Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T17:35:57.715Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pre-LGM open-water conditions south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2007

Furio Finocchiaro ,
Carlo Baroni ,
Ester Colizza  and
Roberta Ivaldi
Furio Finocchiaro*
Affiliation:
Dip. Sc. Geologiche, Ambientali e Marine, Università di Trieste, Trieste, Italy
Carlo Baroni
Affiliation:
Dip. di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, & CNR, Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Pisa, Italy
Ester Colizza
Affiliation:
Dip. Sc. Geologiche, Ambientali e Marine, Università di Trieste, Trieste, Italy
Roberta Ivaldi
Affiliation:
DIPTERIS, Università di Genova, Genova, Italy
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A marine sediment core collected from the Nordenskjold Basin, to the south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue, provides new sedimentological and chronological data for reconstructing the Pleistocene glacial history and palaeoenvironmental evolution of Victoria Land. The core consists of an over consolidated biogenic mud covered with glacial diamicton; Holocene diatomaceous mud lies on top of the sequence. Radiocarbon dates of the acid insoluble organic matter indicate a pre-Last Glacial Maximum age (>24kyr) for the biogenic mud at the base of the sequence. From this we can presume that at least this portion of the western Ross Sea was deglaciated during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and enjoyed open marine conditions. Our results are consistent with recent findings of pre-Holocene raised beaches at Cape Ross and in the Terra Nova Bay area.

Keywords

palaeoenvironmentradiocarbon datesVictoria Land
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , September 2007 , pp. 373 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, J.B., Brake, C.F. & Myers, N.C. 1984. Sedimentation on the Ross Sea continental shelf, Antarctica. Marine Geology, 57, 295–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, J.B. 1999. Antarctic marine geology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 287 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Jull, A.J.T. & Leventer, A. 1997. Replication of accelerator mass spectrometry carbon-14 dates on the acid-insoluble fraction of Ross Sea surface sediments. Antarctic Journal of United States, 32(5), 37–38.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Domack, E.W., Cunningham, W.L., Leventer, A., Licht, K.J., Jull, A.J.T., DeMaster, D.J. & Jennings, A.E. 1999. Problems and possible solutions concerning radiocarbon dating of surface marine sediments, Ross Sea, Antarctica. Quaternary Research, 52, 206–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baroni, C. & Hall, B. 2004. A new Holocene relative sea-level curve for Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Journal of Quaternary Science, 19, 377–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkman, P.A. & Forman, S.L. 1996. Pre-bomb radiocarbon and the reservoir correction for calcareous marine species in the Southern Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 23, 363–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brambati, A., Corradi, N., Finocchiaro, F. & Giglio, F. 2002. The position of the Last Glacial Maximum grounding line in the Joides Basin: an interpretation based on sedimentological and geotechnical data. Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin, 35, 365–372.Google Scholar
Corradi, N., Fanucci, F., Fierro, G. & Ivaldi, R. 2002. High-resolution seismic stratigraphy and physical properties of late Quaternary sediments of the Northern Joides Basin, Ross Sea, Antarctica. Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin, 35, 351–358.Google Scholar
Corradi, N., Fierro, G., Giordano, F., Ivaldi, R., Langone, L. & Pitta, A. 2003. High-resolution seismic mapping of the Holocene diatomaceous muddy drape in the Northern Joides Basin (Ross Sea, Antarctica). Terra Antartica Reports, 9, 83–88.Google Scholar
Cunningham, W.L., Leventer, A., Andrews, J.T., Jennings, A.E. & Licht, K.J. 1999. Late Pleistocene-Holocene marine conditions in the Ross Sea, Antarctica: evidence from the diatom record. The Holocene, 9, 129–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davey, F.J. 1995. Bathymetry of the Ross Sea, Plate I, map 1a. Antarctic Research Series, 68.Google Scholar
Domack, E.W. & Harris, P.T 1998. A new depositional model for ice shelves, based upon sediment cores form the Ross Sea and MacRobertson shelf, Antarctica. Annals of Glaciology, 27, 281–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domack, E.W., Jacobson, E.A., Shipp, S.S. & Anderson, J.B. 1999. Late Pleistocene–Holocene retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet system in the Ross Sea: Part 2-Sedimentologic and stratigraphic signatures. Geological Society America Bulletin, 111, 1517–1536.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EPICA Community Members. 2004. Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core. Nature, 429, 623–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finocchiaro, F., Langone, L., Colizza, E., Fontolan, G., Giglio, F. & Tuzzi, E. 2005. Record of the early Holocene warming in a laminated sediment core from Cape Hallett Bay (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica). Global and Planetary Changes, 45, 193–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frignani, M., Giglio, F., Langone, L., Ravaioli, M. & Mangini, A. 1998. Late Pleistocene–Holocene sedimentary fluxes of organic carbon and biogenic silica in the northwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica. Annals of Glaciology, 27, 697–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, N., Hall, B. & Wehmiller, J. 2006. Pre-Holocene raised beach at Cape Ross, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Marine Geology, 229, 273–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, J.E. & Harkness, D.D. 1992. Magnitude and geographic variation of the radiocarbon content in Antarctic marine life: implications for reservoir corrections in radiocarbon dating. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2, 697–708.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, B.L., Baroni, C. & Denton, G.H. 2004. Holocene relative sea-level history of the southern Victoria Land coast, Antarctica. Global and Planetary Changes, 42, 241–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellogg, T.B., Truesdale, R.S. & Osterman, L.E. 1979. Late Quaternary extent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: new evidence from Ross Sea cores, Journal Foraminiferal Research, 9, 322–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Licht, K.J., Jennings, A.E., Andrews, J.T. & Williams, K.M. 1996. Chronology of late Wisconsin ice retreat from the western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Geology, 24, 223–226.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Licht, K.J. 2004. The Ross Sea's contribution to eustatic sea level during meltwater pulse 1A. Sedimentary Geology, 165, 343–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Licht, K.J. & Andrews, J.T. 2004. The 14C record of Late Pleistocene ice advance and retreat in the central Ross Sea, Antarctica. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 34, 324–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishimura, A., Nakasone, T., Hiramatsu, C. & Tanahashi, M. 1998. Late Quaternary paleoenvironment of the Ross Sea continental shelf, Antarctica. Annals of Glaciology, 27, 275–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petit, J.R., Jouzel, J., Raynaud, D., Barkov, N.I., Barnola, J.-M., Basile, I., Bender, M., Chappelaz, J., Davis, M., Delaygue, G., Delmotte, M., Kotlyakov, V.M., Lipenkov, V., Lorius, C., Pepin, L., Ritz, C., Saltzman, E. & Stievenard, M. 1999. Climate and atmospheric history of the last 420 000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica. Nature, 399, 429–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steig, E.J., Morse, D.L., Waddington, E.D., Stuiver, M., Grootes, P.M., Mayewsi, P.A., Twickler, M.S. & Whitlow, S.I. 2000. Wisconsinian and Holocene from an ice core at Taylor Dome, western Ross Embayment, Antarctica. Geografiska Annaler, Series A, 82, 213–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Beek, P., Reyess, J.L., Paterne, M., Gersonde, R., van der Loeff, M.R. & Kuhn, G. 2002. 226Ra in barite. Absolute dating of Holocene Southern Ocean sediments and reconstruction of sea-surface reservoir ages. Geology, 30, 731–734.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voelker, H.L.A., Workshop Participants. 2002. Global distributions of centennial-scale records for Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3: a database. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 185–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar