کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
5779801 | 1634695 | 2017 | 9 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
- True polar wander over the last 40 Myr has moved North America to increasingly higher latitudes.
- Reduction in positive degree days driven by this motion is quantified for sites in Baffin Island, CA.
- Cape Dyer 20 Myr ago had a mass balance deficit of â¼0.75-2 m/yr (w.e.) relative to projected values at 2.7 Ma.
- True polar wander would have strongly promoted glacial inception in Baffin Island â¼3 Myr ago.
The impact that long-term changes in Earth's rotation axis relative to the surface geography, or true polar wander (TPW), and continental drift have had in driving cooling of high-latitude North America since the Eocene is explored. Recent reanalyses of paleomagnetic pole positions suggest a secular drift in Earth's rotation axis of â¼8° over the last 40 Myr, in a direction that has brought North America to increasingly higher latitudes. Using modern temperature data in tandem with a simple model, a reduction in the annual sum of positive degree days (PDDs) driven by this polar and plate motion over the last 20 Myr is quantified. At sites in Baffin Island, the TPW- and continental drift-driven decrease in insolation forcing over the last 20 Myr rivals changes in insolation forcing caused by variations in Earth's obliquity and precession. Using conservative PDD scaling factors and an annual snowfall equal to modern station observations, the snowiest location in Baffin Island 20 Myr ago had a mass balance deficit of â¼0.75-2 mâyrâ1 (water equivalent thickness) relative to its projected mass balance at 2.7 Ma. This mass balance deficit would have continued to increase as one goes back in time until â¼40 Myr ago based on adopted paleopole locations. TPW and continental drift that moved Arctic North America poleward would have strongly promoted glacial inception in Baffin Island at â¼3 Ma, a location where the proto-Laurentide Ice Sheet is thought to have originated.
Journal: Earth and Planetary Science Letters - Volume 461, 1 March 2017, Pages 96-104