Windblown Pliocene diatoms and East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat

Reed P. Scherer; Robert M. DeConto; David Pollard; Richard B. Alley

doi:10.1038/ncomms12957

Nature Communications (Sep 2016)

Windblown Pliocene diatoms and East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat

Reed P. Scherer,
Robert M. DeConto,
David Pollard,
Richard B. Alley

Affiliations

Reed P. Scherer: Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University
Robert M. DeConto: Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts
David Pollard: Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Richard B. Alley: Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12957
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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A long-standing debate regarding the Pliocene history of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was spurred by the discovery of marine diatoms in the Transantarctic Mountains. Here the authors show that the diatoms were emplaced by wind following a retreat of the ice sheet into coastal basins and subsequent isostatic emergence.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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