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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]
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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

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