Mj. Bentley et Jb. Anderson, GLACIAL AND MARINE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE ICE-SHEET CONFIGURATION IN THE WEDDELL-SEA ANTARCTIC PENINSULA REGION DURING THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM, Antarctic science, 10(3), 1998, pp. 309-325
The Weddell Sea region arguably represents the largest unknown in quan
tifying the Antarctic contribution to the global water balance followi
ng the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This paper reviews the available on
shore and offshore geological evidence constraining the volume of form
erly expanded ice in the Weddell Sea embayment, focusing on the West A
ntarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and provides a preliminary reconstruction of
the WAIS during the LGM. Dating control is generally poor and so our
WAIS reconstruction is based on the assumption that the evidence of mo
st recent ice sheet expansion dates to the LGM. Our reconstruction is
intended to provide initial constraints with which glaciological model
s can be compared and shows grounded ice extent, flow directions, and
ice surface elevations. Both marine and terrestrial geological evidenc
e imply a substantial expansion of ice in the Weddell Sea embayment. M
arine evidence shows that ice sheets were grounded in Crary Trough in
the southern Weddell Sea and on the Antarctic Peninsula continental sh
elf during the LGM. Inland, the ice thickened by between 400 m (Ellswo
rth and Palmer Land) and 1900 m (Ellsworth Mountains). Ice core eviden
ce suggests that the interior of the ice sheet remained the same or ev
en thinned relative to present. The main unknowns now concern the exac
t location of the grounding line on some sectors of the shelf and the
timing of ice sheet grounding and retreat. The limited radiocarbon dat
a that exist on the eastern shelf indicates that the East Antarctic Ic
e Sheet retreated from the shelf prior to the LGM.