Review article: Existing and potential evidence for Holocene grounding line retreat and readvance in Antarctica

Johnson, Joanne S.; Venturelli, Ryan A.; Balco, Greg; Allen, Claire S.; Braddock, Scott; Campbell, Seth; Goehring, Brent M.; Hall, Brenda L.; Neff, Peter D.; Nichols, Keir; Rood, Dylan H.; Thomas, Elizabeth R.; Woodward, John

doi:10.5194/tc-16-1543-2022

Cited by 31 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 130 publications

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“…Assessing whether and when the AIS was ever smaller than present during the Holocene is challenging. Evidence for such behaviour can be found within or beneath the presentday ice sheet 116 , or inferred from the response of the solid Earth to retreat and readvance. Currently, however, only limited evidence supports large-scale inland retreat and readvance of the Antarctic grounding line, mostly in the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea sectors.…”

Section: Evidence Of Inland Retreat and Readvancementioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the pre-industrial Holocene

Jones

Johnson

Lin

et al. 2022

Nat Rev Earth Environ

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The rate and magnitude of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) contribution to global sea-level rise beyond 2100 ce remains highly uncertain. Past changes of the AIS, however, offer opportunities to understand contemporary and future ice sheet behaviour. In this Review, we outline how the AIS evolved through the pre-industrial Holocene, 11,700 years ago to 1850 ce. Three main phases of ice sheet behaviour are identified: a period of rapid ice volume loss across all sectors in the Early and Mid Holocene; a retreat inland of the present-day ice sheet margin in some sectors, followed by readvance; and continued ice volume loss in several sectors during the past few millennia, and in some areas up to and into the industrial era. Global sea levels rose by 2.4-12 m owing to the period of rapid Antarctic ice loss and possibly fell by 0.35-1.2 m owing to subsequent readvance. Changes in the AIS during the Holocene were likely driven by similar processes to those acting today and predicted for the future, which are associated with oceanic and atmospheric conditions as well as bed topography. Further work is required to better understand these processes and to quantify Antarctica's contribution to past sea-level change.

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Section: Evidence Of Inland Retreat and Readvancementioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the pre-industrial Holocene

Jones

Johnson

Lin

et al. 2022

Nat Rev Earth Environ

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“…Inland moraines are surrounded by a coastal environment with active and older (Holocene-age) raised beaches and marine deposits (John and Sugden, 1971;Lindhorst and Schutter, 2014;Heredia Barión et al, 2019). Holocene relative sea level (RSL) curves for the SSI are more complex than other locations on the AP, and several different RSL curves have been constructed (Pallàs et al, 1997;Bentley et al, 2005;Hall, 2010;Roberts et al, 2011;Watcham et al, 2011;Simms et al, 2012;2021;Johnson et al, 2022). Bentley et al (2005), and Johnson et al (2022) thereafter, proposed an early-mid Holocene marine limit of ~16-18 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Holocene relative sea level (RSL) curves for the SSI are more complex than other locations on the AP, and several different RSL curves have been constructed (Pallàs et al, 1997;Bentley et al, 2005;Hall, 2010;Roberts et al, 2011;Watcham et al, 2011;Simms et al, 2012;2021;Johnson et al, 2022). Bentley et al (2005), and Johnson et al (2022) thereafter, proposed an early-mid Holocene marine limit of ~16-18 m a.s.l. for the SSI.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes in relative sea level recorded in raised beaches and isolation basins of the SSI provide the most reliable evidence of deglaciation, ice loading and readvance (e.g., Johnson et al, 2022). As isolation basins are less prone to reworking and remobilisation than raised beaches, we attempted to corroborate evidence for a < c. 7 ka readvance in the nPII profile from isolation basins on Potter Peninsula (Figure 2C) below the 8 ka SSI Holocene marine limit at ~16 m a.s.l.…”

Section: The C 7 Ka Glacier Readvancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…on Fildes and Barton Peninsula at or before c. 8.1 ka (Watcham et al, 2011;Oliva et al, 2019) While the deglaciation of the AP and SSI following the LGM has been broadly established (Ó Cofaigh et al, 2014), more field data from ice-free terrestrial areas of the northern AP continental margin are required to assess how natural warming during the transition into the present (Holocene) interglacial drove further local-regional deglaciation and how millennialcentennial scale changes in climate during the Holocene impacted on glacier dynamics (Spada et al, 2013;Bentley et al, 2014). Furthermore, evaluating the sensitivity of small ice caps and outlet glaciers of the AP and SSI to smaller-scale amplitude atmospheric and oceanographic forcing during the Holocene is of particular importance for constraining past rates of grounding-line retreat and relative sea level (RSL) change (Hall, 2007;Bentley et al, 2014;Johnson et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of Holocene deglaciation and glacial dynamics on the landscapes and geomorphology of Potter Peninsula, King George Island (Isla 25 Mayo), NW Antarctic Peninsula

Barión¹,

Strelin²,

Sj³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The timing and impact of deglaciation and Holocene readvances on many ice-free terrestrial continental margins of the Antarctic Peninsula have been long-studied but remain debated. Potter Peninsula on King George Island (Isla 25 de Mayo), South Shetland Islands (SSI), NW Antarctic Peninsula has a detailed assemblage of glacial landforms, geomorphological features and stratigraphic exposures for constraining deglacial landscape development and glacier readvances. Here, we present a new geomorphological map of the deglaciated foreland of the Warszawa Icefield, an outlet of the Bellingshausen (Collins) Ice Cap on Potter Peninsula based on a combination of satellite imagery and new field investigations. Results from mapping and new lithofacies analysis and chronostratigraphic data from stratigraphic sections, lake sediments and moraine deposits show that deglaciation on Potter Peninsula began before c. 8.2 ka. Around c. 7.0 ka, the Warszawa Icefield and the marine terminating Fourcade Glacier readvanced across Potter Peninsula and to the outer areas of Potter Cove. Evidence of further readvances on Potter Peninsula is then absent until Warszawa Icefield front was landward of its present position on three occasions, c. 1.7–1.4 ka, after c. 0.7 ka (most likely c. 0.5–0.1 ka), and 1956 CE. Holocene deglaciation and glacier fluctuations on Potter Peninsula are broadly coeval with other ice-free areas on the South Shetland Islands and the northern Antarctic Peninsula, and likely driven by interactions between millennial-centennial scale changes in solar insolation and irradiance, the southern westerlies, and the Southern Annular Mode.

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Inland thinning of Byrd Glacier, Antarctica, during Ross Ice Shelf formation

Stutz,

Eaves,

Norton

et al. 2023

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Geomorphological records of past ice sheet change offer the opportunity to examine their centennial‐scale response to changing boundary conditions, which are not adequately captured in the satellite record. Here, we present the first reconstruction of ice surface lowering at Byrd Glacier, the largest outlet glacier of the Transantarctic Mountains. Using surface exposure ages from glacial erratic cobbles collected in two vertical transects along the Lonewolf Nunataks, we find the initial emergence of this set of nunataks occurred at ~15 ka, with a rapid pulse of thinning at ~8 ka. We compare our glacier thinning profiles with modelled ice sheet thickness and grounding line histories from two model ensembles to identify key processes responsible for ice sheet change. All model runs from the two ensembles predict grounding line retreat and inland thinning to occur in one rapid step from Last Glacial Maximum to present, in line with marine geology records, our exposure age data and derived glacier thinning rates. Experiments best matching the glacial thickness constraints, reconstructed from the surface exposure data, have faster basal sliding (i.e., promote greater sliding rates resulting in thinner ice). However, experiments best matching the timing and rapid rate of ice thinning derived from the same surface exposure data have higher basal friction. This apparent change in the modelled basal sliding regime, from when the ice surface is at maximum thickness, to the rapid thinning at ~8 ka, occurs as the grounding line retreats towards the Byrd Glacier and Ross Ice Shelf forms during the Holocene. This past context has implications for the stability of the modern grounding line of Byrd Glacier, which is characterised by high basal melt rates at the terminus—a process that has the potential to propagate glacier thinning far inland, impacting the overall (in)stability of the Byrd Glacier and Ross Ice Shelf.

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Review article: Existing and potential evidence for Holocene grounding line retreat and readvance in Antarctica

Cited by 31 publications

References 130 publications

Stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the pre-industrial Holocene

Stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the pre-industrial Holocene

The impact of Holocene deglaciation and glacial dynamics on the landscapes and geomorphology of Potter Peninsula, King George Island (Isla 25 Mayo), NW Antarctic Peninsula

Inland thinning of Byrd Glacier, Antarctica, during Ross Ice Shelf formation

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