Arctic Ocean ice cover; Geologic history and climatic significance
-
Published:January 01, 1990
Abstract
The Arctic Ocean is unique among the world’s oceans because of its perennial ice cover. The geologic and climatologic factors that contributed to development of the Arctic Ocean ice cover are understood in a general way, even though the precise mechanism and time during the Cenozoic that the first ice cover formed are not known. Data concerning climatological processes that encouraged development of an Arctic Ocean ice cover have developed from the general understanding of the paleogeographic sequence of events since the last major time of ice-free conditions during the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic. The lack of facts concerning...
Figures & Tables
Contents
The Arctic Ocean Region

Most Quaternary sediments in North America north of 45 ON post-date the last deglaciation. This volume looks at those extensive deposits from the standpoints of timing, cause, and mechanism of the wastage of North American ice during the last deglaciation and the accompanying environmental changes in the nonglaciated and deglaciated areas. It particularly examines the mechanisms by which a mass of ice equivalent to 100 m of global sea-level was returned to the ocean within about 8,000 years. A truly comprehensive synthesis of marine and terrestrial information in 22 chapters grouped into five sections: Chronology of Disintegration of the North American Ice Sheets, Ice Core and Other Glaciological Data, the Nonglacial Physical Record on the Continent, Biological Record on the Continent, and Analysis and Summary. Includes two oversize color plates showing time-series maps of pollen densities and vegetation changes since 18 ka.