A thin predominantly cold-based Late Miocene East Antarctic ice sheet inferred from glaciovolcanic sequences in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Smellie, John L.; Rocchi, Sergio; Gemelli, Maurizio; Vincenzo, Gianfranco Di; Armienti, Pietro

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.05.008

Cited by 46 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 97 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Ice-free terrain close to active craters, lower altitude ice-free geothermal ground (e.g., heated ground and ponds, steam fields, fumaroles), and ice caves formed by geothermal steam (24) could have existed throughout the Pleistocene (11), providing habitable environments that allowed Antarctic plants and invertebrates to survive on the continent. Recent geological estimates of ice thicknesses during the past 10 million years suggest that the ice cover was generally thinner than was previously thought, raising the likelihood of small, icefree rocky patches ("nunataks") being present (25,26). However, although such nunataks could have harbored some life, many nunatak fauna are unique to such environments or to specific parts of the continent (27)(28)(29), and nunataks thus cannot explain the persistence of a wider range of Antarctic species, especially coastal species, throughout the LGM (30).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Geothermal activity helps life survive glacial cycles

Fraser

Terauds

Smellie

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

137

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change has played a critical role in the evolution and structure of Earth's biodiversity. Geothermal activity, which can maintain ice-free terrain in glaciated regions, provides a tantalizing solution to the question of how diverse life can survive glaciations. No comprehensive assessment of this "geothermal glacial refugia" hypothesis has yet been undertaken, but Antarctica provides a unique setting for doing so. The continent has experienced repeated glaciations that most models indicate blanketed the continent in ice, yet many Antarctic species appear to have evolved in almost total isolation for millions of years, and hence must have persisted in situ throughout. How could terrestrial species have survived extreme glaciation events on the continent? Under a hypothesis of geothermal glacial refugia and subsequent recolonization of nongeothermal regions, we would expect to find greater contemporary diversity close to geothermal sites than in nongeothermal regions, and significant nestedness by distance of this diversity. We used spatial modeling approaches and the most comprehensive, validated terrestrial biodiversity dataset yet created for Antarctica to assess spatial patterns of diversity on the continent. Models clearly support our hypothesis, indicating that geothermally active regions have played a key role in structuring biodiversity patterns in Antarctica. These results provide critical insights into the evolutionary importance of geothermal refugia and the history of Antarctic species.dispersal | GIS | polar region | volcano | Last Glacial Maximum

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Geothermal activity helps life survive glacial cycles

Fraser

Terauds

Smellie

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

137

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The responses of these hazards and rates of volcanism to past glacial cycles and future climate change are poorly constrained (Tuffen, 2010;Watt et al, 2013). Furthermore, volcano-ice interactions create a distinctive and wideranging suite of landforms (e.g., Smellie, 2009Smellie, , 2013Russell et al, 2014) and lithofacies (e.g., Smellie et al, 1993;Loughlin, 2002;Skilling, 2009), which are an invaluable source of terrestrial palaeoenvironmental information (e.g., palaeoice distribution, thickness, and thermal regime: e.g., Smellie, 2009;Tuffen et al, 2010;Smellie et al, 2014), especially prior to the last glaciation (e.g., McGarvie et al, 2007;Smellie et al, 2011Smellie et al, , 2014) and on Mars (e.g., Smellie, 2009). Detailed characterisation of the products of glaciovolcanism in each particular setting is necessary to understand their formation processes and the associated hazards, as well as their palaeoenvironmental significance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glaciovolcanism at Volcán Sollipulli, southern Chile: Lithofacies analysis and interpretation

Lachowycz

Pyle

Gilbert

et al. 2015

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Magma-ice-meltwater interactions produce diverse landforms and lithofacies, reflecting the multitude of factors that influence glaciovolcanism, including both magmatic (e.g., composition, eruption rate) and glacial (e.g., ice thickness, thermal regime) conditions. This is exemplified by the walls of the partly ice-filled summit caldera of Volcán Sollipulli, a stratovolcano in southern Chile, which include lithofacies from eruptions of a wide range of magma compositions beneath or in contact with ice. Here we analyse these lithofacies and hence propose new interpretations of the eruptive and glacial history of Sollipulli. The facies include a thick, laterally extensive sequence of fragmental glaciovolcanic deposits, comprising massive, mafic lava pillow-bearing hyaloclastite overlain by sills and then hyaloclastic debris flow deposits (similar to Dalsheidi-type sequences). The distribution and thickness of these units indicate an unusual abundance of magma-meltwater interaction for an arc stratovolcano in temperate latitudes, perhaps due to eruptions beneath a thick ice cap. Coherent lava coulées, domes, lobes, and stacks of basaltic andesite-trachydacite composition are present around the top of the caldera rim; these display morphologies and fracture patterns on caldera-facing margins that indicate that the caldera was filled with ice when these lavas were erupted. The lithofacies characterised in this study demonstrate the diversity of glaciovolcanism that is possible at arc stratovolcanoes capped by temperate ice or with ice-filled calderas, and the potential for uncertainties in inference of the palaeoenvironmental conditions of their emplacement.

show abstract

“…phreatomagmatic) of explosive eruptions (Belousov et al, 2011;Taddeucci et al, 2011;Petersen et al, 2012), the generation of flood events (i.e. jökulhlaups) due to rapid melting of ice (Major and Newhall, 1989;Guðmundsson et al, 1997;Jarosch and Guðmundsson, 2012;Magnússon et al, 2012), and the recovering of paleoenvironmental information for the purposes of constraining global paleoclimate models (McGarvie et al, 2007;Smellie et al, 2008;Huybers and Langmuir, 2009;Edwards et al, 2009bEdwards et al, , 2011Smellie et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuyas: a descriptive genetic classification

Russell

Edwards

Porritt

et al. 2014

Quaternary Science Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tWe present a descriptive genetic classification scheme and accompanying nomenclature for glaciovolcanic edifices herein defined as tuyas: positive-relief volcanoes having a morphology resulting from ice confinement during eruption and comprising a set of lithofacies reflecting direct interaction between magma and ice/melt water. The combinations of lithofacies within tuyas record the interplay between volcanic eruption and the attending glaciohydraulic conditions. Although tuyas can range in composition from basaltic to rhyolitic, many of the characteristics diagnostic of glaciovolcanic environments are largely independent of lava composition (e.g., edifice morphology, columnar jointing patterns, glass distributions, pyroclast shapes). Our classification consolidates the diverse nomenclature resulting from early, isolated contributions of geoscientists working mainly in Iceland and Canada and the nomenclature that has developed subsequently over the past 30 years. Tuya subtypes are first recognized on the basis of variations in edifice-scale morphologies (e.g., flat-topped tuya) then, on the proportions of the essential lithofacies (e.g., lava-dominated flat-topped tuya), and lastly on magma composition (e.g., basaltic, lavadominated, flat-topped tuya). These descriptive modifiers potentially supply additional genetic information and we show how the combination of edifice morphologies and lithofacies can be directly linked to general glaciohydraulic conditions. We identify nine distinct glaciovolcanic model edifices that potentially result from the interplay between volcanism and glaciohydrology. Detailed studies of tuya types are critical for recovering paleo-environmental information through geological time, including: ice sheet locations, extents, thicknesses, and glaciohydraulics. Such paleo-environmental information represents a new, innovative, underutilized resource for constraining global paleoclimate models.

show abstract

A thin predominantly cold-based Late Miocene East Antarctic ice sheet inferred from glaciovolcanic sequences in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Cited by 46 publications

References 97 publications

Geothermal activity helps life survive glacial cycles

Geothermal activity helps life survive glacial cycles

Glaciovolcanism at Volcán Sollipulli, southern Chile: Lithofacies analysis and interpretation

Tuyas: a descriptive genetic classification

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About