An extensive subglacial lake and canyon system in Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica

Jamieson, S.S.R.; Ross, N.; Greenbaum, J.S.; Young, D.A.; Aitken, A.R.A.; Roberts, J.L.; Blankenship, D.D.; Sun, B.; Siegert, M.J.

doi:10.1130/g37220.1

An extensive subglacial lake and canyon system in Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica

Jamieson, S.S.R.; Ross, N.; Greenbaum, J.S.; Young, D.A.; Aitken, A.R.A.; Roberts, J.L.; Blankenship, D.D.; Sun, B.; Siegert, M.J.

Authors

Professor Stewart Jamieson stewart.jamieson@durham.ac.uk
Professor

N. Ross

J.S. Greenbaum

D.A. Young

A.R.A. Aitken

J.L. Roberts

D.D. Blankenship

B. Sun

M.J. Siegert

Abstract

The subglacial landscape of Princess Elizabeth Land (PEL) in East Antarctica is poorly known due to a paucity of ice thickness measurements. This is problematic given its importance for understanding ice sheet dynamics and landscape and climate evolution. To address this issue, we describe the topography beneath the ice sheet by assuming that ice surface expressions in satellite imagery relate to large-scale subglacial features. We find evidence that a large, previously undiscovered subglacial drainage network is hidden beneath the ice sheet in PEL. We interpret a discrete feature that is 140 × 20 km in plan form, and multiple narrow sinuous features that extend over a distance of ∼1100 km. We hypothesize that these are tectonically controlled and relate to a large subglacial basin containing a deep-water lake in the interior of PEL linked to a series of long, deep canyons. The presence of 1-km-deep canyons is confirmed at a few localities by radio-echo sounding data, and drainage analysis suggests that these canyons will direct subglacial meltwater to the coast between the Vestfold Hills and the West Ice Shelf.

Citation

Jamieson, S., Ross, N., Greenbaum, J., Young, D., Aitken, A., Roberts, J., …Siegert, M. (2016). An extensive subglacial lake and canyon system in Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica. Geology, 44(2), 87-90. https://doi.org/10.1130/g37220.1

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 29, 2015
Online Publication Date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication Date	Feb 1, 2016
Deposit Date	Nov 10, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Jan 19, 2016
Journal	Geology
Print ISSN	0091-7613
Electronic ISSN	1943-2682
Publisher	Geological Society of America
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	44
Issue	2
Pages	87-90
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1130/g37220.1