- 1Imperial College London, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales (d.evangelinos@imperial.ac.uk)
- 2GRC Geociències Marines, Dept. de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l'Oceà, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- 3Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Univ. de Granada, Av. de las Palmeras, 4, 18100, Armilla, Spain.
Understanding Southern Ocean-Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) interactions in the geological past is crucial for evaluating the sensitivity of the ice sheet to ocean forcing during future climate warming and predicting its contribution to future sea-level rise. Geological evidence indicates the onset of a modern-like strong Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the Late Miocene (~10 million years ago). However, the response of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to these changes remains poorly constrained. In this study, we present neodymium and strontium isotope compositions of fine-grained (<63 μm) detrital sediments from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1165, located on the continental rise off Prydz Bay. These records trace changes in sediment provenance from the Middle Miocene to the present, offering insights into how erosion by Antarctica’s ice sheets in the Prydz Bay sector has evolved over time. Our data reveal that the ice sheet in the Prydz Bay sector crossed a tipping point in the Late Miocene, becoming highly dynamic. Our preliminary findings suggest that this significant shift in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's evolution may be linked to the emergence of the modern ACC, indicating major ocean-ice interactions in the Late Miocene.
How to cite: Evangelinos, D., van de Flierdt, T., Pena, L. D., Paredes, E., Cacho, I., and Escutia, C.: East Antarctic Ice Sheet–Southern Ocean Interactions in Prydz Bay region from the Middle Miocene to the Present, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-12620, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-12620, 2025.
