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Millennial-scale ice sheet variability (1-15 kyr periods) is well documented in the Quaternary, providing insight into critical atmosphere-ocean-cryosphere interactions that can inform the mechanism and pace of future climate change. Ice sheet variability at similar frequencies is comparatively less known and understood prior to the Quaternary during times, where higher atmospheric p CO 2 and warmer climates prevailed, and continental-scale ice sheets were largely restricted to Antarctica. In this study, we evaluate a high-resolution clast abundance dataset (ice-rafted debris) that captures East Antarctic ice sheet variability in the western Ross Sea during the early Miocene. This dataset is derived from a 100 m-thick mudstone interval in the ANtarctic DRILLing (ANDRILL or AND) core 2A, which preserves a record of precession and eccentricity variability. The sedimentation rates are of appropriate resolution to also characterize the signature of robust, subprecession cyclicity. Strong sub-precession (~10 kyr) cyclicity is observed, with an amplitude modulation in lockstep with eccentricity, indicating a relationship between high-frequency Antarctic ice sheet dynamics and astronomical forcing. Bicoherence analysis indicates that many of the observed millennial-scale cycles (as short as 1.2 kyr) are associated with nonlinear interactions (combination or difference tones) between each other and the Milankovitch cycles. The presence of these cycles during the Miocene reveals the ubiquity of millennial-scale ice sheet variability and sheds light on the interactions between Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and ice in climates warmer than the Quaternary.

Early to Middle Miocene sea-level oscillations of approximately 40-60 m estimated from far-field records 1-3 are interpreted to reflect the loss of virtually all East Antarctic ice during peak warmth 2 . This contrasts with ice-sheet model experiments suggesting most terrestrial ice in East Antarctica was retained even during the warmest intervals of the Middle Miocene 4,5 . Data and model outputs can be reconciled if a large West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) existed and expanded across most of the outer continental shelf during the Early Miocene, accounting for maximum ice-sheet volumes. Here we provide the earliest geological evidence proving large WAIS expansions occurred during the Early Miocene (~17.72-17.40 Ma). Geochemical and petrographic data show glacimarine sediments recovered at International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1521 in the central Ross Sea derive from West Antarctica, requiring the presence of a WAIS covering most of the Ross Sea continental shelf. Seismic, lithological and palynological data reveal the intermittent proximity of grounded ice to Site U1521. The erosion rate calculated from this sediment package greatly exceeds the long-term mean, implying rapid erosion of West Antarctica. This interval therefore captures a key step in the genesis of a marine-based WAIS and a tipping point in Antarctic ice-sheet evolution., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)