Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-26T06:19:40.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene Glacial Chronology of the Taylor Valley, Antarctica, and the Global Climate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

C. H. Hendy ,
T. R. Healy ,
E. M. Rayner ,
J. Shaw  and
A. T. Wilson
C. H. Hendy
Affiliation:
Antarctic Research Unit, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
T. R. Healy
Affiliation:
Antarctic Research Unit, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
E. M. Rayner
Affiliation:
Antarctic Research Unit, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
J. Shaw
Affiliation:
Antarctic Research Unit, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
A. T. Wilson
Affiliation:
Antarctic Research Unit, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Carbonate-rich lacustrine and deltaic deposits, containing thin beds of finely laminated carbonates and thick beds of silt, crop out at several sites in the Taylor Valley and have been encountered in cores obtained by the Dry Valley Drilling Project (DVDP). Fragments of the more indurated carbonate beds have widespread occurrence as part of the desert “lag gravel” which covers much of the valley floor. Analysis of the carbonates suggests that they were deposited as algal limestones from waters derived from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet via the Taylor Glacier at times which correspond to the previous three global interglacial periods, as evidenced by the ice volumes deduced from oxygen-isotopic analysis of oceanic cores. The lacustrine carbonates have been found up to 30 km beyond the present terminus of the Taylor Glacier, and up to 100 m above the level of Lake Bonney, into which the Taylor Glacier at present discharges. It is concluded that the Taylor Glacier has advanced during each of the previous three interglaciations, and it is suggested that this has been caused by a thickening of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during the interglaciations.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , March 1979 , pp. 172 - 184
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

Broecker, W.S., van Donk, J., (1970). Insulation changes, ice volumes, and the 18O record in deep-sea cores. Review of Geophysics and Space Physics. 8, 1 169-198.Google Scholar
Chapman-Smith, M., Luckman, P.G., (1974). Late Cenozoic glacial sequence cored at New Harbor Victoria Land, Antarctica: (DVDP 8 and 9). Dry Valley Drilling Project. 120-148 Bull. 3.Google Scholar
Chapman-Smith, M., (1975). Geologic Log of DVDP 12, Lake Leon, Taylor Valley. Dry Valley Drilling Project. 1-70 Bull. 4.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H., Armstrong, R.L., Stuiver, M., 1971a. The Late Cenozoic glacial history of Antarctica. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, Conn, 267-306.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H., Armstrong, R.L., Stuiver, M., 1971b. Late Cenozoic glaciation in Antarctica: The record in the McMurdo Sound region. U.S. Antarctic Journal. 1, 15-21.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., (1955). Pleistocene temperatures. Journal of Geology. 63, 538-578.Google Scholar
Gumbley, J.W., (1975). The Sedimentology of Three Antarctic Lakes. M. Sc. Dissertation. University of Waikato. Google Scholar
Healy, T.R., (1975). Thermokarst—a mechanism of de-icing ice-cored moraine. Boreas. 5, 19-23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendy, C.H., Wilson, A.T., (1972). The dating of geochemical events in Lake Bonney, Antarctica, and their relation to climate changes. Transactions of the American Geophysical Union. 53, 4 556.Google Scholar
Hendy, C.H., Wilson, A.T., Popplewell, K.B., House, D.A., (1977). Dating of geochemical events in Lake Bonney, Antarctica, and their relation to glacial and climate changes. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 20, 6 1103-1122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, D.A., Hoare, R.A., Popplewell, K.B., Henderson, R.A., Prebble, W.M., Wilson, A.T., (1964). Chemistry in the Antarctic. Journal of Chemical Education. 43, 502-505.Google Scholar
Kaufman, A., (1964). 230Th-234U Dating of Carbonates from Lakes Lahontan and Bonneville. Ph.D. Dissertation. Columbia University. Google Scholar
Matsubaya , O., Sakai , H., Torii , T., and Knowles , K., Origins of Antarctic saline lakes from the stable isotopic and chemical compositions of the lake waters. . Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta . , in press..Google Scholar
McKelvey, B.C., (1975). Preliminary Site Reports, DVDP sites 10 and 11, Taylor Valley. Dry Valley Drilling Project. 16-31 Bull. 5.Google Scholar
Park, J.E., Barrett, P.J., (1976). Palaeomagnetic measurements on Glacial Sediment from DVDP 10 and 11, Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Dry Valley Drilling Project. 24-25 Bull. 6.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., (1973). Oxygen isotope and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of Equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale. Quaternary Research. 3, 39-55.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Yang, I.C., Denton, G.H., (1976). Permafrost oxygen isotope ratios and chronology of three cores from Antarctica. Nature. 261, 5561 547-550.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.T., (1964). Origin of ice ages: An ice shelf theory for Pleistocene glaciation. Nature. 201, 147-149.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.T., (1969). The climatic effects of large-scale surges of ice sheets. Canadian Journal of Earth Science. 6, 911-914.Google Scholar