The Northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet during the Early Pleistocene was similar to today

Andrew J. Christ; Paul R. Bierman; Paul C. Knutz; Lee B. Corbett; Julie C. Fosdick; Elizabeth K. Thomas; Owen C. Cowling; Alan J. Hidy; Marc W. Caffee

doi:10.1029/2019GL085176

The Northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet during the Early Pleistocene was similar to today

Andrew J. Christ
, Paul R. Bierman
, Paul C. Knutz
, Lee B. Corbett
, Julie C. Fosdick
, Elizabeth K. Thomas
, Owen C. Cowling
, Alan J. Hidy
, Marc W. Caffee

Near Surface Land and Marine Geology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The multi-million year history of the Greenland Ice Sheet remains poorly known. Ice-proximal glacial marine diamict provides a direct but discontinuous record of ice sheet behavior; it is underutilized as a climate archive. Here, we present a novel multiproxy analysis of an Early Pleistocene marine diamict from northwestern Greenland. Low cosmogenic nuclide concentrations indicate minimal near-surface exposure, similar to modern terrestrial sediment. Detrital apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) ages all predate glaciation by >150 million years, suggesting the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet had, by 1.9 Ma, not yet incised fjords of sufficient depth to excavate grains with young AHe ages. The diamict contains terrestrial plant leaf wax, likely from land surfaces surrounding the ice sheet. These data indicate that a persistent, dynamic ice sheet existed in northwestern Greenland by 1.9 Ma and that diamict is a useful archive of ice sheet history and process.

Original language	English
Article number	e2019GL085176
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	47
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085176
Publication status	Published - 16 Jan 2020

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

climate proxies
cosmogenic nuclides
lipid biomarkers
paleoclimate
thermochronology

Programme Area

Programme Area 5: Nature and Climate

Access to Document

10.1029/2019GL085176

Cite this

@article{daa35c2dd2384fffb85962a38c3bb281,

title = "The Northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet during the Early Pleistocene was similar to today",

abstract = "The multi-million year history of the Greenland Ice Sheet remains poorly known. Ice-proximal glacial marine diamict provides a direct but discontinuous record of ice sheet behavior; it is underutilized as a climate archive. Here, we present a novel multiproxy analysis of an Early Pleistocene marine diamict from northwestern Greenland. Low cosmogenic nuclide concentrations indicate minimal near-surface exposure, similar to modern terrestrial sediment. Detrital apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) ages all predate glaciation by >150 million years, suggesting the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet had, by 1.9 Ma, not yet incised fjords of sufficient depth to excavate grains with young AHe ages. The diamict contains terrestrial plant leaf wax, likely from land surfaces surrounding the ice sheet. These data indicate that a persistent, dynamic ice sheet existed in northwestern Greenland by 1.9 Ma and that diamict is a useful archive of ice sheet history and process.",

keywords = "climate proxies, cosmogenic nuclides, lipid biomarkers, paleoclimate, thermochronology",

author = "Christ, \{Andrew J.\} and Bierman, \{Paul R.\} and Knutz, \{Paul C.\} and Corbett, \{Lee B.\} and Fosdick, \{Julie C.\} and Thomas, \{Elizabeth K.\} and Cowling, \{Owen C.\} and Hidy, \{Alan J.\} and Caffee, \{Marc W.\}",

note = "Funding Information: Study inspired by a MagellanPlus workshop at GEUS supported by ECORD (PKN). We thank K. Hollister (Buffalo) and A. Goldsmith, Connecticut Basin Analysis and Thermochronology Laboratory (EAR-1735492 to J. C. F.); Colorado TRaIL for U and Th determinations; Vermont Community Cosmogenic Facility (EAR-1735676 to P. R. B.); M. Quock for mineral picking. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344; LLNL-JRNL-774748. PRIME Lab (EAR-1560658). Authors declare no conflicts of interest. All data available in the supporting information and Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/3g6a2/, DOI: https://10.17605/OSF.IO/3G6A2). Funding Information: Study inspired by a MagellanPlus workshop at GEUS supported by ECORD (PKN). We thank K. Hollister (Buffalo) and A. Goldsmith, Connecticut Basin Analysis and Thermochronology Laboratory (EAR‐1735492 to J. C. F.); Colorado TRaIL for U and Th determinations; Vermont Community Cosmogenic Facility (EAR‐1735676 to P. R. B.); M. Quock for mineral picking. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE‐AC52‐07NA27344; LLNL‐JRNL‐774748. PRIME Lab (EAR‐1560658). Authors declare no conflicts of interest. All data available in the supporting information and Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/3g6a2/ , DOI: https://10.17605/OSF.IO/3G6A2 ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright}2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",

year = "2020",

month = jan,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1029/2019GL085176",

language = "English",

volume = "47",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "Wiley",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet during the Early Pleistocene was similar to today

AU - Christ, Andrew J.

AU - Bierman, Paul R.

AU - Knutz, Paul C.

AU - Corbett, Lee B.

AU - Fosdick, Julie C.

AU - Thomas, Elizabeth K.

AU - Cowling, Owen C.

AU - Hidy, Alan J.

AU - Caffee, Marc W.

N1 - Funding Information: Study inspired by a MagellanPlus workshop at GEUS supported by ECORD (PKN). We thank K. Hollister (Buffalo) and A. Goldsmith, Connecticut Basin Analysis and Thermochronology Laboratory (EAR-1735492 to J. C. F.); Colorado TRaIL for U and Th determinations; Vermont Community Cosmogenic Facility (EAR-1735676 to P. R. B.); M. Quock for mineral picking. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344; LLNL-JRNL-774748. PRIME Lab (EAR-1560658). Authors declare no conflicts of interest. All data available in the supporting information and Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/3g6a2/, DOI: https://10.17605/OSF.IO/3G6A2). Funding Information: Study inspired by a MagellanPlus workshop at GEUS supported by ECORD (PKN). We thank K. Hollister (Buffalo) and A. Goldsmith, Connecticut Basin Analysis and Thermochronology Laboratory (EAR‐1735492 to J. C. F.); Colorado TRaIL for U and Th determinations; Vermont Community Cosmogenic Facility (EAR‐1735676 to P. R. B.); M. Quock for mineral picking. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE‐AC52‐07NA27344; LLNL‐JRNL‐774748. PRIME Lab (EAR‐1560658). Authors declare no conflicts of interest. All data available in the supporting information and Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/3g6a2/ , DOI: https://10.17605/OSF.IO/3G6A2 ). Publisher Copyright: ©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

PY - 2020/1/16

Y1 - 2020/1/16

N2 - The multi-million year history of the Greenland Ice Sheet remains poorly known. Ice-proximal glacial marine diamict provides a direct but discontinuous record of ice sheet behavior; it is underutilized as a climate archive. Here, we present a novel multiproxy analysis of an Early Pleistocene marine diamict from northwestern Greenland. Low cosmogenic nuclide concentrations indicate minimal near-surface exposure, similar to modern terrestrial sediment. Detrital apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) ages all predate glaciation by >150 million years, suggesting the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet had, by 1.9 Ma, not yet incised fjords of sufficient depth to excavate grains with young AHe ages. The diamict contains terrestrial plant leaf wax, likely from land surfaces surrounding the ice sheet. These data indicate that a persistent, dynamic ice sheet existed in northwestern Greenland by 1.9 Ma and that diamict is a useful archive of ice sheet history and process.

AB - The multi-million year history of the Greenland Ice Sheet remains poorly known. Ice-proximal glacial marine diamict provides a direct but discontinuous record of ice sheet behavior; it is underutilized as a climate archive. Here, we present a novel multiproxy analysis of an Early Pleistocene marine diamict from northwestern Greenland. Low cosmogenic nuclide concentrations indicate minimal near-surface exposure, similar to modern terrestrial sediment. Detrital apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) ages all predate glaciation by >150 million years, suggesting the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet had, by 1.9 Ma, not yet incised fjords of sufficient depth to excavate grains with young AHe ages. The diamict contains terrestrial plant leaf wax, likely from land surfaces surrounding the ice sheet. These data indicate that a persistent, dynamic ice sheet existed in northwestern Greenland by 1.9 Ma and that diamict is a useful archive of ice sheet history and process.

KW - climate proxies

KW - cosmogenic nuclides

KW - lipid biomarkers

KW - paleoclimate

KW - thermochronology

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85078228899

U2 - 10.1029/2019GL085176

DO - 10.1029/2019GL085176

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85078228899

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 47

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 1

M1 - e2019GL085176

ER -

The Northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet during the Early Pleistocene was similar to today

Abstract

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Keywords

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