Climate-induced fluvial dynamics in tropical Africa around the last glacial maximum?

The Greenland and East and West Antarctic ice sheets are assessed as being the source of ice that produced an Eemian sea level 6 m higher than present sea level. The most probable source is total collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet accompanied by partial collapse of the adjacent sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in direct contact with the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This conclusion is reached by applying a simple formula relating the “floating fraction” of ice along flowlines to ice height above the bed. Increasing the floating fraction lowered ice elevations enough to contribute up to 4.7 m to global sea level. Adding 3.3 m resulting from total collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet accounts for the higher Eemian sea level. Partial gravitational collapse that produced the present ice drainage system of Amery Ice Shelf contributes 2.3 m to global sea level. These results cast doubt on the presumed stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, but destabilizing mechanisms remain largely unknown. Possibilities include glacial surges and marine instabilities at the respective head and foot of ice streams.     

Predicted relative sea-level changes (18,000 years B.P. to present) caused by late-glacial retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Predictions of global changes in relative sea level caused by retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from its 18,000 yr B.P. maximum to its present size are calculated numerically. When combined with the global predictions of relative sea-level change resulting from retreat of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, the results may be compared directly to observations of sea-level change on the Antarctic continent as well as at distant localities. The comparison of predictions to the few observations of sea-level change on Antarctica supports the view that the Antarctic Ice Sheet was larger 18,000 years ago than at present. The contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the total eustatic sea-level rise is assumed to be 25 m (25% of the assumed total eustatic rise). If as little as 0.7 m of this 25-m rise occurred between 5000 yr B.P. and the present, few mid-oceanic islands would emerge. If the Antarctic Ice Sheet attained its present dimensions by 6000 yr B.P., however, and if the volume of the ocean has remained constant for the past 5000 years, numerous islands throughout the Southern Hemisphere would emerge. It is suggested that a thorough study of Pacific islands, believed by some to have slightly emerged shorelines of Holocene age, would yield useful information about ocean volume changes during the past 5000 years, and hence on the glacial history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.     

Causes of Antarctic glaciation in the cenozoic

The causes of Antarctic glaciation are analyzed by means of numeral experiments based on the three-dimensional thermodynamic model of a large ice sheet. Refrigeration of the climate between the Eocene and the Oligocene was due to the opening of the passage south of Australia and to the formation of the South Ring Stream. Calculations have shown that this led to the development of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet which might have existed in spite of relatively high temperatures of the surrounding ocean air. A new cooling of the climate in the Middle Miocene is connected with the fact that the South Ring Stream found its way through the Drake Passage glaciers spreading on to the Western Antarctic. Between Miocene and Pliocene, glaciation of the South Polar regions was at its maximum due to the regression of the world ocean. In Quaternary time, sea level was lowering due to the glaciation of the Northern Hemisphere, which resulted in glacier growth in the Antarctic. The anticipated warming of the climate due to the activity of man is not likely to bring about any considerable change in the size of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.     

南极冰盖与中国风尘堆积

通过南极冰盖消长和风尘堆积物的气候事件对比,说明在4.3—2.5 Ma B.P,间南极冰盖增长和北极冰盖发展,中国第三纪风尘红壤土沉积可能是中国东部季风气候雏形形成的反映。2.6Ma以来,随着北极冰盖的迅速扩展,中国内陆进一步干旱化并促成黄土堆积。南极极锋带北移与黄土区极寒等事件的发生具有同步性,据此建立极寒事件的序列,可能反映大气环流强度变化情况。南极东方站冰岩芯气候曲线说明,黄土高原晚更新世以来的干冷期可能形成于0.115Ma B.P.。我国东部地区转暖大致发生在13000aB.P.,此后不久可能出现欧洲新仙女木寒冷事件。此外,大约在40000aB.P.可能有一寒冷事件。     

A detrital apatite fission‐track study of the CIROS‐2 sedimentary record: Tracing ice pathways in the Ross Sea area over the last 5 Ma

The Ross Sea is a crucial area to investigate pathways of ice during the Cenozoic as it records the evolution of both the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. This work is based on detrital apatite fission track (AFT) data extracted from the sedimentary record of well CIROS‐2, which spans the last 5 Ma. The AFT data show a large range of ages, and most of the grains fit well with two main components that fall between 24 and 42 Ma and between 43 and 70 Ma, whereas the other components are not regularly distributed through the well, thus indicating a mixture of provenance from different areas along the Transantarctic Mountains. As a whole, our work suggests glacial expansion over the McMurdo Sound during the Pliocene, and ice periodically invading and retreating in Pleistocene.     

Nature of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet during the Pliocene: Geological evidence and modelling results compared

In this paper, we examine the nature of the Pliocene Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet by comparing the terrestrial and marine geological records of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding sea floor with estimated net snow accumulation in the region derived from numerical palaeoclimate model experiments. Pliocene geological data and our new modelling results are consistent and mutually supportive in suggesting that an ice sheet was present even during the warmest episodes of the Pliocene. The combined results suggest that the ice sheet in the Antarctic Peninsula is more robust to globally warmer conditions than is generally assumed, at least up to the climatic limits examined in our study.     

A model for Holocene retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Marine ice sheets are grounded on land which was below sea level before it became depressed under the ice-sheet load. They are inherently unstable and, because of bedrock topography after depression, the collapse of a marine ice sheet may be very rapid. In this paper equations are derived that can be used to make a quantitative estimate of the maximum size of a marine ice sheet and of when and how rapidly retreat would take place under prescribed conditions. Ice-sheet growth is favored by falling sea level and uplift of the seabed. In most cases the buttressing effect of a partially grounded ice shelf is a prerequisite for maximum growth out to the edge of the continental shelf. Collapse is triggered most easily by eustatic rise in sea level, but it is possible that the ice sheet may self-destruct by depressing the edge of the continental shelf so that sea depth is increased at the equilibrium grounding line.Application of the equations to a hypothetical “Ross Ice Sheet” that 18,000 yr ago may have covered the present-day Ross Ice Shelf indicates that, if the ice sheet existed, it probably extended to a line of sills parallel to the edge of the Ross Sea continental shelf. By allowing world sea level to rise from its late-Wisconsin minimum it was possible to calculate retreat rates for individual ice streams that drained the “Ross Ice Sheet.” For all the models tested, retreat began soon after sea level began to rise (～15,000 yr B.P.). The first 100 km of retreat took between 1500 and 2500 yr but then retreat rates rapidly accelerated to between 0.5 and 25 km yr^?1, depending on whether an ice shelf was present or not, with corresponding ice velocities across the grounding line of 4 to 70 km yr^?1. All models indicate that most of the present-day Ross Ice Shelf was free of grounded ice by about 7000 yr B.P. As the ice streams retreated floating ice shelves may have formed between promontories of slowly collapsing stagnant ice left behind by the rapidly retreating ice streams. If ice shelves did not form during retreat then the analysis indicates that most of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would have collapsed by 9000 yr B.P. Thus, the present-day Ross Ice Shelf (and probably the Ronne Ice Shelf) serves to stabilize the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which would collapse very rapidly if the ice shelves were removed. This provides support for the suggestion that the 6-m sea-level high during the Sangamon Interglacial was caused by collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet after climatic warming had sufficiently weakened the ice shelves. Since the West Antarctic Ice Sheet still exists it seems likely that ice shelves did form during Holocene retreat. Their effect was to slow and, finally, to halt retreat. The models that best fit available data require a rather low shear stress between the ice shelf and its sides, and this implies that rapid shear in this region encouraged the formation of a band of ice with a preferred crystal fabric, as appears to be happening today in the floating portions of fast bounded glaciers.Rebound of the seabed after the ice sheet had retreated to an equilibrium position would allow the ice sheet to advance once more. This may be taking place today since analysis of data from the Ross Ice Shelf indicates that the southeast corner is probably growing thicker with time, and if this persists then large areas of ice shelf must become grounded. This would restrict drainage from West Antarctic ice streams which would tend to thicken and advance their grounding lines into the ice shelf.     

南极地区晚第四纪环境及其与全球变化的关系

南极无冰区和冰芯的记录均表明,晚更新世以来南极地区的环境和气候变化是与全球变化一致的。在最近几十年,大气CO₂含量增加已引起南极地区气温升高,冰盖前缘缓慢消退。温室效应将促使南极冰盖（首先是陆缘冰）部分融化,但不可能崩溃。在今后50年内,南极冰盖部分消融引起的海面上升幅度将不超过2m。     

Holocene glacial history of Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands

A history of Holocene glaciation in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic affords insight into questions concerning present and future ice-sheet and mountain-glacier behavior and global climate and sea-level change. Existing records permit broad correlation of Holocene ice fluctuations within the region. In several areas, ice extent was less than at present in mid-Holocene time. An important exception to this is the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which has undergone continued recession throughout the Holocene, probably in response to internal dynamics. The first Neoglacial ice advances occurred at 5.0 ka, although some sites (e.g., western Ross Sea) lack firm evidence for glacial expansion at that time. Glaciers in all areas underwent renewed growth in the past millennium, and most have subsequently undergone recession in the past 50 years, ranging from near-catastrophic in parts of the Antarctic Peninsula to minor in the western Ross Sea region and sections of East Antarctica. This magnitude difference likely reflects the much greater warming that is taking place in the Antarctic Peninsula region today as compared to East Antarctica.     

Bedform signature of a West Antarctic palaeo-ice stream reveals a multi-temporal record of flow and substrate control

The presence of a complex bedform arrangement on the sea floor of the continental shelf in the western Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, indicates a multi-temporal record of flow related to the activity of one or more ice streams in the past. Mapping and division of the bedforms into distinct landform assemblages reveals their time-transgressive history, which implies that bedforms can neither be considered part of a single downflow continuum nor a direct proxy for palaeo-ice velocity, as suggested previously. A main control on the bedform imprint is the geology of the shelf, which is divided broadly between rough bedrock on the inner shelf, and smooth, dipping sedimentary strata on the middle to outer shelf. Inner shelf bedform variability is well preserved, revealing information about local, complex basal ice conditions, meltwater flow, and ice dynamics over time. These details, which are not apparent at the scale of regional morphological studies, indicate that past ice streams flowed across the entire shelf at times, and often had onset zones that lay within the interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet today. In contrast, highly elongated subglacial bedforms on sedimentary strata of the middle to outer shelf represent a timeslice snapshot of the last activity of ice stream flow, and may be a truer representation of fast palaeo-ice flow in these locations. A revised model for ice streams on the shelf captures complicated multi-temporal bedform patterns associated with an Antarctic palaeo-ice stream for the first time, and confirms a strong substrate control on a major ice stream system that drained the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Late Quaternary.     

A splendid book on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Book reviewed in this article:
Van der Veen, C. J. & Oerlemans, J. (eds.) 1986: Dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.     

Ice-distal Upper Miocene marine strata from inland Antarctica

ABSTRACT Glacimarine strata of the Battye Glacier Formation (≈ 130 m thick), Pagodroma Group, exposed in the Amery Oasis of East Antarctica, provide a record of Late Miocene palaeoenvironmental conditions in an ice‐distal setting. The formation overlies the Amery Erosion Surface (≈ 300 m to ≈ 270 m above sea level) that formed during an advance of the Lambert Glacier into Prydz Bay (ODP Site 739), at least 750 km further north than today. Two lithological members: a grey and muddier Lower Member and a brown, sand‐rich Upper Member, reflect variation in proximity to the terminus of the Lambert Glacier. Ice‐distal, glacimarine, diatom‐bearing mud (up to 12% biogenic silica) and in situ articulated molluscs occur in the Lower Member. The Battye Glacier Formation is significant because of its inland location, which indicates that ice‐distal marine conditions existed 250 km inland from the current Amery Ice Shelf edge. Similar Neogene strata are known on land only from the Pliocene Sørsdal Formation in the Vestfold Hills, near the Antarctic coast. Three stratigraphic intervals of diatom‐bearing mud are recognized from glacially reworked clasts and from in situ strata informally referred to as the McLeod Beds and ‘Bed A’. The diatom‐bearing mud also contains sponge spicules and minor silicoflagellates and ebridians. Marine diatom biostratigraphy constrains the age of the beds to between 10·7 and 9·0 Ma (late Miocene). Abundant benthic diatoms suggest deposition within shallow euphotic waters. The high abundance of intercalary valves of Eucampia antarctica from an interval of the McLeod Beds suggests that there was less winter sea‐ice than in Prydz Bay today. It is unlikely that sea‐ice was perennial because the presence of Thalassionema spp. and Stellarima stellaris (Roper) Hasle et Sims suggests that summer sea‐surface temperatures were too warm (> 0°C and > 3°C respectively). The palaeoclimate at the time of deposition appears to have been analogous to that in modern fjords of East Greenland (e.g. Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord), which is consistent with the depositional model proposed previously for the Pagodroma Group. The three diatom‐bearing mud intervals were deposited in the Amery Oasis, ≈ 250 km inland of the current Amery Ice Shelf edge, when the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was reduced in size relative to today.     

Changes in the mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet over 50 years

The mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been calculated based on instrumental estimates of the grounded ice discharge and snow accumulation data. The boundaries and sectional areas of the main ice catchment basins in West and East Antarctica have been determined, and the data on the grounded ice discharge and snow accumulation in these basins have been systematized. The intensity of accumulation and ablation processes in Antarctica has noticeably increased over the last 50 years. The mass balance of the ice sheet in East Antarctica has been and remains positive, while in West Antarctica it was positive in the middle of the last century and has become negative by now. The mass balance of the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet has been and remains positive, while the mass growth has noticeably decreased over the last 50 years.     

Dynamic Systems of Petroleum Accumulation in the Nanpu Depression,Bohai Bay Basin,China

<正>It is significant to distinguish the dynamic systems of petroleum accumulation(DSPA) for the understanding of petroleum accumulation and distribution.According to the formation pressure framework,genetic types of petroleum and characteristics of conduit systems,three dynamic systems of petroleum accumulation were identified in the vertical profile in the Nanpu depression,Bohai Bay basin.The deeper DSPA(including formations Es_3 to Es_2) is a sealed system with high-overpressure and high-mature self-sourced oil.Most of the crude oil in the system accumulated in the periods of late Oligocene(23.5 Ma) and late Pliocene(2.4 Ma).The middle DSPA(including formations Es_1 to Ed_1) is an overpressured half-sealed system with mature or lower-mature self-sourced oil.The accumulation of oil in the system also occurred in the late Oligocene(23.5 Ma) and late Pliocene(2.4 Ma).The shallower DSPA(including formations Ed_2 to Q) is a hydrostatic system with lower-mature aliensourced oil from the middle system.Oil within this system accumulated only in the late Pliocene period.The oil in the shallower system migrated vertically along the faults from the formerly accumulated oil in the middle system by lateral migration along the sandbodies,whereas petroleum accumulation in the deeper system was mainly derived from the system itself by lateral migration along the sandbodies and rarely migrated out of the system.In this case,it seems that the deeper system is a more potential exploration prospect in addition to the other two proved favorable systems.     

东南极冰盖上新世大规模退缩事件

笔者近年对东南极内陆格罗夫山(Grove Mountains)开展了上新世以来冰盖表面波动的综合研究,运用冰川地质、地貌、土壤、沉积岩、孢粉组合及宇宙核素等各种方法手段,提出东南极大冰盖形成以后并非稳定演化至今,而在上新世早期时发生过大规模退缩,其前缘至少曾经退缩到格罗夫山地区,距现今冰盖边缘约400 km。之后,冰盖又迅速膨胀,到距今2.3 Ma时,冰面至少超过现今高度约400 m。以后冰面缓慢平稳下降,至1.6 Ma时,东南极冰盖进入第四纪振荡期,但重新上升的冰面再也没有超过现今高度的100 m以上。东南极冰盖大规模消融事件在全球尺度上也有所响应,例如北半球大冰盖形成,青藏高原整体剧烈隆升,塔里木盆地黄土出现等。这类行星尺度的气候变化可能与直布罗陀海峡关闭与地中海盐化事件,巴拿马地峡关闭等大地构造事件有关。     

始新世-渐新世界线的全球气候事件：从“温室”到“冰室”

新生代以来,全球气候在持续不断的变冷,从两极无冰的"温室地球"变为现今两极终年有冰的"冰室地球",经历了多次冰盖扩张的变冷事件。始新世-渐新世界线（E/O）附近,δ¹⁸O值大幅度正偏,在短期内由 1．2‰迅速增加到 3．0‰,底层海水温度从12 ℃降低为 4．5 ℃。保存在大洋和大陆中的记录表明：E/O界线附近,全球气温大幅降低,海陆生物均有不同程度的灭绝,指示了气候变冷、变干的趋势。始新世-渐新世转换期间,南极洲与澳大利亚之间的塔斯曼尼亚海道和南极洲与南美洲之间的德雷克海峡（DrakeStrait）相继打开,形成环南极洋流,从而阻止赤道地区的热量向南极传送,导致南极大陆"热隔绝",使南极大陆东部为冰川所覆盖。最近的研究显示,E/O事件是与大气CO₂含量快速变化密切相关的瞬时气候变化,其变化速率类似于现今地球由于人类活动引起大气CO₂的变化,表明大气CO₂浓度的变化在这一事件中起了极为重要的作用。     

New insights in the evolution of Antarctic glaciation from depth conversion of well-log calibrated seismic section of Prydz Bay

The understanding of the evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is crucial for the comprehension of the history of past global climate. The debate regarding the age of the transition to modern “dry- and cold-based” ice sheet after the Neogene polythermal conditions has taken place over more than 20 years. An evident change in the geometry of the depositional systems of the Prydz Bay continental margin demarked the initiation of the Prydz Channel Fan and has been inferred to correspond to this transition. The improvement in the age placement of this change contributes to unravel the last stages of the Antarctic glacial history. We predicted the spatial distribution of P-wave velocity data along both dip- and strike-oriented seismic profiles that intersect 3 Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites on the Prydz Bay continental shelf. We used this information to assist the correlation of the existing litho- and bio-stratigraphic information among the drilling sites and to produce an accurate geometric reconstruction of the Neogene shelf units through depth-migration of the seismic data. The revised stratigraphy that we obtained suggests an early late to late early Pliocene age for the seismic reflector at the base of the Prydz Channel Fan. This age, younger than previously proposed, is consistent with the age inferred for similar geometric changes identified in different Antarctic margins.     

Response of a marine ice sheet to changes at the grounding line

A numerical model was designed to study the stability of a marine ice sheet, and used to do some basic experiments. The ice-shelf/ice-sheet interaction enters through the flow law in which the longitudinal stress is also taken into account. Instead of applying the model to some (measured) profile and showing that this is unstable (as is common practice in other studies), an attempt is made to simulate a whole cycle of growth and retreat of a marine ice sheet, although none of the model sheets is particularly sensitive to changes in environmental conditions. The question as to what might happen to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the near future when a climatic warming can be expecied as a result of the CO₂ effect, seems to be open for discussion again. From the results presented in this paper one can infer that a collapse, caused by increased melting on the ice shelves, is not very likely.     

大洋钻探与全球变化(一)——南极地区显生宙晚期气候演变历史及对全球的影响

通过介绍Ｊ．Ｐ．Ｋｅｎｎｅｔｔ为代表的“洋流说”阐述了大洋钻探２５年来约１０个航次研究所揭示的南极地区显生宙晚期气候演变的历史。晚白垩世时南极地区和全球一样暖和无冰，末期变冷，古新世开始后不久又转暖，早始新世－中始新世早期达顶峰，以后变冷。渐新世为主要冷却期，南极东部形成冰盖，中，晚中新世为另一重要冷却期，南极西部以至全部南极在中新世晚期－上新世早期最终形成稳定冰盖。德雷克海峡打开，环南极洋流（Ａ     

最近十多年来冰冻圈加速萎缩——IPCC第六次评估报告之冰冻圈变化解读

政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）于2021年8月发布了第六次评估报告第一工作组报告《气候变化2021：自然科学基础》。该报告基于最新的观测和模拟研究,评估了冰冻圈变化的现状,并采用CMIP6模式对未来变化进行了预估。报告明确指出,近十多年来冰冻圈呈现加速萎缩状态：北极海冰面积显著减小、厚度减薄、冰量迅速减少;格陵兰冰盖、南极冰盖和全球山地冰川物质亏损加剧;多年冻土温度升高、活动层增厚,海底多年冻土范围减少;北半球积雪范围也在明显变小,但积雪量有较大空间差异。冰冻圈的快速萎缩加速海平面的上升。未来人类活动对冰冻圈萎缩的影响将愈加显著,从而导致北极海冰面积继续减少乃至消失,冰盖和冰川物质将持续亏损,多年冻土和积雪的范围继续缩减。报告也提出,目前冰冻圈研究仍存在观测资料稀缺、模型对各影响因素的敏感性参数和过程描述亟需提升、对吸光性杂质的变化机制认知不足等问题,从而影响了对冰冻圈变化预估的准确性,未来需要重点关注。