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Melting history of Antarctica during the past 60,000 years

Abstract

Marked changes in the surface-water hydrology of the Southern Ocean during the past 60 kyr are revealed by a detailed comparison of the oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic and benthic foraminifera from sediment cores and the surface-water temperature estimated by a transfer function derived from the distribution of diatoms in the same sediments. From 35 to 17 kyr BP, the Southern Ocean polar front was covered by a melt-water lid containing a significant contribution from melting icebergs, calved from Antarctic ice shelves. These icebergs may have originated from a succession of surges of the ice shelves.

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Labeyrie, L., Pichon, J., Labracherie, M. et al. Melting history of Antarctica during the past 60,000 years. Nature 322, 701–706 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/322701a0

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