3D sedimentary architecture showing the inception of an Ice Age.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32532994.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-16776-7 and PMC identifier 7293307.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Northeast Atlantic climate shifted into the Quaternary Ice Age around 2.6 M yr ago. Until now, however, the detailed changes associated with this inception of an Ice Age have remained obscure. New high-quality three-dimensional seismic data reveal a detailed geological record of buried surfaces, landforms and sedimentary architecture over vast parts of the Norwegian North Sea. Here, we show the sequence of near-coast geological events spanning the Northeast Atlantic inception of an Ice Age. We identify the location of immediate pre-glacial fluvially derived sandy systems where rivers from the Norwegian mainland built marine deltas. The stratigraphic position of a large submarine channel, formed by enhanced meltwater from initial build-up of local glaciers, is also shown. Finally, we document the transition to full ice-sheet growth over Scandinavia from the ice sheet's earliest position to the later pattern of debris-flow lobes reaching the present-day shelf edge.