10 cm Myr −1, our preferred age model spans the last 3.1 Myr and calls for stepped ice recession from a local highstand ~ 200 m above the present base of Taylor Glacier at the mouth of Kennar Valley. The texture and sedimentology of all mapped moraines and drifts indicate deposition from cold-based ice, analogous with the modern Taylor Glacier at the mouth of Kennar Valley. The Kennar Valley glacial record shows an uncharacteristic relationship with average global temperatures, exhibiting higher-than-present ice levels during globally warm periods, including the Pliocene climatic optimum (~ 3.1 Ma) and Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 31 (~ 1.07 Ma). The Kennar Valley record also suggests that the rate of ice-surface lowering accelerated after the mid-Pleistocene transition at ~ 0.9 Ma. Correlation of our moraine record with published reports for fluctuations of Taylor Glacier elsewhere in the Quartermain Mountains, and with a dated moraine record from Ferrar Glacier (a second outlet for Taylor Dome), reveals similar ice-surface changes, highlighting minor, but widespread ice recession in southern Victoria Land since the mid- to late-Pliocene. Our record for minimal variability in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet contrasts with recent data from nearby marine cores that call for dynamic fluctuations in the volume of grounded ice in the Ross Embayment, and significant reduction of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) during warmer-than-present intervals. Taken together, these records from the Ross Embayment call for considerable variation in the response of marine-based West Antarctic ice and terrestrial East Antarctic outlet glaciers during Plio-Pleistocene time.

Early Miocene basement clasts in ANDRILL AND-2A core and their implications for paleoenvironmental changes in the McMurdo Sound region (western Ross Sea, Antarctica)

A detailed provenance study of gravel-size clasts in the lowermost 438 m of the ANDRILL AND-2A core reveals a pattern of dynamic provenance variations which can be discussed for its implications for Early Miocene paleogeographical reconstructions and glaciological models in the McMurdo Sound region (Ross Sea). Clast distribution patterns and distribution of diagnostic basement clast assemblages indicative of three different provenance areas (Mulock–Skelton glacier, Carlyon–Darwin glacier and Koettlitz–Blue glacier regions) can be interpreted in terms of two distinctive ice dynamic scenarios: i) local fluctuations of outlet Transantarctic Mountains glaciers with dominant flows from W to E to the coast (documented in the lowermost core section, at ca. 20.2–20.1 Ma), and ii) larger volume of ice grounded at the regional scale in the Ross Embayment with flow lines running N–S close to the TAM front (in two periods, at ca. 19.7–19.7 Ma and at ca. 17.8–17.4 Ma). Moreover, in core sections including facies typical of open-marine to iceberg-influenced depositional environments, ice-rafted debris compositions reveal that during periods of glacial-minima setting sites of active calving processes dominantly occurred in areas including the present-day Blue–Koettlitz glacier coast, and subordinately in glacier tongues located further south in the Skelton–Mulock glacier area. Consistently with results of numerical modelling the reconstructed glaciological scenarios provide further constraints to paleogeographical reconstructions and glaciological models at the south-western tip of the Ross Sea during significant steps in Antarctic ice sheet evolution through the Early Miocene climatic events.

Amphibole-bearing metamorphic clasts in ANDRILL AND-2A core: A provenance tool to unravel the Miocene glacial history in the Ross Embayment (western Ross Sea, Antarctica)

A petrological investigation of amphibole-bearing metamorphic clasts in the ANDRILL AND-2A core allows a detailed comparison with similar lithologies from potential source regions, leading to the identification of three distinct provenance areas in the present-day segment of the Transantarctic Mountains between the Byrd Glacier and the Blue Glacier (Mulock-Skelton glacier area, the Britannia Range, and the Koettlitz-Blue glacier area in the Royal Society Range). A key role in the comparison is played by the wide range of Ca-amphibole compositions, type of intracrystalline zoning, mineral assemblages, and fabrics, which reflect different bulk rocks and metamorphic conditions. Ca-amphibole compositions and zonations also offer the opportunity for the application of geothermobarometry methods, which, consistent with literature data, provide further evidence that the three provenance regions correspond to distinct metamorphic terrains with pervasive medium-pressure amphibolite-grade conditions restricted to the Britannia Range. The study contributes new insights into the depositional processes in a variety of glacial environments ranging from open marine with icebergs to distal, proximal, and subglacial settings. The results also highlight the record of two distinct glacial scenarios reflecting either short-range (

Late Miocene submarine volcanism in ANDRILL AND-1B drill core, Ross Embayment, Antarctica

The ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf initiative recovered a 1285-m-long core (AND-1B) composed of cyclic glacimarine sediments with interbedded volcanic deposits. The thickest continuous volcanic sequence by far is ∼175 m long and is found at mid-core depths from 584.19 to 759.32 m below seafloor. The sequence was logged, and initial interpretations of lithostratigraphic subdivisions were made on ice during drilling in late 2006. Subsequent observations, based on image, petrographic, and scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopy analyses, provide a more detailed, revised interpretation of a thick submarine to emergent volcanic succession. The sequence is subdivided into two main subsequences on the basis of sediment composition, texture, and alteration style. The ∼70-m-thick lower subsequence consists mostly of monothematic stacked volcanic-rich mudstone and sandstone deposits, which are attributed to epiclastic gravity flow turbidite processes. This subsequence is consistent with abundant active volcanism that occurred at a distal site with respect to the drill site. The ∼105-m-thick upper subsequence consists mainly of interbedded tuff, lapilli tuff, and volcanic diamictite. A Late Miocene (6.48 Ma) 2.81-m-thick subaqueously emplaced lava flow occurs within the second subsequence. This second subsequence is attributed to recurring cycles of submarine to emergent volcanic activity that occurred proximal to the drill site. This new data set provides (1) the first rock evidence of significant Late Miocene submarine volcanic activity in the Ross Embayment during a period of no to limited glaciation, and (2) a rich stratigraphic record that elucidates submarine volcano-sedimentary processes in an offshore setting.

The stratigraphic signature of the late Cenozoic Antarctic Ice Sheets in the Ross Embayment

A 1284.87-m-long sediment core (AND-1B) from beneath the McMurdo sector of the Ross Ice Shelf provides the most complete single section record to date of fluctuations of the Antarctic Ice Sheets over the last 13 Ma. The core contains a succession of subglacial, glacimarine, and marine sediments that comprise ∼58 depositional sequences of possible orbital-scale duration. These cycles are constrained by a chronology based on biostratigraphic, magnetostratigraphic, and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar isotopic ages. Each sequence represents a record of a grounded ice-sheet advance and retreat cycle over the AND-1B drill site, and all sediments represent subglacial or marine deposystems with no subaerial exposure surfaces or terrestrial deposits. On the basis of characteristic facies within these sequences, and through comparison with sedimentation in modern glacial environments from various climatic and glacial settings, we identify three facies associations or sequence “motifs” that are linked to major changes in ice-sheet volume, glacial thermal regime, and climate. Sequence motif 1 is documented in the late Pleistocene and in the early Late Miocene intervals of AND-1B, and it is dominated by diamictite of subglacial origin overlain by thin mudstones interpreted as ice-shelf deposits. Motif 1 sequences lack evidence of subglacial meltwater and represent glaciation under cold, “polar”-type conditions. Motif 2 sequences were deposited during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene section of AND-1B and are characterized by subglacial diamictite overlain by a relatively thin proglacial-marine succession of mudstone-rich facies deposited during glacial retreat. Glacial minima are represented by diatom-bearing mudstone, and diatomite. Motif 2 represents glacial retreat and advance under a “subpolar” to “polar” style of glaciation that was warmer than present, but that had limited amounts of subglacial meltwater. Sequence motif 3 consists of subglacial diamictite that grades upward into a 5- to 10-m-thick proglacial retreat succession of stratified diamictite, graded conglomerate and sandstone, graded sandstone, and/or rhythmically stratified mudstone. Thick mudstone intervals, rather than diatomite-dominated deposition during glacial minima, suggest increased input of meltwater from nearby terrestrial sources during glacial minima. Motif 3 represents Late Miocene “subpolar”-style glaciation with significant volumes of glacially derived meltwater.

Provenance signatures of the Antarctic Ice Sheets in the Ross Embayment during the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene: The ANDRILL AND-1B core record

Significant down-core modal and compositional variations are described for granule- to cobble-sized clasts in the Early Pliocene to Middle/Late Miocene sedimentary cycles of the AND-1B drill core at the NW edge of the Ross Ice Shelf (McMurdo Sound). Long-term shifts in compositional patterns outline an evolving provenance which is interpreted as reflecting the combined effects and complex interactions among variations in ice volume, ice flow patterns and paleogeographic changes linked to the local tectonic and volcanic activity. High-frequency variations and the petrological features of the basement clast fraction provide direct information about the potential source regions during both glacial maxima and minima. Provenance of the more distal material is identified in the region between Ross Island and the Skelton–Mulock glacier area (South Victoria Land) (Plio-Late Miocene section) and in the Darwin Glacier catchment (Miocene section). The provenance shifts can be discussed for their implications on ice dynamic models for the glacial evolution recorded in the western Ross Embayment. Reconstructed ice flow directions are consistent with the glaciological models for the Last Glacial Maximum, and the provenance data corroborate the contributions of both the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets in influencing the modifications of the ice flow pattern of grounded ice in the western Ross Embayment in Miocene to Pleistocene time.

Obliquity-paced Pliocene West Antarctic ice sheet oscillations

Thirty years after oxygen isotope records from microfossils deposited in ocean sediments confirmed the hypothesis that variations in the Earth's orbital geometry control the ice ages, fundamental questions remain over the response of the Antarctic ice sheets to orbital cycles. Furthermore, an understanding of the behaviour of the marine-based West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) during the 'warmer-than-present' early-Pliocene epoch ( approximately 5-3 Myr ago) is needed to better constrain the possible range of ice-sheet behaviour in the context of future global warming. Here we present a marine glacial record from the upper 600 m of the AND-1B sediment core recovered from beneath the northwest part of the Ross ice shelf by the ANDRILL programme and demonstrate well-dated, approximately 40-kyr cyclic variations in ice-sheet extent linked to cycles in insolation influenced by changes in the Earth's axial tilt (obliquity) during the Pliocene. Our data provide direct evidence for orbitally induced oscillations in the WAIS, which periodically collapsed, resulting in a switch from grounded ice, or ice shelves, to open waters in the Ross embayment when planetary temperatures were up to approximately 3 degrees C warmer than today and atmospheric CO(2) concentration was as high as approximately 400 p.p.m.v. (refs 5, 6). The evidence is consistent with a new ice-sheet/ice-shelf model that simulates fluctuations in Antarctic ice volume of up to +7 m in equivalent sea level associated with the loss of the WAIS and up to +3 m in equivalent sea level from the East Antarctic ice sheet, in response to ocean-induced melting paced by obliquity. During interglacial times, diatomaceous sediments indicate high surface-water productivity, minimal summer sea ice and air temperatures above freezing, suggesting an additional influence of surface melt under conditions of elevated CO(2).

Distribution of Glacial Deposits, Soils, and Permafrost in Taylor Valley, Antarctica

ABSTRACTWe provide a map of lower and central Taylor Valley, Antarctica, that shows deposits from Taylor Glacier, local alpine glaciers, and grounded ice in the Ross Embayment. From our electronic database, which includes 153 sites from the coast 50 km upvalley to Pearse Valley, we show the distribution of permafrost type and soil subgroups according to Soil Taxonomy. Soils in eastern Taylor Valley are of late Pleistocene age, cryoturbated due to the presence of ground ice or ice-cemented permafrost within 70 cm of the surface, and classified as Glacic and Typic Haploturbels. In central Taylor Valley, soils are dominantly Typic Anhyorthels of mid-Pleistocene age that have dry-frozen permafrost within the upper 70 cm. Salt-enriched soils (Salic Anhyorthels and Petrosalic Anhyorthels) are of limited extent in Taylor Valley and occur primarily on drifts of early Pleistocene and Pliocene age. Soils are less developed in Taylor Valley than in nearby Wright Valley, because of lesser salt input from atmospheric deposition and salt weathering. Ice-cemented permafrost is ubiquitous on Ross Sea, pre–Ross Sea, and Bonney drifts that occur within 28 km of the McMurdo coast. In contrast, dry-frozen permafrost is prevalent on older (≥115 ky) surfaces to the west.