Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Holocene Deglaciation of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica
John O. Stone,Gregory A. Balco,David E. Sugden,Marc W. Caffee,Louis C. Sass III,Seth G. Cowdery,Christine Siddoway
Surface exposure ages of glacial deposits in the Ford
Ranges of western Marie Byrd Land indicate continuous thinning of theWest Antarctic Ice Sheet by more than 700 meters near the coastthroughout the past 10,000 years. Deglaciation lagged the disappearanceof ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere by thousands of yearsand may
still be under way. These results provide further evidencethat parts
of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are on a long-termtrajectory of
decline. West Antarctic melting contributed waterto the oceans in the
late Holocene and may continue to do so inthe future.
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:
In Science Magazine
PERSPECTIVES
Robert P. Ackert Jr. (3 January 2003) Science299 (5603), 57.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1079568] |Summary »|Full Text »|PDF »
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
First exposure ages from the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica: The Late Quaternary context for recent thinning of Pine Island, Smith, and Pope Glaciers.
Cosmogenic exposure dating of late Pleistocene moraine stabilization in Alaska.
J. P. Briner, D. S. Kaufman, W. F. Manley, R. C. Finkel, and M. W. Caffee (2005)
GSA Bulletin
117, 1108-1120
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Retreating Glacier Fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past Half-Century.
A. J. Cook, A. J. Fox, D. G. Vaughan, and J. G. Ferrigno (2005)
Science
308, 541-544
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Decoding the dipstick: Thickness of Siple Dome, West Antarctica, at the Last Glacial Maximum.
E.D. Waddington, H. Conway, E.J. Steig, R.B. Alley, E.J. Brook, K.C. Taylor, and J.W.C. White (2005)
Geology
33, 281-284
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Ice Flow Direction Change in Interior West Antarctica.
M. J. Siegert, B. Welch, D. Morse, A. Vieli, D. D. Blankenship, I. Joughin, E. C. King, G. J.-M. C. L. Vieli, A. J. Payne, and R. Jacobel (2004)
Science
305, 1948-1951
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Cosmogenic nuclides 10Be and 26Al imply limited Antarctic Ice Sheet thickening and low erosion in the Shackleton Range for >1 m.y..
C.J. Fogwill, M.J. Bentley, D.E. Sugden, A.R. Kerr, and P.W. Kubik (2004)
Geology
32, 265-268
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Ross Sea mylonites and the timing of intracontinental extension within the West Antarctic rift system.
