Title | A new glacial isostatic adjustment model of the Innuitian Ice Sheet, Arctic Canada |
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Author | Simon, K M; James, T S ; Dyke, A S |
Source | Quaternary Science Reviews vol. 119, 2015 p. 11-21, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.007 |
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Year | 2015 |
Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20140325 |
Publisher | Elsevier BV |
Document | serial |
Lang. | English |
Media | paper; digital; on-line |
File format | pdf |
Province | Nunavut; Northwest Territories |
NTS | 38; 39; 48; 49; 58; 59; 68; 69; 78; 79; 88; 89; 98; 120; 340; 560 |
Area | Innuitian Ice Sheet; Arctic Canada |
Lat/Long WENS | -122.0000 -74.0000 80.0000 74.0000 |
Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; Nature and Environment; isostasy; isostatic rebound; glacial history; models; modelling; Innuitian Ice Sheet; Cenozoic; Quaternary |
Illustrations | location maps; plots; images |
Program | Climate Change Geoscience Coastal Infrastructure |
Released | 2015 07 01 |
Abstract | A reconstruction of the Innuitian Ice Sheet is developed that incorporates first-order constraints on its spatial extent and history as suggested by regional glacial geology studies. Glacial isostatic
adjustment modelling of this ice sheet provides relative sea-level predictions that are in good agreement with measurements of post-glacial sea-level change at 18 locations. The results indicate peak thicknesses of the Innuitian Ice Sheet of
approximately 1600 m, up to 400 m thicker than the minimum peak thicknesses estimated from glacial geology studies, but between approximately 1000 to 1500 m thinner than the peak thicknesses present in previous GIA models. The thickness history of
the best-fit Innuitian Ice Sheet model developed here, termed SJD14, differs from the ICE-5G reconstruction and provides an improved fit to sea-level measurements from the lowland sector of the ice sheet. Both models provide a similar fit to relative
sea-level measurements from the alpine sector. The vertical crustal motion predictions of the best-fit IIS model are in general agreement with limited GPS observations, after correction for a significant elastic crustal response to present-day ice
mass change. The new model provides approximately 2.7 m equivalent contribution to global sea-level rise, an increase of +0.6 m compared to the Innuitian portion of ICE-5G. |
Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published) This paper describes development of a computer model to better explain measured sea-level change in the Canadian High Arctic over the past 8000 years.
The computer model consists of a description of the thickness history and spatial extent of the ice sheet that was present in the area (the Innuitian Ice Sheet) and a model of how the Earth responds to changes in surface loading brought about by the
growth and decay of the ice sheet. The new model provides improved agreement with sea-level histories from 18 localities in the High Arctic and revises the estimate of how much water the decay of the Innuitian Ice Sheet delivered to the world's
oceans during deglaciation to 2.7 m, an increase 0.6 m from the starting model. The new model also provides improved agreement with measured vertical land motion from 3 GPS sites in the region. Models that describe vertical land motion and sea-level
change at specific locations are useful for understanding changes across large regions of Canada. |
GEOSCAN ID | 295578 |
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