Recent glacial history and rapid ice stream retreat in the Amundsen Sea

Abstract

Microfossil analyses of core top samples from 20 sites in the E and S Amundsen Sea delimit three biotic provinces, which are related in part of the activity of a large ice stream and modern sea ice distribution. The presence of a compact diamicton beneath Recent sediments on the Outer Shelf and in the Eastern Margin Province suggests that grounded ice formerly occupied the Amundsen Sea shelf with ice streams in deep, elongated troughs. These ice streams may have retreated up to 200 km during the Holocene. -from Authors