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Reconstruction of ice flow across the Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2004

Paul C. Augustinus
Affiliation:
Departments of Geography and Geology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Damian B. Gore
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia
Michelle R. Leishman
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia
Dan Zwartz
Affiliation:
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Eric A. Colhoun
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

Abstract

In the Bunger Hills, mapping of glacial drift sheets and examination of striae patterns and other palaeo-ice flow direction indicators show that the largely ice-free region records the imprint of ice sheet expansion(s) during the late Cenozoic. In particular, ice moulded features and striae in southern Bunger Hills suggest formation during at least two episodes of ice sheet expansion, although whether they were formed during separate events or merely different phases of the same expansion of the ice sheet is not able to be discerned at present. The older event relates to thin ice with flow constrained by the topography, whilst the younger event relates to regional expansion of thick ice across the area. Discrimination of the order of emplacement of the cross-cutting striae patterns is possible at a number of sites. Palaeo-ice flow indicators confirm that ice sheet expansion over southern Bunger Hills was purely from the southern and eastern margins, although minor advances of the north-east flowing Edisto Glacier onto coastal areas occurred following retreat of the last extensive ice sheet phase.

Type
Papers—Earth Sciences and Glaciology
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1997

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