IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v8y2017i1d10.1038_ncomms14798.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Major advance of South Georgia glaciers during the Antarctic Cold Reversal following extensive sub-Antarctic glaciation

Author

Listed:
  • Alastair G. C. Graham

    (College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter)

  • Gerhard Kuhn

    (Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung)

  • Ove Meisel

    (Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
    Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand

    (British Antarctic Survey (Natural Environmental Research Council))

  • Dominic A. Hodgson

    (British Antarctic Survey (Natural Environmental Research Council))

  • Werner Ehrmann

    (Insitute for Geophysics and Geology, University of Leipzig)

  • Lukas Wacker

    (ETH Zürich, Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics)

  • Paul Wintersteller

    (MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen)

  • Christian dos Santos Ferreira

    (MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen)

  • Miriam Römer

    (MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen)

  • Duanne White

    (Institute of Applied Ecology, University of Canberra)

  • Gerhard Bohrmann

    (MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen)

Abstract

The history of glaciations on Southern Hemisphere sub-polar islands is unclear. Debate surrounds the extent and timing of the last glacial advance and termination on sub-Antarctic South Georgia in particular. Here, using sea-floor geophysical data and marine sediment cores, we resolve the record of glaciation offshore of South Georgia through the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene. We show a sea-bed landform imprint of a shelf-wide last glacial advance and progressive deglaciation. Renewed glacier resurgence in the fjords between c. 15,170 and 13,340 yr ago coincided with a period of cooler, wetter climate known as the Antarctic Cold Reversal, revealing a cryospheric response to an Antarctic climate pattern extending into the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. We conclude that the last glaciation of South Georgia was extensive, and the sensitivity of its glaciers to climate variability during the last termination more significant than implied by previous studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Alastair G. C. Graham & Gerhard Kuhn & Ove Meisel & Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand & Dominic A. Hodgson & Werner Ehrmann & Lukas Wacker & Paul Wintersteller & Christian dos Santos Ferreira & Miriam Römer & , 2017. "Major advance of South Georgia glaciers during the Antarctic Cold Reversal following extensive sub-Antarctic glaciation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14798
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14798
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14798
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms14798?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14798. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.