title: Windblown Pliocene diatoms and East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat.
abstract: Marine diatoms in tillites along the Transantarctic Mountains (TAMs) have been used to suggest a diminished East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) during Pliocene warm periods. Updated ice-sheet modelling shows significant Pliocene EAIS retreat, creating marine embayments into the Wilkes and Aurora basins that were conducive to high diatom productivity and rapid accumulation of diatomaceous sediments. Here we show that subsequent isostatic uplift exposed accumulated unconsolidated marine deposits to wind erosion. We report new atmospheric modelling utilizing Pliocene climate and derived Antarctic landscapes indicating that prevailing mid-altitude winds transported diatoms towards the TAMs, dominantly from extensive emerged coastal deposits of the Aurora Basin. This result unifies leading ideas from competing sides of a contentious debate about the origin of the diatoms in the TAMs and their link to EAIS history, supporting the view that parts of the EAIS are vulnerable to relatively modest warming, with possible implications for future sea-level rise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA.
authors.forename: Reed P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Scherer
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: DeConto
authors.affiliation: Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.affiliation: Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Alley
mesh_terms: D000864:Antarctic Regions; D017377:Diatoms; D005580:Fossils; D046448:Ice Cover; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014919:Wind