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Obliquity-paced Pliocene West Antarctic ice sheet oscillations

Nature volume 458, pages 322–328 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Thirty years after oxygen isotope records from microfossils deposited in ocean sediments confirmed the hypothesis that variations in the Earth’s orbital geometry control the ice ages1, fundamental questions remain over the response of the Antarctic ice sheets to orbital cycles2. Furthermore, an understanding of the behaviour of the marine-based West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) during the ‘warmer-than-present’ early-Pliocene epoch (∼5–3 Myr ago) is needed to better constrain the possible range of ice-sheet behaviour in the context of future global warming3. Here we present a marine glacial record from the upper 600 m of the AND-1B sediment core recovered from beneath the northwest part of the Ross ice shelf by the ANDRILL programme and demonstrate well-dated, ∼40-kyr cyclic variations in ice-sheet extent linked to cycles in insolation influenced by changes in the Earth’s axial tilt (obliquity) during the Pliocene. Our data provide direct evidence for orbitally induced oscillations in the WAIS, which periodically collapsed, resulting in a switch from grounded ice, or ice shelves, to open waters in the Ross embayment when planetary temperatures were up to ∼3 °C warmer than today4 and atmospheric CO2 concentration was as high as ∼400 p.p.m.v. (refs 5, 6). The evidence is consistent with a new ice-sheet/ice-shelf model7 that simulates fluctuations in Antarctic ice volume of up to +7 m in equivalent sea level associated with the loss of the WAIS and up to +3 m in equivalent sea level from the East Antarctic ice sheet, in response to ocean-induced melting paced by obliquity. During interglacial times, diatomaceous sediments indicate high surface-water productivity, minimal summer sea ice and air temperatures above freezing, suggesting an additional influence of surface melt8 under conditions of elevated CO2.

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Figure 1: Location of the ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf Project AND-1B drill site in the northwestern corner of the Ross ice shelf.
Figure 2: Stratigraphic and chronologic summary of the upper 600 m of the AND-1B core showing 38 sedimentary cycles of ice-sheet advance, retreat and re-advance during the last 5 Myr.
Figure 3: Detailed analysis of early-Pliocene sedimentary cycles in the AND-1B core showing lithofacies interpretations of glacimarine environments.
Figure 4: Detailed analysis of late early-Pliocene sedimentary cycles in the AND-1B core showing lithofacies interpretations of glacimarine environments.

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Acknowledgements

The ANDRILL project is a multinational collaboration between the Antarctic programmes of Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United States. Antarctica New Zealand is the project operator and developed the drilling system in collaboration with A. Pyne. Antarctica New Zealand supported the drilling team at Scott Base; Raytheon Polar Services Corporation supported the science team at McMurdo Station and the Crary Science and Engineering Laboratory. The ANDRILL Science Management Office at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln provided science planning and operational support. The scientific studies are jointly supported by the US National Science Foundation, the New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology and the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund, the Italian Antarctic Research Programme, the German Research Foundation and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.

Author Contributions All authors contributed to acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data presented in this paper. T.N.: overall coordination of writing, sedimentology, cyclostratigraphic and climatic interpretations; R.P.: integration, glacial facies, glacial process and interpretations of ice-sheet history; R.L.: integration, biochronology and age-model construction; L.K.: core description and sedimentological interpretation; F.N.: core description and physical properties interpretation; M.P.: petrological interpretation; R.S.: integration, diatom biostratigraphic and environmental interpretations; F.T.: clast abundance, composition and provenance interpretations; G.W.: palaeomagnetic stratigraphy and age-model construction; T. Wilson: core description, structural and tectonic constraints; L.C.: sedimentology & palaeo-oceanographic interpretations; R. McKay: sedimentology, glacial facies interpretations and ice-sheet history; J. Ross: 40A/39Ar geochronology and age-model construction; D.W.: diatom biostratigraphy and environmental interpretations; P.B.: glacial process and interpretations of ice-sheet history; G.B.: glacimarine sequence stratigraphy and facies interpretations; R.C.: biochronology and age-model construction; E.C.: glacial facies, glacial process and interpretations of ice-sheet history; J.C.: biochronology and age-model construction; R.D.: ice-sheet-model data interpretation and integration; G.D.: core description, facies and sedimentological interpretation; N.D.: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and petrological interpretation; F.F.: palaeomagnetic interpretations and age-model construction; C.G.: core description and physical properties interpretation; I.G.: geochronology and age-model construction; M.H.: biostratigraphy and environmental interpretation; D. Harwood: diatom biostratigraphy and biochronology; D. Hansaraj: regional seismic stratigraphic context; D. Helling: geochemical interpretation; S.H.: regional stratigraphic framework and tectonic constraints; L.H.: time-series analysis; P.H.: Milankovitch forcing and palaeoclimatic interpretations; G.K.: geochemical interpretation; P.K.: volcanic petrology and volcanological interpretation; A.L.: core description and structural analysis; P.M.: diatom biostratigraphy and environmental interpretations; D.M.: core description and physical properties interpretation; K.M.: core description; W.M.: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and volcanological interpretation; C.M.: core description and structural analysis; R. Morin: borehole description and down-hole geophysics; C.O.: palaeomagnetic stratigraphy and age-model construction; T.P.: core and description and structural geology; D. Persico: calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy; D. Pollard: ice-sheet-model data interpretation and integration; J. Reed: core description and visualization; C.R.: diatom biostratigraphy and environmental interpretation; I.R.: palynology and environmental interpretation; D.S.: core and borehole description and structural geology; L.S.: palaeomagnetic stratigraphy and age-model construction; C.S.: diatom biostratigraphy and environmental interpretation; P.S.: foram biostratigraphy and environmental interpretation; M.T.: macrofossil biostratigraphy and environmental interpretation; S.V.: subglacial geological interpretation; T. Wilch: core description and interpretation of volcaniclastic sediments; T. Williams: borehole description and down-hole geophysics.

Author information

Author notes

  1. R. Levy

    Present address: Present address: GNS Science, 1 Fairway Drive, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade, PO Box 600, Wellington 6012, New Zealand,

    T. Naish, L. Carter, R. McKay, P. Barrett, R. Cody, G. Dunbar, M. Hannah & D. Hansaraj

  2. GNS Science, 1 Fairway Drive, PO Box 30-368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand,

    T. Naish, G. Browne, R. Cody, J. Crampton, I. Graham, D. Hansaraj, S. Henrys, I. Raine & P. Strong

  3. Department of Geology & Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA,

    R. Powell, R. Scherer & S. Vogel

  4. Department of Geosciences, ANDRILL Science Management Office, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0340, USA,

    R. Levy, D. Winter, D. Harwood & J. Reed

  5. Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Leith Street, Dunedin, Otago 9001, New Zealand,

    G. Wilson & C. Ohneiser

  6. Dipartimento di Scienze delle Terra, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy,

    F. Talarico

  7. Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio State University, 275 Mendenhall Lab, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA,

    L. Krissek, T. Wilson & C. Millan

  8. Department of Geosciences, Alfred Wegener Institute, Postfach 12 01 6, Am Alten Hafen 26, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany,

    F. Niessen, C. Gebhardt, D. Helling, G. Kuhn & D. Magens

  9. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via della Faggiola 32, I-56126 Pisa, Italy,

    M. Pompilio

  10. Department of Geosciences, 233 Morrell Science Centre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9297, USA,

    R. DeConto

  11. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Massachusetts 02138, USA,

    P. Huybers

  12. Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA,

    D. Pollard

  13. New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA,

    J. Ross, N. Dunbar, P. Kyle & W. McIntosh

  14. Department of Geology, Appalachian State University, ASU Box 32067, Boone, North Carolina 28608-2067, USA,

    E. Cowan

  15. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, I-00143 Rome, Italy,

    F. Florindo & L. Sagnotti

  16. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA,

    L. Hinnov

  17. Federal Institute of Geosciences & Natural Resources, BGR, Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany,

    A. Läufer

  18. Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Geotecnologie, Università Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, I-20126 Milano, Italy,

    P. Maffioli

  19. Department of Chemistry & Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA,

    K. Mandernack

  20. US Geological Survey, Mail Stop 403, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA,

    R. Morin

  21. Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Boulevard, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901, USA,

    T. Paulsen

  22. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Parma, Via Usberti 157/A, I-43100 Parma, Italy,

    D. Persico

  23. Department of Geological & Atmospheric Sciences, CHRONOS, Iowa State University, 275 Science I, Ames, Iowa 50011-3212, USA,

    J. Reed

  24. Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA,

    C. Riesselman

  25. Department of Physics, Mailstop #615, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G7, Canada,

    D. Schmitt

  26. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA,

    C. Sjunneskog

  27. CNR, ISMAR – Bologna, Via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy,

    M. Taviani

  28. Department of Geology, Albion College, Albion, Michigan 49224, USA,

    T. Wilch

  29. Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York 10964, USA,

    T. Williams

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. Naish.

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Naish, T., Powell, R., Levy, R. et al. Obliquity-paced Pliocene West Antarctic ice sheet oscillations. Nature 458, 322–328 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07867

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