Connotea
CiteULike
del.ico.us
BibSonomyAbstract
Catastrophic ice shelf breakup as the source of Heinrich event icebergs
Department of Geology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Institute for Quaternary and Climate Studies and Department of Geological Sciences, Orono, University of Maine, Maine, USA
Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Heinrich layers of the glacial North Atlantic record abrupt widespread iceberg rafting of detrital carbonate and other lithic material at the extreme-cold culminations of Bond climate cycles. Both internal (glaciologic) and external (climate) forcings have been proposed. Here we suggest an explanation for the iceberg release that encompasses external climate forcing on the basis of a new glaciological process recently witnessed along the Antarctic Peninsula: rapid disintegrations of fringing ice shelves induced by climate-controlled meltwater infilling of surface crevasses. We postulate that peripheral ice shelves, formed along the eastern Canadian seaboard during extreme cold conditions, would be vulnerable to sudden climate-driven disintegration during any climate amelioration. Ice shelf disintegration then would be the source of Heinrich event icebergs.
Received 31 January 2003; accepted 8 October 2003; published 22 January 2004.
Citation: (2004), Catastrophic ice shelf breakup as the source of Heinrich event icebergs, Paleoceanography, 19, PA1004, doi:10.1029/2003PA000890.
Cited By