Ice sheets and neotectonics

摘要

The cryosphere and the solid Earth, and the interactions of these two components of the linked Earth system, are the topics of this special issue of Global and Planetary Change. Many of the contributions were first presented at symposia or workshops organized by two groups of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR): the Antarctic Neotectonics (ANTEC) Scientific Programme Planning Group and the Antarctic Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Sea-Level (ISMASS) Expert Group. ANTEC is tasked with fostering neotectonics research in Antarctica and ISMASS is focussed on improving our understanding of present-day Antarctic ice-sheet balance and its contribution to sea-level change. Consequently, most of the papers in this issue relate to Antarctica, although northern hemisphere ice masses and their relation to neotectonic activity are the topics of a few papers. This special issue includes 21 papers. It leads off with nine papers having a glaciological focus, and includes contributions discussing recommendations for future research, measurements of ice mass balance, and glaciological modeling. The final 12 papers concern neotectonics and ice sheets. Neotectonics is a broad field of study encompassing recent and current geological and geomorphological processes. Surface processes causing modification of the landscape, gla-cio-isostasy, volcanism, and active tectonics, including earthquake studies and mapping of active faults, all fall under this rubric. Here, the focus is on the interactions of ice sheets with the solid Earth.