The Holocene retreat dynamics and stability of Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland

Martin Jakobsson (), Kelly A. Hogan, Larry A. Mayer, Alan Mix, Anne Jennings, Joe Stoner, Björn Eriksson, Kevin Jerram, Rezwan Mohammad, Christof Pearce, Brendan Reilly and Christian Stranne
Additional contact information
Martin Jakobsson: Stockholm University
Kelly A. Hogan: Natural Environment Research Council
Larry A. Mayer: University of New Hampshire
Alan Mix: Oregon State University
Anne Jennings: University of Colorado
Joe Stoner: Oregon State University
Björn Eriksson: Stockholm University
Kevin Jerram: University of New Hampshire
Rezwan Mohammad: Stockholm University
Christof Pearce: Aarhus University
Brendan Reilly: Oregon State University
Christian Stranne: Stockholm University

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Submarine glacial landforms in fjords are imprints of the dynamic behaviour of marine-terminating glaciers and are informative about their most recent retreat phase. Here we use detailed multibeam bathymetry to map glacial landforms in Petermann Fjord and Nares Strait, northwestern Greenland. A large grounding-zone wedge (GZW) demonstrates that Petermann Glacier stabilised at the fjord mouth for a considerable time, likely buttressed by an ice shelf. This stability was followed by successive backstepping of the ice margin down the GZW’s retrograde backslope forming small retreat ridges to 680 m current depth (∼730–800 m palaeodepth). Iceberg ploughmarks occurring somewhat deeper show that thick, grounded ice persisted to these water depths before final breakup occurred. The palaeodepth limit of the recessional moraines is consistent with final collapse driven by marine ice cliff instability (MICI) with retreat to the next stable position located underneath the present Petermann ice tongue, where the seafloor is unmapped.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04573-2 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-04573-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04573-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().