Paleogene Marine And Terrestrial Development Of The West Antarctic Rift System
Author ORCID Identifier
Jason Coenen:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5848-5424
Reed Scherer:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3764-4478
Publication Title
Geophysical Research Letters
ISSN
948276
E-ISSN
19448007
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Modeling the early development of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) hinges on the configuration and evolution of Paleogene terrestrial landscapes associated with the West Antarctic Rift System. A widely applied but previously untested paleotopographic reconstruction for the Eocene/Oligocene boundary suggests that much of central West Antarctica was as much as 1,000 m above sea level at that time, constituting a key nucleating site for an early WAIS. Here we show that Paleogene age marine and terrestrial microfossil assemblages and biomarkers in sediments recovered from beneath the WAIS provide direct evidence contrary to this widely utilized “maximum” paleotopographic reconstruction. These new constraints call for significantly modified tectonic and ice sheet model parameterization and also provide insights into modern differential uplift across the West Antarctic Rift System.
Publication Date
12-19-2019
DOI
10.1029/2019GL085281
Keywords
biomarkers, diatom, microfossil, Paleogene, palynomorph, West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Recommended Citation
Coenen, Jason J.; Scherer, Reed P.; Baudoin, Patrick; Warny, Sophie; Castañeda, Isla S.; and Askin, R., "Paleogene Marine And Terrestrial Development Of The West Antarctic Rift System" (2019). NIU Bibliography. 192.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/niubib/192
Department
Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
