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Paleoglaciologys Grand Unsolved Problem Mikhail G The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Earth Science Faculty Scholarship Earth Sciences 1995 Paleoglaciologys Grand Unsolved Problem Mikhail G. Grosswald Terence J. Hughes University of Maine - Main, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub Part of the Earth Sciences Commons Repository Citation Grosswald, Mikhail G. and Hughes, Terence J., "Paleoglaciologys Grand Unsolved Problem" (1995). Earth Science Faculty Scholarship. 66. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/66 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Earth Science Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Journa/ ofG/aci% g)', \'01. 41, No, 138, 1995 Paleoglaciology's grand unsolved problenl MIKHAlL G, GROSS\\".\LD , , . lllslilule ojCeograj)/O', Russiall .I(({den�)' ofScil'lll"es, 29 SlarOI/lOllfil�J' Slrel'l, 1090/7 llo lcO/l ' RII.Isia TERE:\'CE J. HUGHI�S lllslilllle jor Q.JIalerllal)" SllIdies alld 1111' De/Jarlmenl of Ge%giw/ ScieJICl's. L'lIiz'eI"si{J' of .Ilaille, OrOIlO, .Ilaille (4).69, C,S,.'I, ABSTRACT, The palcoglaciological concept that during the Plcistocene glacial hemi-cycles a super-large, structurally co mplex ice sheet de\"Cloped in the i\rctic and beha\"Cd as a single dynamic system, as the Antarctic ice sheet does today, has not yet been subjected to concerted studies designed to test the predictions of" this concept. Yct, it ma\' hold the keys to solutions of major problrms of' pa\eoglaciology, to understanding climate and sea-Ic\"C1 changes, The Russian Arctic is the Irast-kno\\'n region exposed to paleoglaciation by a h\'pothetical Arctic ice sheet but 110\\' it is Illore open to testing the concept. Implementation or these tests is a challenging task. as the region is extensi\"C and the anlilable data are contro\'Crsial. \\'ell-planned and co­ ordinatcd field projects arc needed toe\;\\', as \\"ell as broad discussion of the kno\\"n ' e\ idence, existing interpretations and nc\\' field results, Here \\"C present the knO\\"Il e\'idence for p aleoglaciation of' the Russian Arctic continental shelf' and reconstruct possible marine icc sheets that could han' produced that e\'idcnce, INTRODUCTION colleaguc, G, H. Denton, \\c argued that this Il\ pothet­ ical f()rmcr ice sheet, \\"hich \\T called the Arctic ice sheet. \\'riting in ,\{dllre. \\'eertman (1976 stated "O\"Cr the \\'as an ,\rctic counterpart to the pn'sent-day Antarctic past t\\'O decades, our understanding of the beha\'ior of' ice shect, because it consistcd of' terrestrial ice domes glaciers, ice sheh-es. and ice sheets has progressed and grounded on land abo\"(' sea InTI and marine ice domes increased \"Cry nice! y, \\' e kno\\' enough no\\" ro recognize grounded on con ti nental shekes belo\\' sea IC\"CI \\'i th a grand glaciological problem that remains to be soh-ecl. marine ice domes drained by ice streams that supplied an The \\'est Antarctic lee Sheet is this problem," He then ice shelf that floated on the deep part of' the Ar ctic Ocean pointed out that it is a "marine" ice sheet grounded \\"ell and caked into the North Atlantic (Hughes and others, belo\\' sea 1r\"CI, so its stabilit\' depends on a stable sea 1977), \\'e f'urthcr suggested that the hypothetical Arctic 1e\"C1. Yet, sea le\"C1 has changed dramaticall\' in the last ice sheet interacted \'igorously \\'ith the ocean and 20000 \'ears, He asked "Ho\\' then did this ice sheet fmm? beha\"(:'d as a single dynamic system, as the Antarctic \\'hy does it remain in existence") Is it gro\\'ing or ice sheet does LOday, disintegrating at the present time?" He noted that the As \\'ith glaciology's grand unsoh-ed problem in the ' \\ est Antarctic ice sheet is drained iw ice streams, \\'hich Antarctic. the grand unsoh"Cd problem of' Arctic arc f�lst currents orice similar to great riwrs that drain the paleoglaeiology translatcs into such questions as: "Did other continents. Ice streams supply the large floating ice an Arctic ice sheet de\'clop during Quatcrnary glaciation shel\"('s that f'ringe \\'est Antarctica and, like surging C\TIeS? If' it did, \\'hat \\'as its specific extent and structure? mountain glaciers, ice streams may also be unstable, In particular, did it include grounded marine ice domes Se\"l'J"al large-scale glaciologieal research programs are and floating ice sheh-es? Ho\\' long did it remain in 110\\' addressing all of' these questions, existence? \\'hat \\'as its disintegration histoJ"\'? Obtaining In the nearly t\\'O decades since \\'ccrtman ( 19 76 ) the ans\\'ers and thus testing the hypothesis is a difficult identified the marine \\'est Antarctic ice sheet as task because c\'idence [()I" the Arctic ice sheet is scattered "glaciology's grand unsoked prohlem·'. paleoglaciology O\"('r a huge, hardly accessii)le area and it is of'ten has also adnll1ced \Try nicely and \\'e kno\\' enough no\\' obscured by aCli\"C periglacial processes, or is ("oncea led to recognize a grand paleoglaciological problem that under permafi'ost-bound ice-rich sand and silt. or is remains to be soh-ed, That problem is the possibility that submerged by the sea on continental sheh-cs, Thc a largek marine ice sheet formed, gre\\' and collapsed in l1\'pothesis of' the Arctic ice sheet has not been subjected the Arctic du ring Quaternary glaciatioll cycles (:\[ercer, to concerted studies pointedly designed to test its 19 70), As an unsokcd paleoglaciological problem, it is predictions, although the critical region [or this test, the remarkably parallel to the modern Antarctic glaciological Russian Arctic, is no\\' open to international studies, and problem formula ted by \\' eertman, Along \\'i th our Russian components of' an Arctic ice sheet may hold keys 313 Journal oJ Glaciology to understanding global climatic and oceanographic changes. A sense of urgency in addressing paleoglaciology's grand unsolved problem exists, in \'iew of the contention by Miller and de Vernal ( 1992) that greenhouse warming in the decades ahead may initiate ice-sheet growth in High Arctic latitudes. They argued that greenhouse warming may duplicate the warmer winters and cooler summers in these latitudes that accompanied the onset of the last glaciation cycle. In particular, we suggest sea ice might not form in the Norvvegian and Greenland Seas during warmer Arctic winters, thereby allowing greater precipitation o\'er the permanent sea ice that does not melt during cooler Arctic summers. This would upset the precarious present-day mass balance in the High Arctic, so that sea ice would ground on shallow Arctic continental shelves and snowfields would grow on Arctic islands and uplands. This could impound the great rivers that drain into the Arctic from Eurasia and North America, creating a vast "vVhite Hole" within which precipitation could accumulate but not escape. The area of this "White Hole" is shown in Figure I which is Fig. 2. The proposed A rctic ice sheet during a QJwlenzmy comparable to the maximum areal extent of Northern glacial maximum. Presenl-day and glacial maximum Hemisphere glaciation during the last glaciation cycle. shorelines are dotted and solid lines, respective01. Black including ice sheets in Eurasia and North America, and areas are ice-dammed lakes a1/d glacier-Jed lakes at the ice shelves or sea ice o\'er the Arctic Ocean. The ""Vhite glacial maximum. For the ice sheet, solid lines are the Hole" would account for the drop in sea level at the maximum extenl oJ glaciation and dashed lines are ice-sheIJ beginning of the cycle that was as rapid as the rIse 111 sea grounding lines. level at its termination. lakes that drained into either the Sea of Okhotsk or the Mediterranean Sea, and that would innuence the present­ day arid climate of Central Asia. Figure 2 is based on the glacial geological, geomorphological and periglacial features reported in Russia by Grosswald (1993) and located in Figure 3, on a hypothetical marine glaciation of cen tral Beringia pro posed by H ughes and H ughes (1994), and on a glaciological interpretation of oriented lakes on the Arctic coastal plains of Siberia and Alaska. This evidence will by summarized under the headings: ice­ dammed lakes, terrestrial ice sheets, marine ice sheets, ice streams and floating ice shelves. Figure 4 reproduces the glacial geological and geomorphological fe atures on Arctic continental sheh'es and adjacent mainlands shown in Figure 3 and adds similar features in northeast Siberia and northwest Alaska, all of which were used to construct flowlines fo r the marine ice-sheet reconstructions in Figures 5 and 6. ICE-DAMMED LAKES Fig. 1. The" White Hole" at incejJtioll oJ the Arctic ice An Arctic ice sheet would consist of an Eurasian ice sheet sheet. Present-day alld glacial maximum shorelines are that was joined to the ice sheets of Greenland and North solid and dotted lines, resjJectively. The heavy solid line America by an ice shelf noating on the Arctic Ocean. The encloses the Arctic Ice sheet at inception. The heavy dashed most conclusive evidence for an Eurasian ice sheet would line encloses watersheds of rivers flowing toward Ihe Arctic be impoundment of the large Eurasian ri\"Crs that now ice sheet. Light solid lines are limits oJ gl aciation at a now into the Arctic Ocean, thereby creating Eurasian ice­ Qyalenza7]1 glacial maximum. dammed lakes during the last glaciation. These lakes constitute additional compelling evidence for the Eur­ asian ice sheet and their history constitutes a large-scale Figure 2 shows the hypothetical Arctic ice sheet just paleoglaciological problem in itself.
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