Late Quaternary record of sea-level changes in the Antarctic

Grobe, H, Huybrechts, P and F�tterer, DK ;

Contact

hannes.grobe [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

The Late Quaternary sediment sequence of the continental margin in the eastern Weddell Sea is well suited for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Two cores from the upper slope, which contain the sedimentary record of the last 300 ky, have been sedimentologically investigated. Age models are based on lithostratigraphy and are correlated with the stable isotope record. As a result of a detailed analysis of the clay mineral composition, grain size distributions and structures, this sedimentary record provides the first marine evidence that the Antarctic ice sheet extended to the shelf edge during the last glacial. The variations in volume and size of the ice sheet were also simulated in numerical models. Changes in accumulation rate and ice temperature are of some importance, but the model revealed that fluctuations are primarily driven by changes in eustatic sea-level and that the ice edge extended to the shelf edge during the last glacial maximum. This causal relationship implies that the maximum ice extension strongly depends on the magnitude and duration of the sea-level depression during a glacial period. The results of the sedimentological investigations and of the numerical models show that the Antarctic ice sheet follows glacial events in the northern hemisphere by teleconnections of sea level. © 1993 Springer-Verlag.

Item Type

Article

Authors

Grobe, H, Huybrechts, P and F�tterer, DK ;

Divisions

AWI Organizations > Geosciences > Marine Geology and Paleontology
AWI Organizations > Geosciences > Geophysics
AWI Organizations > Geosciences > Glaciology

Programs

Basic Research > Helmholtz Independent Research

Publication Status

Published

Eprint ID

1077

DOI https://www.doi.org/10.1007/bf00191832

Cite as

Grobe, H. , Huybrechts, P. and F�tterer, D. (1993): Late Quaternary record of sea-level changes in the Antarctic , Geologische Rundschau, 82 (2), pp. 263-275 . doi: https://www.doi.org/10.1007/bf00191832