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Directly dating postglacial Greenlandic land-surface emergence at high resolution using in situ 10Be

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2018

Paul R. Bierman ,
Dylan H. Rood ,
Jeremy D. Shakun ,
Eric W. Portenga  and
Lee B. Corbett
Paul R. Bierman*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA
Dylan H. Rood
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA
Jeremy D. Shakun
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA
Eric W. Portenga
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Geology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197, USA
Lee B. Corbett
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Geology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] (P.R. Bierman).
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Abstract

Postglacial emergence curves are used to infer mantle rheology, delimit ice extent, and test models of the solid Earth response to changing ice and water loads. Such curves are rarely produced by direct dating of land emergence; rather, most rely on the presence of radiocarbon-datable organic material and inferences made between the age of sedimentary deposits and landforms indicative of former sea level. Here, we demonstrate a new approach, 10Be dating, to determine rates of postglacial land emergence in two different settings. In southern Greenland (Narsarsuaq/Igaliku), we date directly the exposure, as relative sea level fell, of gravel beaches and rocky outcrops allowing determination of rapid, post–Younger Dryas emergence. In western Greenland (Kangerlussuaq), we constrain Holocene isostatic response by dating the sequential stripping of terrace sediment driven by land-surface uplift, relative sea-level fall, and resulting fluvial incision. The technique we employ provides high temporal and elevation resolution important for quantifying rapid emergence immediately after deglaciation and less rapid uplift during the middle Holocene. 10Be-constrained emergence curves can improve knowledge of relative sea-level change by dating land emergence along rocky coasts, at elevations and locations where radiocarbon-datable sediments are not present, and without the lag time needed for organic material to accumulate.

Keywords

UpliftIsostasyGlacierIce sheetEmergenceBeachCosmogenicDating
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , July 2018 , pp. 110 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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