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GEOREF RECORD

Holocene stability of the Amundsen-Weddell ice divide, West Antarctica

N. Ross, M. J. Siegert, J. Woodward, A. M. Smith, H. F. J. Corr, M. J. Bentley, R. C. A. Hindmarsh, E. C. King and A. Rivera
Holocene stability of the Amundsen-Weddell ice divide, West Antarctica
Geology (Boulder) (October 2011) 39 (10): 935-938

Abstract

We analyze Holocene ice flow using global positioning system and radio-echo sounding data acquired near the Amundsen-Weddell ice divide, between Pine Island Glacier and the Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica. The data show that this part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) has maintained a stable ice flow regime and ice divide position for approximately 7000 yr. Independent glacial geological data, in support of this assertion, suggest that the interior of the WAIS west of the Ellsworth Mountains has thinned by only a few hundred meters since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and that the position of the ice divide may be recurrent over longer (more than 20 k.y., perhaps pre-Quaternary) time scales. We suggest that basal topography constrains ice flow in this sector of the WAIS, making the ice divide relatively insensitive to perturbations around the margins of the ice sheet compared with other ice divides. Large-scale forcing measured elsewhere in the WAIS as major reorganizations of the ice sheet surface and flowline pattern may be manifested only in simple vertical changes of the Amundsen-Weddell interior.


ISSN: 0091-7613
EISSN: 1943-2682
Coden: GLGYBA
Serial Title: Geology (Boulder)
Serial Volume: 39
Serial Issue: 10
Title: Holocene stability of the Amundsen-Weddell ice divide, West Antarctica
Affiliation: University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Pages: 935-938
Published: 201110
Text Language: English
Publisher: Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
References: 23
Accession Number: 2011-097146
Categories: Quaternary geology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. sketch maps
S75°00'00" - S65°00'00", W126°00'00" - W102°00'00"
S78°00'00" - S63°00'00", W60°00'00" - W18°00'00"
Secondary Affiliation: Northumbria University, GBR, United KingdomBritish Antarctic Survey, GBR, United KingdomDurham University, GBR, United KingdomCentro de Estudios Cientificos, CHL, Chile
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2017, American Geosciences Institute. Reference includes data from GeoScienceWorld, Alexandria, VA, United States. Reference includes data supplied by the Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO, United States
Update Code: 201150
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