The Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history: a review

On the reconstruction of palaeo-ice sheets: Recent advances and future challenges

“…Batchelor and Dowdeswell, 2014). Swath bathymetry data from within these troughs ( Figure 6) commonly reveals geomorphology which fulfils the criteria for palaeo-ice streams, similar to those described in terrestrial settings (Anderson et al, 2002;Ottesen et al, 13 2005Ottesen et al, 13 , 2008Livingstone et al, 2012a). Together with sub-bottom profiling and seismic investigations, geophysical techniques have the added advantage of being able to map seafloor morphology and changes in sediment thickness across large areas .…”

On the origin of Antarctic marine benthic community structure

“…Alternatively, the onset and duration of maximum ice extent around Antarctica might have occurred diachronously, leaving isolated shelters on the shelf that changed location throughout a glacial period so that benthic animals migrated from one shelter to the next. There is now evidence for the diachronous deglaciation of the Antarctic shelf, as indicated by the chronological pattern of ice-sheet retreat from the shelf reconstructed from the oldest radiocarbon ages of glacial-marine deposits [29] ( Figure 1). Even if a regionally variable carbon reservoir effect (1300-6000 y) is taken into account, the deglaciation indeed appears to have occurred diachronously.…”

“…Antarctica during the last glacial period Marine geological and geophysical data indicate that, during the last glacial period, grounded ice masses advanced from the present coastline seaward across the continental shelf around Antarctica [29] (Box 2, Figure Ib). This finding is corroborated by results of glaciological modelling that indicate a seaward expansion of the Antarctic ice sheets in response to a fall in global sea-levels, driven mainly by ice-sheet build-up in the northern hemisphere [30] (Figure 1).…”

“…But how likely is a successful circum-Antarctic, postglacial recolonization of the shelf by refuge fauna that [29]. Orange numbers give the oldest radiocarbon ages of glacialmarine deposits on the shelf, illustrating the minimum age of ice-sheet retreat from the Antarctic shelf during deglaciation [29].…”

“…Orange numbers give the oldest radiocarbon ages of glacialmarine deposits on the shelf, illustrating the minimum age of ice-sheet retreat from the Antarctic shelf during deglaciation [29]. The blue-shaded area represents the depth interval between the present coastline and the 1000-m contour on the continental slope (taken from [66]), corresponding to those areas that were covered by grounded ice and ice shelves, or affected by intense mass wasting, respectively.…”