Repeated loss of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s Amundsen Sea sector during late Pleistocene interglacials

Abstract Sea-level reconstructions and numerical models suggest that the vulnerable West Antarctic Ice Sheet underwent major mass losses during the late Pleistocene, raising global sea level by several metres. However, direct evidence from ice-sheet proximal records for such retreat has remained inconclusive. Here we investigate variations in clay mineral assemblages and past ocean temperatures archived in West Antarctic continental margin sediments during the last 800,000 years. Our results demonstrate that the supply of glacigenic detritus sourced from the main outlet glaciers in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet ceased almost entirely during all previous warm periods, documenting the loss of their drainage basins. Concomitant seawater warming, revealed by a microfossil proxy, is attributed to intensified deep-water advection towards Antarctica’s Pacific margin, which is corroborated by the clay mineralogical evidence. Our findings show that ocean forcing can drive major deglaciation of West Antarctica and related global sea-level rise.

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Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-11-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77004-2
Primary Topic
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
Type
article
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article

Repeated loss of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s Amundsen Sea sector during late Pleistocene interglacials

Anna Ruth W. Halberstadt, J. Mastro, Benedict T. I. Reinardy, Johann Philipp Klages et al.
Nature Communications
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
article

Repeated loss of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s Amundsen Sea sector during late Pleistocene interglacials

Anna Ruth W. Halberstadt, J. Mastro, Benedict T. I. Reinardy, Johann Philipp Klages, Robert D Larter, Thorsten Bauersachs, Patric Simões Pereira, Masao Iwai, Karsten Gohl, James Marschalek, Michelle L. Penkrot, Steven M. Bohaty, Werner Ehrmann, Thomas W. Frederichs, Claus‐Dieter Hillenbrand, Chuang Xuan, Reed P. Scherer, J. Ruggiero, Ellen A. Cowan, Delaney E. Robinson, Jeremy M. Lloyd, Y Park, Julia Smith Wellner, Rachel W. Clark, Christine Smith Siddoway, Denise K. Kulhanek, Theresa M. King, Sandra Passchier, Keiji Horikawa, Sidney R. Hemming, Rebecca L. Totten, Becky Hopkins, Mariana Ramos Esteves, Li Wu, Jinwook KIM, James A. Smith, Colm Ó Cofaigh, Liang Gao
article en

Abstract

Abstract Sea-level reconstructions and numerical models suggest that the vulnerable West Antarctic Ice Sheet underwent major mass losses during the late Pleistocene, raising global sea level by several metres. However, direct evidence from ice-sheet proximal records for such retreat has remained inconclusive. Here we investigate variations in clay mineral assemblages and past ocean temperatures archived in West Antarctic continental margin sediments during the last 800,000 years. Our results demonstrate that the supply of glacigenic detritus sourced from the main outlet glaciers in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet ceased almost entirely during all previous warm periods, documenting the loss of their drainage basins. Concomitant seawater warming, revealed by a microfossil proxy, is attributed to intensified deep-water advection towards Antarctica’s Pacific margin, which is corroborated by the clay mineralogical evidence. Our findings show that ocean forcing can drive major deglaciation of West Antarctica and related global sea-level rise.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 17(1)
Northern Illinois University (US), Tongji University (CN), Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE), British Antarctic Survey (GB), University of Liverpool (GB), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US), Montclair State University (US), Colorado School of Mines (US), University of Alabama (US), University of Bremen (DE), Colorado College (US), Durham University (GB), Yonsei University (KR), Heidelberg University (DE), China University of Geosciences (CN), China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (CN), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE), Korea Polar Research Institute (KR), University of Toyama (JP), Appalachian State University (US), University of Southampton (GB), State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology (CN), Marine Core Research Institute, Kochi University (JP), University of Houston (US), Imperial College London (GB), University of South Florida St. Petersburg (US), Kōchi University (JP), UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO), Columbia University (US), Guangdong Ocean University (CN), The University of Texas at Austin (US), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (SE), RWTH Aachen University (DE), Texas A&M University (US), Leipzig University (DE)
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
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