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Holocene dynamics of the Arctic's largest ice shelf.

Antoniades, Dermot; Francus, Pierre; Pienitz, Reinhard; St-Onge, Guillaume et Vincent, Warwick (2011). Holocene dynamics of the Arctic's largest ice shelf. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , vol. 108 , nº 47. pp. 18899-18904. DOI: 0.1073/pnas.1106378108.

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Résumé

Ice shelves in the Arctic lost more than 90% of their total surface area during the 20th century and are continuing to disintegrate rapidly. The significance of these changes, however, is obscured by the poorly constrained ontogeny of Arctic ice shelves. Here we use the sedimentary record behind the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf (Ellesmere Island, Canada), to establish a long-term context in which to evaluate recent ice-shelf deterioration. Multiproxy analysis of sediment cores revealed pronounced biological and geochemical changes in Disraeli Fiord in response to the formation of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf and its fluctuations through time. Our results show that the ice shelf was absent during the early Holocene and formed 4,000 years ago in response to climate cooling. Paleoecological data then indicate that the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf remained stable for almost three millennia before a major fracturing event that occurred ∼1,400 years ago. After reformation ∼800 years ago, freshwater was a constant feature of Disraeli Fiord until the catastrophic drainage of its epishelf lake in the early 21st century.

Type de document: Article
Mots-clés libres: climate change; glaciology; paleoceanography; geochemistry
Centre: Centre Eau Terre Environnement
Date de dépôt: 08 janv. 2021 20:07
Dernière modification: 08 janv. 2021 20:07
URI: https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/10670

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