60 million years of glaciation in the Transantarctic Mountains

Iestyn D. Barr; Matteo Spagnolo; Brice R. Rea; Robert G. Bingham; Rachel P. Oien; Kathryn Adamson; Jeremy C. Ely; Donal J. Mullan; Ramón Pellitero; Matt D. Tomkins

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33310-z

60 million years of glaciation in the Transantarctic Mountains

Iestyn D. Barr^*, Matteo Spagnolo, Brice R. Rea, Robert G. Bingham, Rachel P. Oien, Kathryn Adamson, Jeremy C. Ely, Donal J. Mullan, Ramón Pellitero, Matt D. Tomkins

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The Antarctic continent reached its current polar location ~83 Ma and became shrouded by ice sheets ~34 Ma, coincident with dramatic global cooling at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. However, it is not known whether the first Antarctic glaciers formed immediately prior to this or were present significantly earlier. Here we show that mountain glaciers were likely present in the Transantarctic Mountains during the Late Palaeocene (~60–56 Ma) and middle Eocene (~48–40 Ma). Temperate (warm-based) glaciers were prevalent during the Late Eocene (~40–34 Ma) and, in reduced numbers, during the Oligocene (~34–23 Ma), before larger, likely cold-based, ice masses (including ice sheets) dominated. Some temperate mountain glaciers were present during the Miocene Climatic Optimum (~15 Ma), before a widespread switch to cold-based glaciation. Our findings highlight the longevity of glaciation in Antarctica and suggest that glaciers were present even during the Early-Cenozoic greenhouse world.

Original language	English
Article number	5526
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	13
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33310-z
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
DEMs provided by the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and the Polar Geospatial Center under NSF-OPP awards 1543501, 1810976, 1542736, 1559691, 1043681, 1541332, 0753663, 1548562, 1238993, and NASA award NNX10AN61G. Computer time is provided through a Blue Waters Innovation Initiative. DEMs produced using data from DigitalGlobe, Inc. J.C.E. acknowledges support from a NERC independent fellowship award (NE/R014574/1). I.D.B., M.S., B.R.R., R.G.B., and R.P.O. acknowledge support from the Scottish Association for Environment, Geoscience and Society (SAGES) in funding R.P.O.’s Ph.D. scholarship and a sequence of annual science meetings at which the ideas for this manuscript were developed and consolidated.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General
General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1038/s41467-022-33310-zLicence: CC BY

60 million years of glaciation in the Transantarctic Mountains
© 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 4.09 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "60 million years of glaciation in the Transantarctic Mountains",

abstract = "The Antarctic continent reached its current polar location ~83 Ma and became shrouded by ice sheets ~34 Ma, coincident with dramatic global cooling at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. However, it is not known whether the first Antarctic glaciers formed immediately prior to this or were present significantly earlier. Here we show that mountain glaciers were likely present in the Transantarctic Mountains during the Late Palaeocene (~60–56 Ma) and middle Eocene (~48–40 Ma). Temperate (warm-based) glaciers were prevalent during the Late Eocene (~40–34 Ma) and, in reduced numbers, during the Oligocene (~34–23 Ma), before larger, likely cold-based, ice masses (including ice sheets) dominated. Some temperate mountain glaciers were present during the Miocene Climatic Optimum (~15 Ma), before a widespread switch to cold-based glaciation. Our findings highlight the longevity of glaciation in Antarctica and suggest that glaciers were present even during the Early-Cenozoic greenhouse world.",

author = "Barr, {Iestyn D.} and Matteo Spagnolo and Rea, {Brice R.} and Bingham, {Robert G.} and Oien, {Rachel P.} and Kathryn Adamson and Ely, {Jeremy C.} and Mullan, {Donal J.} and Ram{\'o}n Pellitero and Tomkins, {Matt D.}",

note = "Funding Information: DEMs provided by the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and the Polar Geospatial Center under NSF-OPP awards 1543501, 1810976, 1542736, 1559691, 1043681, 1541332, 0753663, 1548562, 1238993, and NASA award NNX10AN61G. Computer time is provided through a Blue Waters Innovation Initiative. DEMs produced using data from DigitalGlobe, Inc. J.C.E. acknowledges support from a NERC independent fellowship award (NE/R014574/1). I.D.B., M.S., B.R.R., R.G.B., and R.P.O. acknowledge support from the Scottish Association for Environment, Geoscience and Society (SAGES) in funding R.P.O.{\textquoteright}s Ph.D. scholarship and a sequence of annual science meetings at which the ideas for this manuscript were developed and consolidated. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

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AU - Ely, Jeremy C.

AU - Mullan, Donal J.

AU - Pellitero, Ramón

AU - Tomkins, Matt D.

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AB - The Antarctic continent reached its current polar location ~83 Ma and became shrouded by ice sheets ~34 Ma, coincident with dramatic global cooling at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. However, it is not known whether the first Antarctic glaciers formed immediately prior to this or were present significantly earlier. Here we show that mountain glaciers were likely present in the Transantarctic Mountains during the Late Palaeocene (~60–56 Ma) and middle Eocene (~48–40 Ma). Temperate (warm-based) glaciers were prevalent during the Late Eocene (~40–34 Ma) and, in reduced numbers, during the Oligocene (~34–23 Ma), before larger, likely cold-based, ice masses (including ice sheets) dominated. Some temperate mountain glaciers were present during the Miocene Climatic Optimum (~15 Ma), before a widespread switch to cold-based glaciation. Our findings highlight the longevity of glaciation in Antarctica and suggest that glaciers were present even during the Early-Cenozoic greenhouse world.

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DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-33310-z

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JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

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M1 - 5526

ER -

60 million years of glaciation in the Transantarctic Mountains

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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