New Marine Sediment Core Data Support Holocene Stability of the Larsen B Ice Shelf

Multi-proxy data (sedimentologic, geochemical and micropaleontologic) from 10 kasten cores collected from within the Larsen B embayment during two research cruises, LMG0502 and NBP0603, support earlier data indicating that the March 2002 collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf was a unique event and that the ice shelf had been present since its formation at the end of the last glacial period. Chronologies for these cores have been developed through a combination of radiocarbon and 210Pb analyses. In general, the sediment core data illustrate the transition from grounded ice to a sub-ice shelf setting, followed by the open marine environment present today. More details regarding processes associated with ice shelf collapse are recorded as well, including rapid deposition in sites proximal to the fast-moving glaciers that have responded to ice shelf collapse.