Prydz Channel Fan and the History of Extreme Ice Advances in Prydz Bay

Created 11/01/2026

Updated 11/01/2026

During the late Neogene, the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf drainage system flowed across Prydz Bay in an ice stream that reached the shelf edge and built a trough mouth fan on the upper continental slope. The adjacent banks saw mostly subglacial till deposition beneath slower-moving ice. The fan consists mostly of debris flow deposits derived from the melting out of subglacial debris at the grounding line at the continental shelf edge. Thick debris flow intervals are separated by thin mudstone horizons deposited when the ice had retreated from the shelf edge. Age control in ODP Site 1167 indicates that the bulk of the trough mouth fan was deposited prior to the Brunhes-Matuyama Boundary (780 ka) with as few as 3 debris flow intervals deposited since then. This stratigraphy indicates that extreme advances of the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system ceased during the mid Pleistocene. Possible causes for this change are progressive over-deepening of the inner shelf, a reduction in maximum ice volumes in the interior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet caused by temperature change and a change in the interaction of Milanckovich cycles and the response time of the ice sheet.

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Field Value
Title Prydz Channel Fan and the History of Extreme Ice Advances in Prydz Bay
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/e7077798-c0fc-4f6f-a98d-53ffa9170893
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 22/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        66.0,
        -70.0
      ],
      [
        80.0,
        -70.0
      ],
      [
        80.0,
        -65.0
      ],
      [
        66.0,
        -65.0
      ],
      [
        66.0,
        -70.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "Prydz Channel Fan and the History of Extreme Ice Advances in Prydz Bay". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/prydz-channel-fan-and-the-history-of-extreme-ice-advances-in-prydz-bay2