A newly discovered subglacial lake in East Antarctica likely hosts a valuable sedimentary record of ice and climate change
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The Princess Elizabeth Land sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is a significant reservoir of grounded ice and is adjacent to regions that experienced great change during Quaternary glacial cycles and Pliocene warm episodes. The existence of an extensive subglacial water system in Princess Elizabeth Land (to date only inferred from satellite imagery) bears the potential to significantly impact the thermal and kinematic conditions of the overlying ice sheet. We confirm the existence of a major subglacial lake, herein referred to as Lake Snow Eagle (LSE), for the first time using recently acquired aerogeophysical data. We systematically investigated LSE’s geological characteristics and bathymetry from two-dimensional geophysical inversion models. The inversion results suggest that LSE is located along a compressional geologic boundary, which provides reference for future characterization of the geologic and tectonic context of this region. We estimate LSE to be ~42 km in length and 370 km2 in area, making it one of the largest subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Additionally, the airborne ice-penetrating radar observations and geophysical inversions reveal a layer of unconsolidated water-saturated sediment around and at the bottom of LSE, which—given the ultralow rates of sedimentation expected in such environments—may archive valuable records of paleoenvironmental changes and the early history of East Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution in Princess Elizabeth Land.
Date Issued
2022-05-09
Date Acceptance
2022-03-17
Citation
Geology (Boulder), 2022, 50 (8), pp.949-953
ISSN
0091-7613
Publisher
Geological Society of America
Start Page
949
End Page
953
Journal / Book Title
Geology (Boulder)
Volume
50
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. Gold Open Access: This paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
License URL
Sponsor
British Council (UK)
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Identifier
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/50/8/949/613548/A-newly-discovered-subglacial-lake-in-East
Grant Number
ICECAP-2
NE/G00465X/3
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geology
PRINCESS ELIZABETH LAND
EVOLUTION
ORIGIN
SHEET
Geochemistry & Geophysics
04 Earth Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-05-09