Prydz Channel Fan and the History of Extreme Ice Advances in Prydz Bay

Authors / CoAuthors

O'Brien, P.E. | Cooper, A.K. | Florindo, F. | Handwerger, D. | Lavelle, M.

Abstract

During the late Neogene, the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf drainage system flowed across Prydz Bay in an ice stream that reached the shelf edge and built a trough mouth fan on the upper continental slope. The adjacent banks saw mostly subglacial till deposition beneath slower-moving ice. The fan consists mostly of debris flow deposits derived from the melting out of subglacial debris at the grounding line at the continental shelf edge. Thick debris flow intervals are separated by thin mudstone horizons deposited when the ice had retreated from the shelf edge. Age control in ODP Site 1167 indicates that the bulk of the trough mouth fan was deposited prior to the Brunhes-Matuyama Boundary (780 ka) with as few as 3 debris flow intervals deposited since then. This stratigraphy indicates that extreme advances of the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system ceased during the mid Pleistocene. Possible causes for this change are progressive over-deepening of the inner shelf, a reduction in maximum ice volumes in the interior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet caused by temperature change and a change in the interaction of Milanckovich cycles and the response time of the ice sheet.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

47356

Contact for the resource

Custodian

EGD

Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

Keywords

External PublicationMonograph Contribution

( Theme )

seismic sections

( Theme )

palaeoclimatology

( Theme )

continental margins

( Theme )

underwater drilling

( Theme )

marine

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

Earth Sciences

Published_External

Publication Date

2004-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Access - license

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

188

Lineage

Unknown

Parent Information

Extents

[-70.0, -65.0, 66.0, 80.0]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Downloads and Links