scholarly journals The deglaciation of coastal areas of southeast Greenland

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 1535-1544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence M Dyke ◽  
Anna LC Hughes ◽  
Camilla S Andresen ◽  
Tavi Murray ◽  
John F Hiemstra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The North ◽  
Exposure Ages ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Large marine-terminating glaciers around the margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet have retreated, accelerated and thinned over the last two decades. Relatively little is known about the longer term behaviour of the Greenland Ice Sheet, yet this information is valuable for assessing the significance of modern changes. We address this by reporting 11 new beryllium-10 (10Be) exposure ages from previously uninvestigated coastal areas across southeast Greenland. The new ages are combined with existing data from the region to assess the timing of glacier retreat after the Last Glacial Maximum. The results show that deglaciation occurred first in the north of the region (~68°N) and progressed southwards. This north–south progression is attributed to the influence of the warm Irminger Current on the ice margin. Areas in the south of the region were isolated from the warm waters by the shallow bathymetry of the continental shelf. This demonstrates that oceanographic forcing paced the deglaciation of southeast Greenland through the Younger Dryas and early Holocene. In most areas of southeast Greenland bedrock ages are systematically older than their counterpart boulder samples; this offset is likely the result of inherited 10Be content in bedrock surfaces. This suggests that subglacial erosion during the last glacial cycle was insufficient to completely remove pre-existing 10Be content. Alternatively, this pattern may be the signature of a substantial retreat and advance cycle prior to final Holocene deglaciation.

scholarly journals Ice-age ice-sheet rheology: constraints from the Last Glacial Maximum form of the Laurentide ice sheet

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 163-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Richard Peltier ◽  
David L. Goldsby ◽  
David L. Kohlstedt ◽  
Lev Tarasov
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Flow Law ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractState-of-the-art thermomechanical models of the modern Greenland ice sheet and the ancient Laurentide ice sheet that covered Canada at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are not able to explain simultaneously the observed forms of these cryospheric structures when the same, anisotropy-enhanced, version of the conventional Glen flow law is employed to describe their rheology. The LGM Laurentide ice sheet, predicted to develop in response to orbital climate forcing, is such that the ratio of its thickness to its horizontal extent is extremely large compared to the aspect ratio inferred on the basis of surface-geomorphological and solid-earth-geophysical constraints. We show that if the Glen flow law representation of the rheology is replaced with a new rheology based upon very high quality laboratory measurements of the stress-strain-rate relation then the aspect ratios of both the modern Greenland ice sheet and the Laurentide ice sheet, that existed at the LGM, are simultaneously explained with little or no retuning of the flow law.

scholarly journals Oxygen stable isotopes during the Last Glacial Maximum climate: perspectives from data–model (<i>i</i>LOVECLIM) comparison

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1939-1955 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Caley ◽  
D. M. Roche ◽  
C. Waelbroeck ◽  
E. Michel
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Data Model ◽  
Model Comparison ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The North ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. We use the fully coupled atmosphere–ocean three-dimensional model of intermediate complexity iLOVECLIM to simulate the climate and oxygen stable isotopic signal during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 000 years). By using a model that is able to explicitly simulate the sensor (δ18O), results can be directly compared with data from climatic archives in the different realms. Our results indicate that iLOVECLIM reproduces well the main feature of the LGM climate in the atmospheric and oceanic components. The annual mean δ18O in precipitation shows more depleted values in the northern and southern high latitudes during the LGM. The model reproduces very well the spatial gradient observed in ice core records over the Greenland ice sheet. We observe a general pattern toward more enriched values for continental calcite δ18O in the model at the LGM, in agreement with speleothem data. This can be explained by both a general atmospheric cooling in the tropical and subtropical regions and a reduction in precipitation as confirmed by reconstruction derived from pollens and plant macrofossils. Data–model comparison for sea surface temperature indicates that iLOVECLIM is capable to satisfyingly simulate the change in oceanic surface conditions between the LGM and present. Our data–model comparison for calcite δ18O allows investigating the large discrepancies with respect to glacial temperatures recorded by different microfossil proxies in the North Atlantic region. The results argue for a strong mean annual cooling in the area south of Iceland and Greenland between the LGM and present (> 6 °C), supporting the foraminifera transfer function reconstruction but in disagreement with alkenones and dinocyst reconstructions. The data–model comparison also reveals that large positive calcite δ18O anomaly in the Southern Ocean may be explained by an important cooling, although the driver of this pattern is unclear. We deduce a large positive δ18Osw anomaly for the north Indian Ocean that contrasts with a large negative δ18Osw anomaly in the China Sea between the LGM and the present. This pattern may be linked to changes in the hydrological cycle over these regions. Our simulation of the deep ocean suggests that changes in δ18Osw between the LGM and the present are not spatially homogeneous. This is supported by reconstructions derived from pore fluids in deep-sea sediments. The model underestimates the deep ocean cooling thus biasing the comparison with benthic calcite δ18O data. Nonetheless, our data–model comparison supports a heterogeneous cooling of a few degrees (2–4 °C) in the LGM Ocean.

scholarly journals Constraining the Last Glacial Maximum climate by data-model (<i>i</i>LOVECLIM) comparison using oxygen stable isotopes

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Caley ◽  
D. M. Roche ◽  
C. Waelbroeck ◽  
E. Michel
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Data Model ◽  
Model Comparison ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The North ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. We use the fully coupled atmosphere-ocean three-dimensional model of intermediate complexity iLOVECLIM to simulate the climate and oxygen stable isotopic signal during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 000 yr). By using a model that is able to explicitly simulate the sensor (δ18O), results can be directly compared with data from climatic archives in the different realms. Our results indicate that iLOVECLIM reproduces well the main feature of the LGM climate in the atmospheric and oceanic components. The annual mean δ18O in precipitation shows more depleted values in the northern and southern high latitudes during the LGM. The model reproduces very well the spatial gradient observed in ice core records over the Greenland ice-sheet. We observe a general pattern toward more enriched values for continental calcite δ18O in the model at the LGM, in agreement with speleothem data. This can be explained by both a general atmospheric cooling in the tropical and subtropical regions and a reduction in precipitation as confirmed by reconstruction derived from pollens and plant macrofossils. Data-model comparison for sea surface temperature indicates that iLOVECLIM is capable to satisfyingly simulate the change in oceanic surface conditions between the LGM and present. Our data-model comparison for calcite δ18O allows investigating the large discrepancies with respect to glacial temperatures recorded by different microfossil proxies in the North Atlantic region. The results argue for a trong mean annual cooling between the LGM and present (> 6°C), supporting the foraminifera transfer function reconstruction but in disagreement with alkenones and dinocyst reconstructions. The data-model comparison also reveals that large positive calcite δ18O anomaly in the Southern Ocean may be explained by an important cooling, although the driver of this pattern is unclear. We deduce a large positive δ18Osw anomaly for the north Indian Ocean that contrasts with a large negative δ18Osw anomaly in the China Sea between the LGM and present. This pattern may be linked to changes in the hydrological cycle over these regions. Our simulation of the deep ocean suggests that changes in δ18Osw between the LGM and present are not spatially homogenous. This is supported by reconstructions derived from pore fluids in deep-sea sediments. The model underestimates the deep ocean cooling thus biasing the comparison with benthic calcite δ18O data. Nonetheless, our data-model comparison support a heterogeneous cooling of few degrees (2–4°C) in the LGM Ocean.

Cosmogenic exposure dating in arctic glacial landscapes: implications for the glacial history of northeastern Baffin Island, Arctic Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason P Briner ◽  
Gifford H Miller ◽  
P Thompson Davis ◽  
Robert C Finkel
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cover ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Exposure Dating ◽  
New Information ◽  
Exposure Ages ◽  
The Last Glacial

Cosmogenic exposure dating and detailed glacial-terrain mapping from the Clyde Foreland, Baffin Island, Arctic Canada, reveal new information about the extent and dynamics of the northeastern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the last glacial maximum (LGM). The Clyde Foreland is composed of two distinct landscape zones: (1) glacially scoured terrain proximal to the major sources of Laurentide ice that flowed onto the foreland, and (2) ice distal unscoured sectors of the foreland. Both zones are draped with erratics and dissected by meltwater channels, indicating past ice cover. We interpret the two landscape classes in terms of ice sheet erosive ability linked with basal thermal regime: glacially scoured terrain was occupied by erosive warm-based ice, and unscoured terrain was last occupied by non-erosive cold-based ice. Cosmogenic exposure ages from >100 erratics from the two landscape types have different age distributions. Cosmogenic exposure ages from the glacially scoured areas suggest ice cover during the LGM, followed by deglaciation between ~15 and ~12 ka. In the unscoured lowlands, the cosmogenic exposure ages have multiple modes ranging between ~12 and ~50 ka, suggesting multiple periods of cold-based ice cover during the last glacial cycle. In landscapes covered by cold-based ice, large numbers of cosmogenic exposure ages are required for elucidating glacial histories.

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