TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence of an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier
AU - Loose, Brice
AU - Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
AU - Schlosser, Peter
AU - Jenkins, William J.
AU - Vaughan, David
AU - Heywood, Karen J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the insights and comments of three anonymous reviewers. We thank the officers and crew of the RRS James Clark Ross and the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer for two excellent scientific expeditions in the Amundsen Sea. We thank Dempsey Lott III, Kevin Cahill, and Toby Koffman for analysis of the noble gas samples. This research was supported by the NSF Antarctic program through Award #1341630.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Tectonic landforms reveal that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) lies atop a major volcanic rift system. However, identifying subglacial volcanism is challenging. Here we show geochemical evidence of a volcanic heat source upstream of the fast-melting Pine Island Ice Shelf, documented by seawater helium isotope ratios at the front of the Ice Shelf cavity. The localization of mantle helium to glacial meltwater reveals that volcanic heat induces melt beneath the grounded glacier and feeds the subglacial hydrological network crossing the grounding line. The observed transport of mantle helium out of the Ice Shelf cavity indicates that volcanic heat is supplied to the grounded glacier at a rate of ~ 2500 ± 1700 MW, which is ca. half as large as the active Grimsvötn volcano on Iceland. Our finding of a substantial volcanic heat source beneath a major WAIS glacier highlights the need to understand subglacial volcanism, its hydrologic interaction with the marine margins, and its potential role in the future stability of the WAIS.
AB - Tectonic landforms reveal that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) lies atop a major volcanic rift system. However, identifying subglacial volcanism is challenging. Here we show geochemical evidence of a volcanic heat source upstream of the fast-melting Pine Island Ice Shelf, documented by seawater helium isotope ratios at the front of the Ice Shelf cavity. The localization of mantle helium to glacial meltwater reveals that volcanic heat induces melt beneath the grounded glacier and feeds the subglacial hydrological network crossing the grounding line. The observed transport of mantle helium out of the Ice Shelf cavity indicates that volcanic heat is supplied to the grounded glacier at a rate of ~ 2500 ± 1700 MW, which is ca. half as large as the active Grimsvötn volcano on Iceland. Our finding of a substantial volcanic heat source beneath a major WAIS glacier highlights the need to understand subglacial volcanism, its hydrologic interaction with the marine margins, and its potential role in the future stability of the WAIS.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-018-04421-3
DO - 10.1038/s41467-018-04421-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 29934507
AN - SCOPUS:85048965655
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 9
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 2431
ER -