Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)

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Activation of high-elevation alluvial fans in the Transantarctic Mountains - a proxy for Plio-Pleistocene warmth along East Antarctic ice margins

Entry ID: NSF-ANT10-43554

Summary

Abstract: The PIs propose to address the question of whether ice surface melting zones developed at high elevations during warm climatic phases in the Transantarctic Mountains. Evidence from sediment cores drilled by the ANDRILL program indicates that open water in the Ross Sea could have been a source of warmth during Pliocene and Pleistocene. The question is whether marine warmth penetrated inland to the ... ice sheet margins. The glacial record may be ill suited to answer this question, as cold-based glaciers may respond too slowly to register brief warmth. Questions also surround possible orbital controls on regional climate and ice sheet margins. Northern Hemisphere insolation at obliquity and precession timescales is thought to control Antarctic climate through oceanic or atmospheric connections, but new thinking suggests that the duration of Southern Hemisphere summer may be more important. The PIs propose to use high elevation alluvial deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains as a proxy for inland warmth. These relatively young fans, channels, and debris flow levees stand out as visible evidence for the presence of melt water in an otherwise ancient, frozen landscape. Based on initial analyses of an alluvial fan in the Olympus Range, these deposits are sensitive recorders of rare melt events that occur at orbital timescales. For their study they will 1) map alluvial deposits using aerial photography, satellite imagery and GPS assisted field surveys to establish water sources and to quantify parameters effecting melt water production, 2) date stratigraphic sequences within these deposits using OSL, cosmogenic nuclide, and interbedded volcanic ash chronologies, 3) use paired nuclide analyses to estimate exposure and burial times, and rates of deposition and erosion, and 4) use micro and regional scale climate modeling to estimate paleoenvironmental conditions associated with melt events.
This study will produce a record of inland melting from sites adjacent to ice sheet margins to help determine controls on regional climate along margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to aid ice sheet and sea level modeling studies. The proposal will support several graduate and undergraduates. A PhD student will be supported on existing funding. The PIs will work with multiple K-12 schools to conduct interviews and webcasts from Antarctica and they will make follow up visits to classrooms after the field season is complete.

Related URL

Link: View Related Information

Description: NSF Award Abstract #1043554

Link: View Related Information

Description: Original data submitted.

Geographic Coverage

Spatial coordinates

N: -77.5

S: -77.5

E: 161.5

W: 161.5

Data Set Citation

Version: Not provided

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 2011-07-01

Stop Date: 2015-06-30

Location Keywords

CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Science Keywords

CRYOSPHERE > GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS > GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION

LAND SURFACE > EROSION/SEDIMENTATION > SEDIMENTS

LAND SURFACE > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES

Project

NSF/PLR > Division of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Data Center

United States Antarctic Program Data Center

Data Center URL: http://www.usap-dc.org/

Data Center Personnel
Name: ROBERT A. ARKO Email: info at usap-data.org Contact Address: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 61 Route 9W City: Palisades Province or State: NY Postal Code: 10964 Country: USA

Personnel

JANE WILLENBRING

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Email: jwillenbring at ucsd.edu

Contact Address:

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

City: La Jolla

Province or State: CA

Postal Code: 92093

Country: US

Extended Metadata Properties

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Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2016-11-09

Last DIF Revision Date: 2018-11-13

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