Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:25:44.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cosmogenic nuclide exposure age constraints on the glacial history of the Lake Wellman area, Darwin Mountains, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2010

B.C. Storey ,
D. Fink ,
D. Hood ,
K. Joy ,
J. Shulmeister ,
M. Riger-Kusk  and
M.I. Stevens
B.C. Storey*
Affiliation:
Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
D. Fink
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Research, ANSTO, PMB1, Menai 2234, Australia
D. Hood
Affiliation:
Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
K. Joy
Affiliation:
Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
J. Shulmeister
Affiliation:
Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
M. Riger-Kusk
Affiliation:
Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
M.I. Stevens
Affiliation:
South Australian Museum, SA 5000, and School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA 5000, Adelaide, Australia
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We present direct terrestrial evidence of ice volume change of the Darwin and Hatherton glaciers which channel ice from the Transantarctic Mountains into the Ross Ice Shelf. Combining glacial geomorphology with cosmogenic exposure ages from 25 erratics indicates a pre-LGM ice volume at least 600 m thicker than current Hatherton ice elevation was established at least 2.2 million years ago. In particular, five erratics spread across a drift deposit at intermediate elevations located below a prominent moraine feature mapped previously as demarcating the LGM ice advance limits, give a well-constrained single population with mean 10Be age of 37.0 ± 5.5 ka (1σ). At lower elevations of 50–100 m above the surface of Lake Wellman, a further five samples from within a younger drift deposit range in exposure age from 1 to 19 ka. Our preferred age model interpretation, which is partly dependent on the selection of a minimum or maximum age-elevation model, suggests that LGM ice volume was not as large as previously estimated and constrains LGM ice elevation to be within ± 50 m of the modern Hatherton Glacier ice surface, effectively little different from what is observed today.

Keywords

cosmogenic exposure datingLast Glacial MaximumLatitudinal Gradient Project
Type
Research Article
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 22 , Special Issue 6: The Latitudinal Gradient Project (LGP) , December 2010 , pp. 603 - 618
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, B.J., Bardgett, R.D., Ayres, E., Wall, D.H., Aislabe, J., Bamforth, S., Bargagli, R., Cary, C., Cavacini, P., Connell, L., Convey, P., Fell, J.W., Frati, F., Hogg, I.D., Newsham, K.K., O’donnel, A., Russell, N., Seppelt, R.D. Stevens, M.I. 2006. Diversity and distribution of Victoria Land biota. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38, 3003–3018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balco, G., Stone, J.O., Lifton, N.A. Dunai, T.J. 2008. A complete and easily accessible means of calculating surface exposure ages or erosion rates from 10Be and 26Al measurements. Quaternary Geochronology, 3, 174–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentley, M.J. 1999. Volume of Antarctic ice at the Last Glacial Maximum and its impact on global sea level change. Quaternary Science Reviews, 18, 1569–1595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentley, M.J., Fogwill, C.J., Kubik, P.W. Sugden, D.E. 2006. Geomorphological evidence and cosmogenic 10Be/26Al exposure ages for the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 118, 1149–1159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bockheim, J.G., Wilson, S.C., Denton, G.H., Andersen, B.G. Stuiver, M. 1989. Late Quaternary ice-surface fluctuations of Hatherton Glacier, Transantarctic Mountains. Quaternary Research, 31, 229–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briner, J.P., Kaufman, D.S., Manley, W.F., Finkel, R.C. Caffee, M.W. 2005. Cosmogenic exposure dating of late Pleistocene moraine stabilization in Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 117, 1108–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briner, J.P., Miller, G.H., Davis, P.T., Bierman, P.R. Caffee, M. 2003. Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet dynamics in Arctic Canada inferred from young erratics perched on ancient tors. Quaternary Science Reviews, 22, 437–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brundin, L. 1970. Antarctic land faunas and their history. In Holdgate, M.W., ed. Antarctic ecology. London: Academic Press, 41–54.Google Scholar
Butler, E.R.T. 1999. Process environments on modern and raised beaches in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Marine Geology, 162, 105–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child, D., Elliot, G., Mifsud, C., Smith, A.M. Fink, D. 2000. Sample processing for earth science studies at ANTARES. Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research, 172, 856–860.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Convey, P. Stevens, M.I. 2007. Antarctic biodiversity. Science, 317, 1877–1878.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Convey, P., Gibson, J.A.E., Hillenbrand, C.-D., Hodgson, D.A., Pugh, P.J.A., Smellie, J.L. Stevens, M.I. 2008. Antarctic terrestrial life; challenging the history of the frozen continent? Biological Reviews, 83, 103–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Convey, P., Stevens, M.I., Hodgson, D.A., Smellie, J.L., Hillenbrand, C.-D., Barnes, D.K.A., Clarke, A., Pugh, P.J.A., Linse, K. Cary, C. 2009. Exploring biological constraints on the glacial history of Antarctica. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 3035–3048.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, H., Hall, B.L., Denton, G.H., Gades, A.M. Waddington, E.D. 1999. Past and future grounding-line retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science, 286, 280–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Denton, G.H. Hughes, T.J. 2002. Reconstructing the Antarctic Ice Sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 193–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabel, D., Fink, D., Fredinc, O., Harbord, J., Land, M. Stroeven, A.P. 2006. Exposure ages from relict lateral moraines overridden by the Fennoscandian ice sheet. Quaternary Research, 65, 136–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fink, D. Smith, A. 2007. An inter-comparison of 10Be and 26Al AMS reference standards and the 10Be half-life. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, B259, 600–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fink, D., McKelvey, B., Hambrey, M., Fabel, D. Brown, R. 2006. Pleistocene deglaciation chronology of the Radok Lake basin, Amery Oasis, northern Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica. Planetary Science Letters, 243, 229–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosse, J.C. Phillips, F.M. 2001. Terrestrial in situ cosmogenic nuclides: theory and application. Quaternary Science Reviews, 20, 1475–1560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gore, D.B., Rhodes, E.J., Augustinus, P.C., Leishman, M.R., Colhoun, E.A. Rees-Jones, J. 2001. Bunger Hills, East Antarctica: ice free at the Last Glacial Maximum. Geology, 29, 1103–1106.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haskell, T.R., Kennett, J.P. Prebble, W.M. 1964. Basement and sedimentary geology of the Darwin Glacier area. In Adie, R.J., ed. Antarctic geology. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 348–351.Google Scholar
Hood, D. 2010. The Pleistocene glacial history of the Lake Wellman area, Darwin Mountains, Antarctica. MSc thesis, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 168 pp. [Unpublished].Google Scholar
Howard-Williams, C., Peterson, D., Lyons, W.B., Cattaneo-Vietti, R. Gordon, S. 2006. Measuring ecosystem response in a rapidly changing environment: the Latitudinal Gradient Project. Antarctic Science, 18, 465–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huybrechts, P. 2002. Sea-level changes at the LGM from ice-dynamic reconstructions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets during the glacial cycles. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 203–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korschinek, G., Bergmaier, A., Faestermann, T., Gerstmann, U.C., Knie, K., Rugel, G., Wallner, A., Dillmann, I., Dollinger, G., von Gostomski, C.L., Kossert, K., Maiti, M., Poutivtsev, M. Remmert, A. 2009. A new value for the half-life of 10Be by heavy-ion elastic recoil detection and liquid scintillation counting. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, B, 268, 187–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lilly, K., Fink, D., Fabel, D. Lambek, K. 2010. Pleistocene dynamics of the interior East Antarctic ice sheet. Geology, 38, 703–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackintosh, A., White, D., Fink, D., Gore, D.B., Pickard, J. Fanning, P.C. 2007. Exposure ages from mountain dipsticks in Mac. Robertson Land, East Antarctica, indicate little change in ice-sheet thickness since the Last Glacial Maximum. Geology, 35, 551–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G.H., Wolfe, A.P., Steig, E.J., Sauer, P.E., Kaplan, M.R. Briner, J.P. 2002. The Goldilocks dilemma: big ice, little ice, or “just-right” ice in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 33–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakada, M. Lambeck, K. 1988. The melting history of the late Pleistocene Antarctic ice sheet. Nature, 333, 36–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishiizumi, K., Imamura, M., Caffee, M.W., Southon, J.R., Finkel, R.C. McAninch, J. 2007. Absolute calibration of 10Be AMS standards. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, B258, 403–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putkonen, J. Swanson, T. 2003. Accuracy of cosmogenic ages for moraines. Quaternary Research, 59, 255–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruprecht, U., Lumbsch, H.T., Brunauer, G., Green, T.G.A. Türk, R. 2010. Diversity of Lecidea (Lecideaceae, Ascomycota) species revealed by molecular data and morphological characters. Antarctic Science, 21, 10.1017/S0954102010000477.Google Scholar
Stevens, M. Hogg, I.D. 2006. Contrasting levels of mitochondrial DNA variability between mites (Penthalodidae) and sprigtails (Hypogastruridae) from the Trans-Antarctic Mountains suggest long-term effects of glaciation and life history on substitution rates, and speciation processes. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 38, 3171–3180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, M.I., Greenslade, P., Hogg, I.D. Sunnucks, P. 2006. Southern Hemisphere springtails: could any have survived glaciation of Antarctica? Molecular Biology & Evolution, 23, 874–882.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, M.I., Frati, F., McGaughran, A., Spinsanti, G. Hogg, I.D. 2007. Phylogeographic structure suggests multiple glacial refugia in northern Victoria Land for the endemic Antarctic springtail Desoria klovstadi, (Collembola, Isotomidae). Zoologica Scripta, 36, 201–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, J.O. 2000. Air pressure and cosmogenic isotope production. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 753–759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, J.O., Balco, G.A., Sugden, D.E., Caffee, M.W., Sass, L.C., Cowdery, S.G. Siddoway, C. 2003. Holocene deglaciation of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica. Science, 299, 99–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stroeven, A.P., Fabel, D., Hättestrand, C. Harbor, J. 2002. A relict landscape in the centre of Fennoscandian glaciation: cosmogenic radionuclide evidence of tors preserved through multiple glacial cycles. Geomorphology, 44, 145–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugden, D.E., Bentley, M.J. Cofaigh, C.Ó. 2006. Geological and geomorphological insights into Antarctic ice sheet evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, A364, 1607–1625.Google Scholar
Sugden, D.E., Balco, G., Cowdery, S.G., Stone, J.O. Sass, L.C. 2005. Selective glacial erosion and weathering zones in the coastal mountains of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Geomorphology, 67, 317–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar