Fig. 6: Implications of troughs and valleys on glacier response time.

a, Illustration of an early WAIS with an open Ross Sea and alpine glaciers flowing from Hercules Dome into the neighbouring rift system as viewed from the Filchner–Ronne sector looking towards the Ross sector. b, Geologic cross section of the evolution of the West Antarctic rift system and the WAIS in the Late Cretaceous and the onset of glaciation. c, The equilibrium interior ice thickness estimated by an idealized model, associated with different parameterizations of glacier sliding. Stars indicate the resistances and associated thickness corresponding to rough highland-like features. Diamonds indicate the resistances and thickness inferred for lineated regions. The dashed black line indicates the approximate depth of the glacially incised trough, which provides a bound for the ice thickness when the trough was formed according to theory predicted by ref. ³⁵. d, Interior transport timescale associated with different parameterizations of glacier sliding. Panel b adapted with permission from ref. ⁴⁰, Springer Nature Limited.