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This study describes 16 well-dated, terrestrial glacial sedimentary cycles deposited during astronomically paced climate cycles from the termination of the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) through the middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT) (15.1-13.8 Ma) in the Friis Hills, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Three locations were continuously cored (79% recovery) to a maximum depth of 50.48 m through a succession of interbedded till sheets and fossil-bearing, fluvio-lacustrine sediments. A composite chronostratigraphic framework is presented for the cores based on the previous mapping, a seismic refraction survey that defines basin geometry, and a new, integrated age model based on paleomagnetic stratigraphy that is constrained by radioisotopic 40Ar/39Ar numeric ages on two newly identified silicic tephra. The paleoecologic and sedimentologic characteristics of organic-rich lithologies are relatively consistent up-section, which implies that successively younger interglacial deposits during the MMCT represented broadly similar environmental and climatic conditions. During these interglacials, the Friis Hills hinterland was likely ice-free. Major disconformities in the section suggest a transition to colder climates, and after ca. 14.6 Ma, thicker, more extensive and erosive ice cover occurred across the Friis Hills during glacial episodes. Diamictites in the upper three cycles suggest that climate cooled and became drier after ca. 14.2 Ma. However, cyclical retreat of the ice and a return to warm climate conditions during interglacials continued through ca. 13.9 Ma. These direct records reflect a highly variable East Antarctic Ice Sheet margin but show that the ice margin became progressively more extensive during successive glacial intervals, which is consistent with a cooling trend toward more glacial values in the far-field benthic foraminifera δ18O proxy ice volume and temperature record. Age constraints show that glacial-interglacial variability at the terrestrial margin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was primarily paced by astronomical precession (~23 k.y.) through the onset of the MMCT (15-14.7 Ma). Precession-driven cycles are modulated by short-period (~100 k.y.) eccentricity cycles. Intervals of maximum eccentricity (high seasonality) coincide with sedimentary cycles comprising thin diamictites and relatively thick interglacial sandstone and mudstone units. Intervals of minimum eccentricity (low seasonality) coincide with sedimentary cycles comprising thick diamictites and relatively thin interglacial sedimentary deposits. Major disconformities in the Friis Hills succession that span more than ~100 k.y. reflect episodes of expansion of erosive ice across, and well beyond, the Transantarctic Mountains and coincide with nodes in eccentricity (~400 k.y.). These relationships suggest that during relatively warm intervals in the middle Miocene, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet expanded and contracted over 100 k.y. cycles, while its margins continued to fluctuate at higher (~23 k.y.) frequency. After 14.5 Ma, obliquity is the dominant frequency in δ18O records, marking a period during which large regions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet grounded in marine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Marine Isotope Stage 31 (MIS-31) is one of the major interglacials of the early Pleistocene ~1.08 to 1.06Ma. Data from proximal sediment cores around several sectors of Antarctica indicate strong sea surface warming and ice shelf and sea ice retreat. Benthic deep-sea-core δ18O values at this time are some of the lowest of the Pleistocene, indicating both deep sea warming and reduced global ice volume. A coeval alignment of orbital parameters produces one of the strongest high-latitude summer insolation anomalies of the last several million years. Here we use a 3-D ice sheet-shelf model to simulate the evolution of Antarctic ice sheets through the event, and a global climate model to simulate temperatures and sea ice during peak Antarctic warmth. The ice model predicts nearly complete collapse and subsequent recovery of marine ice in West Antarctica, and the ice and climate model results agree well with proximal sediment core data in the Ross Embayment recovered by the ANDRILL and Cape Roberts drilling projects. The dominant forcing is found to be variations in sub-ice-shelf oceanic melting, with insignificant surface melting of terrestrial ice flanks even during peak warmth. Implications are noted in light of other observations and theories of Pliocene–Pleistocene Antarctic ice sheet variability that do involve surface melt. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Marine Isotope Stage 31 (MIS-31) is one of the major interglacials of the early Pleistocene ~1.08 to 1.06Ma. Data from proximal sediment cores around several sectors of Antarctica indicate strong sea surface warming and ice shelf and sea ice retreat. Benthic deep-sea-core δ18O values at this time are some of the lowest of the Pleistocene, indicating both deep sea warming and reduced global ice volume. A coeval alignment of orbital parameters produces one of the strongest high-latitude summer insolation anomalies of the last several million years. Here we use a 3-D ice sheet-shelf model to simulate the evolution of Antarctic ice sheets through the event, and a global climate model to simulate temperatures and sea ice during peak Antarctic warmth. The ice model predicts nearly complete collapse and subsequent recovery of marine ice in West Antarctica, and the ice and climate model results agree well with proximal sediment core data in the Ross Embayment recovered by the ANDRILL and Cape Roberts drilling projects. The dominant forcing is found to be variations in sub-ice-shelf oceanic melting, with insignificant surface melting of terrestrial ice flanks even during peak warmth. Implications are noted in light of other observations and theories of Pliocene–Pleistocene Antarctic ice sheet variability that do involve surface melt. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Viscous flow lobes are common throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica. These features have been described as rock glaciers, gelifluction lobes, solifluction lobes, talus mobilized by pore ice and/or segregation ice, and debris-covered glaciers. We investigate the origin, modification, and flow of a 2-km-long lobe (East Stocking Lobe or ESL) along the north wall of central Taylor Valley using field mapping techniques, shallow seismic surveys, time-dependent displacement surveys, and isotopic analyses of buried-ice samples. On the basis of these integrated analyses, we show that the ESL is cored with remnant glacier ice, most probably derived from an advance of nearby Stocking Glacier ∼ 130kyr BP. Seismic data, coupled with results from ice-flow modeling assuming plastic flow of clean ice, suggest that the buried core of glacier ice is ∼ 14- to 30-m thick. Near its terminus, the ESL flows at a rate of ∼2.4 to 6.7mma−1. The loose drift that caps the buried ice (typically <1m thick) is composed of moderately stratified sand- and gravel-sized clasts; it is dry (1–3% soil gravimetric water content; GWC), except near ephemeral stream channels and the margins of melting snow banks (6–25% GWC). Stable isotopic analyses of samples from the upper 30cm of the ice lie on a slope of ∼5.8 (when plotted on a δD vs. δ 18O graph), well below the local meteoric water line of 7.75, suggesting modification by freeze/thaw processes and evaporation/sublimation. Measured air and soil temperatures show that intermittent melting is most likely possible during summer months where buried ice is ≤35cm below the ground surface. Morphological comparisons with ice-cored deposits in upland regions of the Dry Valleys, e.g., Mullins and Beacon Valleys (30km inland and ∼500m higher in elevation), and near the coast (40km distant and∼500m lower) reveal marked contrasts in the style of near-surface ice degradation and cryoturbation. From these morphological comparisons, we infer that buried-ice deposits in the stable upland zone have not experienced the relatively warm climate conditions now found at the ESL and at lower elevations in the Dry Valleys region (e.g. sustained summertime temperatures of ≥−4°C) for the last several million years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A 50+-km-long network of bedrock channels and scoured terrain occupies the ice-free portion of a major trough that crosses the Transantarctic Mountains in southern Victoria Land. The channels, collectively termed the Labyrinth, emerge from beneath the margin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (Wright Upper Glacier) and are incised into a 300-m-thick sill of Ferrar Dolerite at the head of Wright Valley. Upper- and intermediate-elevation erosion surfaces of the Labyrinth exhibit striations and molding characteristic of glacial erosion. Channels and canyons on the lower surface are as much as 600 m wide and 250 m deep, have longitudinal profiles with many reverse gradients, and contain potholes >35 m deep at tributary junctions. These characteristics are most consistent with incision from fast-flowing subglacial meltwater; estimated discharge is on the order of 1.6-2.2 × 106 m³s-¹ Our 40Ar/39Ar analyses of volcanic tephra from the Labyrinth show that the channels are relict, that major channel incision predates 12.4 Ma, and that the last major subglacial flood occurred sometime between 14.4 Ma and 12.4 Ma. The most plausible origin for the Labyrinth is erosion associated with episodic drainage of subglacial lakes in East Antarctica. One compelling possibility is that discharge of large volumes of sub-glacial meltwater to the Southern Ocean, and to the Ross Sea in particular, may have coincided with, and contributed to, oscillations in regional and/or global climate during the middle Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 5 million years, the Earth's climate has oscillated between warm (interglacial) and cold (glacial) states. Some particularly warm interglacial periods (i.e. 'super-interglacials') occurred under low atmospheric CO 2 and may have featured extensive Antarctic ice sheet collapse. Here we focus on an extreme super-interglacial known as Marine Isotope Stage 31 (MIS31), between 1.085 and 1.055 million years ago and is the subject of intense discussion. We reconstructed the first Southern Ocean and Antarctic margin sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from organic biomarkers and used them to constrain numerical ice sheet-shelf simulations. Our SSTs indicate that the ocean was on average 5 °C (±1.2 °C) warmer in summer than today between 50 °S and the Antarctic ice margin. Our most conservative ice sheet simulation indicates a complete collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) with additional deflation of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. We suggest the WAIS retreated because of anomalously high Southern Hemisphere insolation coupled with the intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water onto the continental shelf under poleward-intensified winds leading to a shorter sea ice season and ocean warming at the continental margin. In this scenario, the extreme warming we observed likely reflects the extensively modified oceanic and hydrologic system following ice sheet collapse. Our work highlights the sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheets to minor oceanic perturbations that could also be at play for future changes. • Quantification of the Southern Ocean warming during MIS31 using molecular temperature reconstructions at high latitudes. • Sustained surface Southern Ocean warming & collapse of the sub-Antarctic ocean fronts under low atmospheric CO 2 conditions. • Use of sea surface temperature data to test scenarios for the AIS retreat using coupled ice-sheet/ice-shelf model. • Two steps WAIS retreat: 1) mild ocean warming forcing ice margin retreat 2) rapid ocean warming as the ice sheet retreats. • We show that the Paris Agreement target temperature of 1.5°C is sufficient to drive runaway retreat of the WAIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]