Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:16:28.977Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Holocene Deglaciation, Sea-Level Change, and the Emergence of the Windmill Islands, Budd Coast, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ian D. Goodwin*
Affiliation:
Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre and Australian Antarctic Division, G.P.O. Box 252C, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia

Abstract

A Holocene deglaciation sequence for the Windmill Islands was determined from the 14C age of raised marine shorelines, lakebottom sediments, and Adelie penguin remains found in abandoned rookeries. A north-south gradient in the elevation of the upper marine limit was observed, with the highest marine limit (31-32 m) observed on Browning Peninsula and Hull Island at the southern edge of the islands. Correspondingly, the southern islands were found to have been deglaciated by 8000 (corr.) yr B.P. while the northern islands were deglaciated by 5500 (corr.) yr B.P. Isostatic uplift rates were calculated as 0.5 to 0.6 m/100 yr, with an estimated total uplift of around 53 m which indicates late Pleistocene ice sheet thicknesses of 200 and 400 m over the islands and adjacent Petersen Bank, respectively. The margin of the Late Pleistocene grounded ice sheet extended an estimated 8-15 km offshore which coincides with the location of the 200 m isobath.

Type
Research Article
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

Adamson, D. A., and Pickard, J. (1986). Cainozoic history of the Vestfold Hills. In “Antarctic Oasis: Terrestrial Environments and History of the Vestfold Hills” (Pickard, J., Ed.), pp. 6397. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Andrews, J. T. (1970). “A Geomorphological Study of Post-glacial Uplift with Particular Reference to Arctic Canada.” Institute of British Geographers Special Publication No. 2.Google Scholar
Baroni, C., and Orombelli, G. (1991). Holocene raised beaches at Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Quaternary Research 36, 157177.Google Scholar
Bird, M. I., Chivas, A. R., Radnell, C. J., and Burton, H. R. (1991). Sedimentological and stable-isotope evolution of lakes in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 84, 109130.Google Scholar
Blight, D. F., and Oliver, R. L. (1977). The metamorphic geology of the Windmill Islands, Antarctica: A preliminary account. Geological Society of Australia Journal 24, 239262.Google Scholar
Cameron, R. L. (1964). Glaciological studies at Wilkes Station, Budd Coast, Antarctica. In “Antarctic Snow and Ice Studies” (Mellor, M., Ed.), Antarctic Research Series 2, pp. 136. American Geophysical Union 136, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cameron, R. L., Loken, O., and Molholm, J. (1959). “Wilkes Station Glaciological Data 1957–58.” Ohio State University Research Foun-dation Report 8251, Part 3.Google Scholar
Colhoun, E. A., and Adamson, D. A. (1991). Raised beaches of the Bunger Hills. In “Quaternary Research in Australian Antarctica: Fu-ture Directions” (Gillieson, D. and Fitzsimons, S., Eds.), Special Publication No. 3, pp. 7984. Department of Geography and Oceanography, University College, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra.Google Scholar
Domack, E. W., Jull, A. J. T., Anderson, J. B., and Linick, T. W. (1991). Mid-Holocene ice sheet recession from the Wilkes Land continental shelf, East Antarctica. In “Geological Evolution of Antarctica” (Thomson, M. R. A. Crame, J. A., and Thomson, J. W., Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth Iniemational Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, pp. 693698. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R. G. (1989). A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: Influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature 342, 637642.Google Scholar
Goodwin, I. D. (1993). Basal ice accretion and debris entrainment within the coastal ice margin, Law Dome, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology 39(131), 157166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harkness, D. D. (1979). Radiocarbon dates from Antarctica. British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 47, 4359.Google Scholar
Hollin, J. T., and Cameron, R. L. (1961). I.G.Y. glaciological work at Wilkes Station, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology 3(29), 833843.Google Scholar
Korotkevich, E. S., and Timofeev, B. V. (1964). The age of the rocks of East Antarctica from spore analysis. Information Bulletin Soviet Antarctic Expedition 2, 6371. [English translation] Google Scholar
L0ken, O. (1959). Evidence of higher sea levels in the Windmill Islands. In “Wilkes Station Glaciological Data 1957–58” (Cameron, R. L., L0ken, O. H., and Molholm, J. R. L., Eds.). Ohio State University Research Foundation Report 8251, Part 3, pp. 2832.Google Scholar
Lorius, C., Merlivat, L., Jouzel, , and Fouchet, M. (1979). A 30,000 year isotope climatic record from Antarctic ice. Nature 280, 644648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mabin, M. C. G. (1986). 14C ages for “Heroic Era” penguin and seal remains fronvCape Evans, McMurdo Sound. New Zealand Antarctic Record 7(2), 1920.Google Scholar
Morgan, V. I., Goodwin, I. D., Etheridge, D. M., and Wookey, C. W. (1991). Evidence from Antarctic ice cores for recent increases in snow accumulation. Nature 354, 5860.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakada, M., and Lambeck, K. (1988). The melting history of the Late Pleistocene Antarctic ice sheet. Nature 333, 3640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohmoto, K. (1983). The problem and significance of radiocarbon geochronology in Antarctica. In “Antarctic Earth Science” (Oliver, R. L. James, P. R., and Jago, J. B., Eds.), pp. 450452. Australian Academy Science, Canberra.Google Scholar
Raynaud, D., Lorius, C., Budd, W. F., and Young, N. W. (1979). Ice flow along an IAGP flow line and interpretation of data from an ice corc in Terre Adelie, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology 24(90), 103115.Google Scholar
Robertson, R. (1959). Preliminary report on the bedrock geology of the Windmill Islands. Ohio State University Research Foundation Re-port 8252, Part 6.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Braziunas, T. F. (1985). Compilation of isotopic dates from Antarctica. Radiocarbon 27(2a), 117304.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Denton, G. H., Hughes, T. J., and Fastook, J. L. (1981). History of the marine ice sheet in West Antarctica during the last glaciation. In “The Last Great Ice Sheets” (Denton, G. H. and Hughes, T. J., Eds.) pp. 319436. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, I. E., Chinn, T. J., and Hoefle, H. C. (1988). Radiocarbon contaminated penguin bones from Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. New Zealand Antarctic Record 8(3), 1123.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, I. E., Chinn, T. J., and Hoefle, H. C. (1989). Radiocarbon dates from raised beaches, Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. Geologisches Jahrbuch E38, 321334.Google Scholar
Yoshida, Y., and Moriwaki, K. (1979), Some consideration on elevated coastal features and their dates around Syowa Station, Antarctica, In “Proceedings of the Seminar III on Dry Valley Drilling Project, 1978,” pp. 220226. National Institute of Polar Research.Google Scholar