The Quaternary of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, volume 5

The Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue (AHWC) is an international collaborative project investigating movement patterns of humpback whales in the Southern Ocean and corresponding lower latitude waters. The collection contains records contributed by 261 researchers and opportunistic sources. Photographs come from all of the Antarctic management areas, the feeding grounds in southern Chile and also most of the known or suspected low-latitude breeding areas and span more than two decades. This allows comparisons to be made over all of the major regions used by Southern Hemisphere humpback whales. The fluke, left dorsal fin/flank and right dorsal fin/flank collections represent 3,655, 413 and 407 individual whales respectively. There were 194 individuals resighted in more than one year, and 82 individuals resighted in more than one region. Resightings document movement along the western coast of South America and movement between the Antarctic Peninsula and western coast of South America and Central America. A single individual from Brazil was resighted off South Georgia, representing the first documented link between the Brazilian breeding ground and any feeding area. A second individual from Brazil was resighted off Madagascar, documenting long distance movement of a female between non-adjacent breeding areas. Resightings also include two matches between American Samoa and the Antarctic Peninsula, documenting the first known feeding site for American Somoa and setting a new long distance seasonal migration record. Three matches between Sector V and eastern Australia support earlier evidence provided by Discovery tags. Multiple resightings of individuals in the Antarctic Peninsula during more than one season indicate that humpback whales in this area show some degree of regional feeding area fidelity. The AHWC provides a powerful non-lethal and non-invasive tool for investigating the movements and population structure of the whales utilising the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Through this methodical, coordinated comparison and maintenance of collections from across the hemisphere, large-scale movement patterns may be examined, both within the Antarctic, and from the Antarctic to breeding grounds at low latitudes.

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New trigonioid bivalves from the Albian (Early Cretaceous) of Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula: systematics, paleoecology, and austral Cretaceous Paleobiogeography

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1017/s0022336000034600 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 69 (2) ◽

pp. 264-279 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Simon R. A. Kelly

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

East Africa ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

Early Cretaceous ◽

Southern South America ◽

The Antarctic ◽

Molluscan Assemblage ◽

Faunal Similarity

Newly discovered trigonioid bivalves are systematically described from the Late Albian of the Fossil Bluff Group of Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula. The fauna includes Nototrigonia (Nototrigonia) ponticula Skwarko, N. (Callitrigonia) offsetensis n. sp., Eselaevitrigonia macdonaldi n. sp., Pterotrigonia (Pisotrigonia) capricornia (Skwarko), and Pacitrigonia praenuntians n. sp. It represents the first Albian trigonioid fauna described from the Antarctic. It is also the first published record of the Nototrigoniinae (excluding Pacitrigonia) outside Australasia. Paleoecologically, this fauna represents the shallowest and highest energy molluscan assemblage from the Fossil Bluff Group and occurs near the base of a significant transgressive unit, the Mars Glacier Member of the Neptune Glacier Formation. The paleogeography of Austral Cretaceous trigonioids is reviewed. Endemic centers are identified in India–east Africa, southern South America, and Australasia. Only one trigonioid genus, Pacitrigonia, had its origin in the Antarctic. During the earliest Cretaceous, cosmopolitan trigonioid genera occurred in Antarctica. In the mid-Cretaceous faunal similarity of Antarctica with Australasia was strong, and in the latest Cretaceous affinity with southern South America increased.

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A new estimate of the adopted gravity value at Rothera Station, Antarctic Peninsula

Antarctic Science ◽

10.1017/s0954102099000590 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 461-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Philip C. Jones ◽

Julie K. Ferris

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

Base Station ◽

Falkland Islands ◽

Gravity Station ◽

Gravity Network ◽

Scientific Station ◽

The Uk ◽

The Antarctic ◽

Gravity System

Because of the lack of a definitive air link to an international gravity base station, the Antarctic Peninsula gravity network was originally, and still is, tied to the Potsdam gravity system via long ship links to South America (Renner 1981, Kennett 1965). An indirect link from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientific station at Rothera to an International Gravity Standardisation Net 1971 (IGSN 71) base station in the UK had previously been made via a link to the BAS gravity station on the Falkland Islands in Port Stanley (McGibbon 1988). Whilst the apparent gravity difference between Port Stanley and the base station in the UK had been calculated via a two-way air tie using a LaCoste and Romberg meter (McGibbon 1988) and later strengthened with three two-way air ties using four LaCoste and Romberg meters (Bassett 1987), the link between Port Stanley and Rothera was based on a one-way tie that included a lengthy ship borne passage (McGibbon 1988). The weakness of this link insured that the adopted gravity value at Rothera continued to be based on the ship ties made by Griffiths et al. (1964) and Kennett (1965). This note describes the strengthening of the gravity link between Rothera and Port Stanley and the subsequent reassignment of the adopted gravity value at Rothera Station.

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History of views on the relative positions of Antarctica and South America: A 100-year tango between Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula

Open-File Report ◽

10.3133/ofr20071047srp041 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

H. Miller

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

History Of ◽

The Antarctic

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The santonian through paleogene record of Proteaceae in the southern South America - Antarctic peninsula region

Australian Systematic Botany ◽

10.1071/sb97018 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 373 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Rosemary A. Askin ◽

Alicia M. Baldoni

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Fossil Record ◽

Type Species ◽

Pollen Record ◽

South American ◽

Southern South America ◽

Nothofagus Forest ◽

The Antarctic

Proteaceous plants were an important component of the high-latitude Late Cretaceous–Paleogene podocarpaceous conifer and Nothofagus forest vegetation growing in high-rainfall temperate conditions. In the southern South America–Antarctic Peninsula region the fossil record of the Proteaceae comprises pollen, leaves, fruits and wood with affinities to the extant subfamilies Grevilleoideae, Proteoideae, and possibly Carnarvonioideae and Persoonioideae. The oldest reported occurrences of Proteaceae in this region are in the middle–late Santonian of the Antarctic Peninsula and include pollen of Proteacidites subscabratus Couper, with the addition in the Campanian of other species of Proteacidites and Propylipollis, Cranwellipollis spp. and Peninsulapollis spp. Diversity of proteaceous pollen increased through the Campanian and Maastrichtian, reflecting the spread of Proteaceae along the Antarctic Peninsula and into South America. Both endemic species and species derived from the Australian region are represented. Compared to coeval Australian assemblages, however, proteaceous diversity remained relatively low. Interestingly, Beauprea-type species (Beaupreaidites spp., Peninsulapollis spp.) are common and varied in the Antarctic Peninsula from Campanian into the Eocene, yet the South American pollen record does not include these forms, except for rare Peninsulapollis gillii. Possibly drier conditions may have discouraged northward migration of this group. South American fossil proteaceous taxa are primarily related to Grevilleoideae, a trend that continues into the modern flora on that continent.

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