Repeated major inland retreat of Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers (West Antarctica) during the Pliocene.

ABSTRACT: The stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), crucial for predicting future sea-level rise, is threatened by ocean-forced melting in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. While some geological records and ice-sheet models suggest WAIS retreat during past warm periods, reliable data constraining the extent of retreat are lacking. Detrital Nd, Sr, and Pb isotope data of sediments recently drilled at International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1532 on the Amundsen Sea continental rise manifest repeated alternations in sediment provenance during glacial-interglacial cycles of the Pliocene (5.33 to 2.58 Mya), a time warmer than present. The variations reflect large fluctuations in WAIS extent on the Antarctic continent. A unique high Pb/low ε_Nd signature of sedimen

SUBMITTER: Horikawa K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12773727 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature