Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (35) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pudsey, C. J. Articles by Evans, J. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

First survey of Antarctic sub–ice shelf sediments reveals mid-Holocene ice shelf retreat

¹ British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK

The retreat of five small Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves in the late 20th century has been related to regional (possibly anthropogenic) climate warming. We use the record of ice- rafted debris (IRD) in cores to show that the Prince Gustav Channel ice shelf also retreated in mid-Holocene time. Early and late Holocene-age sediments contain IRD derived entirely from local ice drainage basins, which fed the section of ice shelf covering each site. Core- top and mid-Holocene (5–2 ka) sediments include a wider variety of rock types, recording the drift of far-traveled icebergs, which implies seasonally open water at the sites. The period when the Prince Gustav ice shelf was absent corresponds to regional climate warming deduced from other paleoenvironmental records. We infer that the recent decay cannot be viewed as an unequivocal indicator of anthropogenic climate perturbation.

Key Words: Antarctic • Holocene • ice-rafted debris • ice shelves

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. C. Heroy and J. B. Anderson Ice-sheet extent of the Antarctic Peninsula region during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)--Insights from glacial geomorphology GSA Bulletin, November 1, 2005; 117(11-12): 1497 - 1512. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J. Cook, A. J. Fox, D. G. Vaughan, and J. G. Ferrigno Retreating Glacier Fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past Half-Century Science, April 22, 2005; 308(5721): 541 - 544. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M.J. Bentley, D.A. Hodgson, D.E. Sugden, S.J. Roberts, J.A. Smith, M.J. Leng, and C. Bryant Early Holocene retreat of the George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula Geology, March 1, 2005; 33(3): 173 - 176. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Verleyen, D. A. Hodgson, K. Sabbe, K. Vanhoutte, and W. Vyverman Coastal oceanographic conditions in the Prydz Bay region (East Antarctica) during the Holocene recorded in an isolation basin The Holocene, February 1, 2004; 14(2): 246 - 257. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Holocene history of the Larsen-A Ice Shelf constrained by geomagnetic paleointensity dating Geology, September 1, 2003; 31(9): 749 - 752.

				D. J.A. Evans Glaciers Progress in Physical Geography, June 1, 2003; 27(2): 261 - 274. [PDF]

				Sediment core from beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, suggests mid-Holocene ice-shelf retreat Geology, February 1, 2003; 31(2): 127 - 130.

				J. Evans, J. Evans, and C. J. Pudsey Sedimentation associated with Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves: implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of glacimarine sediments Journal of the Geological Society, May 1, 2002; 159(3): 233 - 237. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]