Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T23:01:45.270Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Late Holocene tephrochronology of the northern Antarctic Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Svante Björck
Affiliation:
Department of Quaternary Geology, Lund University, Tornav. 13, S-223 63 Lund, Sweden
Per Sandgren
Affiliation:
Department of Quaternary Geology, Lund University, Tornav. 13, S-223 63 Lund, Sweden
Rolf Zale
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Umeå, S-901 87 Umeå, Sweden

Abstract

Andesitic and basaltic andesitic tephra layers are abundant in Holocene deposits from the Antarctic Peninsula. Visually discernible tephra horizons occur in three lakes on Livingston Island. Tephra in two other lakes and in a moss bank on Elephant Island, with very low ash concentrations, were detected magnetically. Deception Island is the most likely volcanic source for the tephra. With direct 14C dating, age/depth curves, and cross-correlations at least 14 tephra horizons dating to between ca. 4700 and 250 yr B.P. were identified and now form the basis for a preliminary regional tephrochronology that will be a valuable dating tool for investigating the Holocene climatic history of Antarctica.

Type
Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

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

Baker, P. E. McReath, M. A. Harvey, M. R. Roobol, M. J. Davies, T. G. The geology of the South Shetland Islands. V. Volcanic evolution of Deception Island. British Antarctic Survey Scientific Reports 78 1975 Google Scholar
Björck, S. Hjort, C. Ingolfsson, O. Skog, G. Radiocarbon dates from the Antarctic Peninsula region—Problems and potential. Quaternary Proceedings 1 1991 (a) Google Scholar
Björck, S. Håkansson, H. Zale, R. Karlén, W. Liedberg Jönsson, B. A late Holocene lake sediment sequence from Livingstone Island, South Shetland Islands, with palaeoclimatic implications. Antarctic Science 3 1991 61 72 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Björck, S. Malmer, N. Hjort, C. Sandgren, P. Ingólfsson, O. Wallén, B. Lewis Smith, R. I., and Liedberg-Jönsson, B. (in press). Stratigraphic and paleoclimatic studies of a 5500 year old moss bank on Elephant Island, Antarctica, Arctic and Alpine Research .Google Scholar
Godoy, E. Harrington, R. Tidy, E. On the “anomalous” character of recent volcanism in the South Shetland Islands. Institudo Antártico Chileno. Publicacion, Serie Científica 36 1987 21 32 Google Scholar
González-Ferrán, O. Munizaga, F. Moreno, H. Sintesis de la evolucion volcanica de Isla Decepcion y la erupcion de 1970. Institudo Antártico Chileno. Publicación, Serie Científica II 1 1971 1 14 Google Scholar
Hawkes, D. D. The geology of the South Shetland Islands. I. The petrology of King George Island. Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey Scientific Reports 26 1961 Google Scholar
LeMasurier, W. E. Late Cenozoic Volcanism on the Antarctic Plate: An Overview LeMasurier, W. E. Thomson, J. W. Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. Antarctic Research Series Vol. 48 1990 American Geophysical Union Washington,DC 1 17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longton, R. E. Terrestrial habitats-vegetation Treherne, J. E. Antarctica 1985 Pergamon Oxford 381 Google Scholar
Matthies, D. Storzer, D. Troll, G. Volcanic ashes in Bransfield Strait sediments: Geochemical and stratigraphical investigations (Antarctica) Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Natural Glasses 1988 139 147 Prague Google Scholar
Matthies, D. Mäusbacher, R. Storzer, D. Deception Island tephra: A stratigraphical marker for limnic and marine sediments in Bransfield Strait area, Antarctica. Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, Teil 1 1990 153 165 Google Scholar
Mäusbacher, R. Müller, J. Schmidt, R. Evolution of postglacial sedimentation in Antarctic lakes (King George Island). Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie N. F. 33 1989 219 234 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orheim, O. Volcanic activity on Deception Island, South Shetland Islands Ardie, R. J. Antarctic Geology and Geophysics 1972 Universitetsforlaget Oslo 117 120 Google Scholar
Schultz, C. H. Petrology and geochemistry of Deception Island, Antarctica González-Ferran, O. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Andean and Antarctic Volcanology Problems 1976 498 517 Rome Google Scholar
Smellie, J. L. D. Graham Land and South Shetland Islands: Summary LeMasurier, W. E. Thomson, J. W. Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. Antarctic Research Series Vol. 48 1990 American Geophysical Union Washington, DC 303 312 Google Scholar
Smellie, J. L. D.2 Deception Island LeMasurier, W. E. Thomson, J. W. Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. Antarctic Research Series Vol. 48 1990 American Geophysical Union Washington, DC 316 321 Google Scholar
Tarney, J. Weaver, S. D. Saunders, A. D. Pankhurst, R. J. Barker, P. F. Volcanic evolution of the northern Antarctic Peninsula and the Scotia arc Thorpe, R. S. Andesites: Orogenic Andesites and Related Rocks 1982 Wiley New York 371 400 Google Scholar
Tatur, A. del Valle, R. Badania paleolimnologiczne i geomorfologiczne na Wyspie Krola Jerzego—Antarktyka zachodnia (1984–1986). (English summary). Preglad Geologiczny 11 1986 621 626 Google Scholar
Weaver, S. D. Saunders, A. D. Pankhurst, R. J. Tarney, J. A geochemical study of magmatism associated with the initial stages of back-arc spreading: The Quaternary volcanics of Bransfield Strait, from South Shetland Islands. Contributions in Mineralogy and Petrology 68 1979 151 169 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkes, C. American Exploring Expedition: Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838–1842 I–V 1845 Lea and Blanchard Philadelphia Google Scholar
Zale, R. Karlén, W. Lake sediment cores from the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands. Geografiska Annaler 71A 1989 211 220 CrossRefGoogle Scholar