Abstract
The subglacial topography in East Antarctica has been revealed by airborne radar surveys1,2,3. However, how this ice-hidden landscape has evolved over time is less well known4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. Low pre-glacial erosion rates since the Permian period have been reported12, challenging arguments for enhanced erosion during the Cretaceous period4,6. Here we present a record of long-term East Antarctic erosion by applying multiple dating techniques to over 1,400 detrital mineral grains from onshore moraines and offshore sediments of Cretaceous to Quaternary age in the region of Lambert Glacier and Prydz Bay. Ages from pre-glacial sediments support overall low erosion rates before the expansion of the ice sheet, apart from a discrete interval of magmatic heating about 115 Myr ago that is inconsistent with widespread Cretaceous erosion. We find a shift towards younger and broader age distributions since ∼ 34 Myr ago that necessitates spatially localized erosion of over 2 km in the Lambert Glacier catchment over this time. We infer that the trough containing Lambert Glacier was incised almost entirely by selective glacial erosion following initial expansion of the East Antarctic ice sheet. This implies that the early ice sheet was dynamic with ice flow concentrated along fixed ice streams.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bo, S. et al. The Gamburtsev mountains and the origin and early evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Nature 459, 690–693 (2009).
Ferraccioli, F. et al. East Antarctic rifting triggers uplift of the Gamburtsev Mountains. Nature 479, 388–392 (2011).
Young, D. A. et al. A dynamic early East Antarctic Ice Sheet suggested by ice-covered fjord landscapes. Nature 474, 72–75 (2011).
Arne, D. C. Phanerozoic exhumation history of Northern Prince-Charles-Mountains (East Antarctica). Antarct. Sci. 6, 69–84 (1994).
Hambrey, M. J. & McKelvey, B. Major Neogene fluctuations of the East Antarctic ice sheet: Stratigraphic evidence from the Lambert Glacier region. Geology 28, 887–890 (2000).
Lisker, F., Brown, R. & Fabel, D. Denudational and thermal history along a transect across the Lambert Graben, northern Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica, derived from apatite fission track thermochronology. Tectonics 22, 1055 (2003).
Hambrey, M. J., Glasser, N. F., McKelvey, B. C., Sugden, D. E. & Fink, D. Cenozoic landscape evolution of an East Antarctic oasis (Radok Lake area, northern Prince Charles Mountains), and its implications for the glacial and climatic history of Antarctica. Quat. Sci. Rev. 26, 598–626 (2007).
Taylor, J. et al. Topographic controls on post-Oligocene changes in ice-sheet dynamics, Prydz Bay region, East Antarctica. Geology 32, 197–200 (2004).
Jamieson, S. S. R., Sugden, D. E. & Hulton, N. R. J. The evolution of the subglacial landscape of Antarctica. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 293, 1–27 (2010).
Wilson, D. S. et al. Antarctic topography at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 335-336, 24–34 (2012).
van de Flierdt, T., Hemming, S. R., Goldstein, S. L., Gehrels, G. E. & Cox, S. E. Evidence against a young volcanic origin of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, Antarctica. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L21303 (2008).
Cox, S. E., Thomson, S. N., Reiners, P. W., Hemming, S. R. & van de Flierdt, T. Extremely low long-term erosion rates around the Gamburtsev Mountains in interior East Antarctica. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L22307 (2010).
DeConto, R. M. & Pollard, D. Rapid Cenozoic glaciation of Antarctica induced by declining atmospheric CO2 . Nature 421, 245–249 (2003).
Siegert, M. J. Antarctic subglacial topography and ice-sheet evolution. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 33, 646–660 (2008).
Harrowfield, M., Holdgate, G. R., Wilson, C. J. L. & McLoughlin, S. Tectonic significance of the Lambert Graben, East Antarctica: Reconstructing the Gondwanan rift. Geology 33, 197–200 (2005).
Jamieson, S. S. R., Hulton, N. R. J., Sugden, D. E., Payne, A. J. & Taylor, J. Cenozoic landscape evolution of the Lambert basin, East Antarctica: The relative role of rivers and ice sheets. Glob. Planet. Change 45, 35–49 (2005).
Arne, D. C., Kelly, P. R., Brown, R. W. & Gleadow, A. J. W. in Gondwana 8: Assembly, Evolution and Dispersal (eds Findlay, R. H., Banks, H. R., Veevers, J. J. & Unrug, R.) 605–611 (1993).
Lisker, F., Wilson, C. J. L. & Gibson, H. J. Thermal history of the Vestfold Hills (East Antarctica) between Lambert rifting and Gondwana break-up, evidence from apatite fission track data. Antarct. Sci. 19, 97–106 (2007).
McKelvey, B. C. et al. The Pagodroma group—a Cenozoic record of the East Antarctic ice sheet in the northern Prince Charles Mountains. Antarct. Sci. 13, 455–468 (2001).
Cherniak, D. J., Lanford, W. A. & Ryerson, F. J. Lead diffusion in apatite and zircon using ion-implantation and Rutherford backscattering techniques. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 1663–1673 (1991).
Reiners, P. W. & Brandon, M. T. Using thermochronology to understand orogenic erosion. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 34, 419–466 (2006).
Thomson, S. N., Gehrels, G. E., Ruiz, J. & Buchwaldt, R. Routine low-damage apatite U–Pb dating using laser ablation-multicollector-ICPMS. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 13, Q0AA21 (2012).
Cooper, A. K. & O’Brien, P. E. in Proc. Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results Vol. 188 (eds Cooper, A. K., O’Brien, P. E. & Richter, C.) 1–42 (2004).
Tochilin, C. J. et al. Erosional history of the Prydz Bay sector of East Antarctica from detrital apatite and zircon geo- and thermochronology multidating. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 13, Q11015 (2012).
Coffin, M. F. et al. Kerguelen hotspot magma output since 130 Ma. J. Petrol. 43, 1121–1139 (2002).
Phillips, G., Kelsey, D. E., Corvino, A. F. & Dutch, R. A. Continental reworking during overprinting orogenic events, Southern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica. J. Petrol. 50, 2017–2041 (2009).
Roy, M., van de Flierdt, T. V., Hemming, S. R. & Goldstein, S. L. Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of hornblende grains and bulk Sm/Nd isotopes of circum-Antarctic glacio-marine sediments: Implications for sediment provenance in the Southern Ocean. Chem. Geol. 244, 507–519 (2007).
Garver, J. I., Brandon, M. T., Roden-Rice, M. & Kamp, P. J. J. in Exhumation Processes: Normal Faulting, Ductile Flow and Erosion Vol. 154 (eds Ring, U., Brandon, M. T., Lister, G. S. & Willett, S. D.) 283–304 (1999).
Wellman, P. & Tingey, R. J. Glaciation, erosion and uplift over part of East Antarctica. Nature 291, 142–144 (1981).
Fretwell, P. et al. Bedmap2: Improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica. Cryosphere Discuss. 6, 4305–4361 (2012).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by NSF Polar Programs award ANT 0838722. We thank D. Harwood for supplying samples from the Pagodroma Group, E. Pierce and T. Williams for help with data compilation, L. Hill and P. Gou for help with sample preparation, U. Chowdhury and S. Nicolescu for (U–Th)/He analytical assistance, and M. Pecha and the Arizona LaserChron Center staff for support with U–Pb analysis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Writing and data analysis were carried out by S.N.T. Project planning and data interpretation were carried out by S.N.T., P.W.R., S.R.H and G.E.G.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Information (PDF 8257 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thomson, S., Reiners, P., Hemming, S. et al. The contribution of glacial erosion to shaping the hidden landscape of East Antarctica. Nature Geosci 6, 203–207 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1722
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1722
This article is cited by
-
Exhumation and tectonic history of inaccessible subglacial interior East Antarctica from thermochronology on glacial erratics
Nature Communications (2022)
-
The impact of glaciers on mountain erosion
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2021)
-
Type and genesis of amphibole in the Huanghe River and Changjiang River estuaries and significance of its provenance
Geosciences Journal (2021)
-
Minimal East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat onto land during the past eight million years
Nature (2018)
-
Antarctica's lost landscape
Nature Geoscience (2013)