Pleistocene collapse of the west antarctic ice sheet.

Scherer, RP; Aldahan, A; Tulaczyk, S; Possnert, G; Engelhardt, H; Kamb, B · Science · 1998

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Some glacial sediment samples recovered from beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet at ice stream B contain Quaternary diatoms and up to 10(8) atoms of beryllium-10 per gram. Other samples contain no Quaternary diatoms and only background levels of beryllium-10 (less than 10(6) atoms per gram). The occurrence of young diatoms and high concentrations of beryllium-10 beneath grounded ice indicates that the Ross Embayment was an open marine environment after a late Pleistocene collapse of the marine ice sheet.