Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:50:44.063Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late-Glacial and Holocene Glacier Fluctuations and Environmental Change on South Georgia, Southern Ocean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Chalmers M. Clapperton ,
David E. Sugden ,
Jacqueline Birnie  and
Mandy J. Wilson
Chalmers M. Clapperton
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Aberdeen AB9 2UF, Scotland, United Kingdom
David E. Sugden
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Jacqueline Birnie
Affiliation:
Cricklade College, Andover, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Mandy J. Wilson
Affiliation:
Nature Conservancy Council, Thornborough Hall, Leyburn, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

South Georgia provides a terrestrial record of postglacial environmental change from a largely oceanic zone of the Earth. The record is representative of the southern westerlies and provides a link between Antarctica and the temperate zones of southern South America. Evidence from glacial geomorphology, slope stratigraphy, and analyses of environmental indicators in peat and lake cores is used to interpret this record. Wastage of the full-glacial ice cap was interrupted by a late-glacial stade of the outlet and valley glaciers before ca. 10,000 yr B.P. Plant growth had begun at low altitude (<50 m) on the sheltered (lee side) northeast coast within the late-glacial moraine limits by 9700 yr B.P. Environmental conditions on slopes above 80 m probably were too rigorous for a stable vegetation cover until ca. 6400 yr B.P. This was followed by a period from 5600 to 4800 yr B.P. when conditions were warmer than at present by up to 0.6°C. Periods of climatic cooling occurred at ca. 4800-3800 yr B.P., ca. 3400-1800 yr B.P., and within the last 1400 yr. The most extensive Holocene advance of South Georgia glaciers culminated just before 2200 yr B.P. These Holocene temperature changes of between 0.5 and 1.0°C are comparable in scale and timing to those identified from recent analyses of Vostok ice cores from the Antarctic ice sheet.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , March 1989 , pp. 210 - 228
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

Barrow, C.J. Postglacial pollen diagrams from South Georgia (sub Antarctic) and West Falkland Island (south Atlantic) Journal of Biogeography 5 1978 251 274 Google Scholar
Barrow, C.J. Palynological studies in South Georgia. III. Three profiles from near King Edward Cove, Cumberland East Bay British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 58 1983 43 60 Google Scholar
Barrow, C.J. Palynological studies in South Georgia. IV. Profiles from Barff Peninsula and Annenkov Island British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 58 1983 61 70 Google Scholar
Barrow, C.J. Smith, R.I.Lewis Palynological studies in South Georgia. II. Two profiles in Sphagnum Valley, Cumberland West Bay British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 58 1983 15 42 Google Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. Geomorphology of the Stomness Bay-Cumberland Bay area, South Georgia British Antarctic Survey Scientific Reports 70 1971 Google Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. Sugden, D.E. Geomorphology of the St. Andrews Bay-Royal Bay area, South Georgia British Antarctic Survey Miscellaneous Map Series 1980 Sheet 1 Google Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. Sugden, D.E. On lateglacial and Holocene glacier fluctuations in maritime West Antarctica Schroeder-Lanz, H. Late- and Post-glacial Oscillations of Glaciers 1983 Balkema Rotterdam 283 290 Google Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. Sugden, D.E. Birnie, R.V. Hansom, J.D. Thom, G. Glacier fluctuations in South Georgia and comparisons with other island groups in the Scotia Sea Van Zinderen Bakker, E.M. Antarctic Glacial History and World Palaeoenvironments 1978 Balkema Rotterdam 98 104 Google Scholar
Clapperton, C. M. Sugden, D. E., and Pelto, M. (in press). Relationship of land terminating and fjord glaciers to Holocene climatic change, South Georgia, Antarctica. In “Glaciers and Climate Change” (Oerlemans, H., Ed.). Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Gordon, J.E. Radiocarbon dates from Nordenskjold Glacier, South Georgia and their implications for late Holocene glacier chronology British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 76 1987 1 5 Google Scholar
Greene, S.W. The vascular flora of South Georgia British Antarctic Survey Scientific Reports 45 1964 Google Scholar
Hayward, R.J.C. Glacier fluctuations in South Georgia 1883–1974 British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 52 1983 47 61 Google Scholar
Headland, R.J. The Island of South Georgia 1984 Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. Late-glacial-Holocene climate of the Lake District of Chile Quaternary Research 22 1984 77 90 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. Streeter, S.S. A temperature and precipitation record of the past 16,000 years in southern Chile Science 210 1980 1345 1347 Google Scholar
Jouzel, J. Lorius, C. Petit, J.R. Genthon, C. Barkov, N.I. Kotlyakov, V.M. Petrov, V.M. Vostok ice core: A continuous isotope temperature record over the last climatic cycle (160,000 years) Nature (London) 329 1987 403 408 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C. Pattern and forcing of Northern Hemisphere glacier variations during the last millennium Quaternary Research 26 1986 27 48 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwerdtfeger, P. The climate of the Antarctic Orvig, S. Climates of the Polar Regions World Survey of Climatology Vol. 14 1970 Elsevier Amsterdam 253 355 Google Scholar
Smith, J. Glacier problems in South Georgia Journal of Glaciology 3 1960 705 714 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I.Lewis Types of peat and peat forming vegetation on South Georgia British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 38 1981 17 36 Google Scholar
Smith, R. I. Lewis (1987). Personal communication. British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, Cambridge, England.Google Scholar
Stone, P. Physiography of the north-east coast of South Georgia British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 38 1974 17 36 Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. Pearson, G.W. Highprecision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, AD 1950-500 B.C. Radiocarbon 28 1986 805 838 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugden, D.E. Clapperton, C.M. The maximum ice extent on island groups in the Scotia Sea, Antarctica Quaternary Research 7 1977 268 282 Google Scholar
Tanner, P.W.G. Geological evolution of South Georgia Craddock, C. Antarctic Geoscience 1982 Univ. of Wisconsin Press Madison 167 176 Google Scholar
Thom, G. Patterned Ground in South Georgia Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation 1981 University of Aberdeen Google Scholar
Timmis, R.J. Glacier Changes in South Georgia and Their Relationship to Climatic Trends Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation 1986 University of East Anglia Google Scholar