Evidence for an ice shelf covering the central Arctic Ocean during the penultimate glaciation

Martin Jakobsson (), Johan Nilsson, Leif Anderson, Jan Backman, Göran Björk, Thomas M. Cronin, Nina Kirchner, Andrey Koshurnikov, Larry Mayer, Riko Noormets, Matthew O’Regan, Christian Stranne, Roman Ananiev, Natalia Barrientos Macho, Denis Cherniykh, Helen Coxall, Björn Eriksson, Tom Flodén, Laura Gemery, Örjan Gustafsson, Kevin Jerram, Carina Johansson, Alexey Khortov, Rezwan Mohammad and Igor Semiletov
Additional contact information
Martin Jakobsson: Stockholm University
Johan Nilsson: Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University
Leif Anderson: University of Gothenburg
Jan Backman: Stockholm University
Göran Björk: University of Gothenburg
Thomas M. Cronin: US Geological Survey Reston
Nina Kirchner: Stockholm University
Andrey Koshurnikov: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University
Larry Mayer: Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire
Riko Noormets: UNIS - The University Centre in Svalbard
Matthew O’Regan: Stockholm University
Christian Stranne: Stockholm University
Roman Ananiev: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University
Natalia Barrientos Macho: Stockholm University
Denis Cherniykh: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University
Helen Coxall: Stockholm University
Björn Eriksson: Stockholm University
Tom Flodén: Stockholm University
Laura Gemery: US Geological Survey Reston
Örjan Gustafsson: Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University
Kevin Jerram: Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire
Carina Johansson: Stockholm University
Alexey Khortov: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University
Rezwan Mohammad: Stockholm University
Igor Semiletov: National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The hypothesis of a km-thick ice shelf covering the entire Arctic Ocean during peak glacial conditions was proposed nearly half a century ago. Floating ice shelves preserve few direct traces after their disappearance, making reconstructions difficult. Seafloor imprints of ice shelves should, however, exist where ice grounded along their flow paths. Here we present new evidence of ice-shelf groundings on bathymetric highs in the central Arctic Ocean, resurrecting the concept of an ice shelf extending over the entire central Arctic Ocean during at least one previous ice age. New and previously mapped glacial landforms together reveal flow of a spatially coherent, in some regions >1-km thick, central Arctic Ocean ice shelf dated to marine isotope stage 6 (∼140 ka). Bathymetric highs were likely critical in the ice-shelf development by acting as pinning points where stabilizing ice rises formed, thereby providing sufficient back stress to allow ice shelf thickening.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10365

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