scholarly journals Some Aspects of the Cenozoic Glaciation of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

1983 ◽  
Vol 29 (102) ◽  
pp. 343-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Brady ◽  
Barrie McKelvey
Keyword(s):  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Basement Complex ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Transantarctic Mountains ◽  
East Antarctic Ice Sheet

AbstractPalaeoglacial evidence at three sites in southern Victoria Land has been examined to consider the possible uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains through the East Antarctic ice sheet prior to the Middle Miocene. A Cenozoic tillite at Mount Feather and a striated pavement at Mount Brooke pre-date uplift. Another tillite remnant adjacent to Odell Glacier near Mount Brooke post-dates the uplift and is locally derived. This tillite, together with the Mount Feather tillite, has been previously placed in the Sirius Formation, a term that the authors abandon as it covers tillites of varying ages. Basement complex derived clasts in the Mount Feather tillite. previously reported by these authors, could be inherited from the Jurassic Mawson Formation or the Permian Metschel Tillite but they still provide evidence that the Mount Feather tillite was deposited by a regional glaciation.

scholarly journals Some Aspects of the Cenozoic Glaciation of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

1983 ◽  
Vol 29 (102) ◽  
pp. 343-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Brady ◽  
Barrie McKelvey
Keyword(s):  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Basement Complex ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Transantarctic Mountains ◽  
East Antarctic Ice Sheet

AbstractPalaeoglacial evidence at three sites in southern Victoria Land has been examined to consider the possible uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains through the East Antarctic ice sheet prior to the Middle Miocene. A Cenozoic tillite at Mount Feather and a striated pavement at Mount Brooke pre-date uplift. Another tillite remnant adjacent to Odell Glacier near Mount Brooke post-dates the uplift and is locally derived. This tillite, together with the Mount Feather tillite, has been previously placed in the Sirius Formation, a term that the authors abandon as it covers tillites of varying ages. Basement complex derived clasts in the Mount Feather tillite. previously reported by these authors, could be inherited from the Jurassic Mawson Formation or the Permian Metschel Tillite but they still provide evidence that the Mount Feather tillite was deposited by a regional glaciation.

Multiple cosmogenic nuclides document the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in northern Victoria Land since the Late Miocene (5–7 Ma)

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigia Di Nicola ◽  
Carlo Baroni ◽  
Stefan Strasky ◽  
Maria Cristina Salvatore ◽  
Christian Schlüchter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Cosmogenic Nuclides ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
The Stability ◽  
East Antarctic Ice Sheet

scholarly journals The East Antarctic Ice Sheet: The Problem of Palaeoglaciological Reconstruction (Abstract only)

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 344 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.I. Bardin
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Glacial Deposits ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
East Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Comprehensive Studies

Palaeoglaciological studies, including glaciogeomorphological observations and comprehensive studies of the composition of glacial deposits, undertaken by scientists of a number of countries, enable the major stages in the evolution of glaciation of some regions of East Antarctica to be outlined. In this report, palaeoglaciological reconstructions for certain key territories: Queen Maud Land, Mac. Robertson Land, and Victoria Land are considered. The completeness and reliability of such reconstructions are also discussed. The region of Prince Charles Mountains (Mac. Robertson Land) turned out to be one of the most significant for palaeoglaciology. In this region, the author has discovered and studied glacial deposits of at least six age stages, their formation having taken place during approximately 20 Ma. An attempt is made to compare the results of regional studies and to present the evolution of the development of the whole East Antarctic ice sheet in space and time. Different examples of palaeoglaciological reconstructions of the ice sheet of East Antarctica are presented, the possibilities of different approaches are evaluated practically, and schematic maps of the change in glaciation of East Antarctic regions at different evolutional stages, compiled by the author, are presented for discussion.

Resolving views on Antarctic Neogene glacial history – the Sirius debate

2013 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Deposits ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Denudation Rates ◽  
Transantarctic Mountains ◽  
High Level ◽  
East Antarctic Ice Sheet

ABSTRACTThe discovery of marine Pliocene diatoms in warm-based glacial deposits (now termed the Sirius Group) high in the Transantarctic Mountains in the 1980s began a three-decade-long controversy over the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Their presence implied that this ice sheet had collapsed as recently as three million years ago to allow their deposition in shallow interior seas, followed by transport and deposition from an expanded over-riding ice sheet. Though the glacial deposits included clasts with older diatoms, no evidence of clasts with Pliocene diatoms was published, but the hypothesis gained wide acceptance. Increasing knowledge of ice sheet behaviour and the antiquity and stability of the Transantarctic Mountains, along with new techniques for dating age and denudation rates for landscapes, has led to a more likely alternative hypothesis – that the high-level Sirius Group deposits pre-date Transantarctic Mountains uplift and their Pliocene diatoms are atmospheric contaminants. Surveys have shown that marine diatoms from the Antarctic margin and the Southern Ocean are indeed reaching the surface of the ice sheet and blowing through the mountains, with permafrost processes providing opportunities for contamination. Modelling and geological evidence is now consistent with a stable East Antarctic Ice Sheet in the interior for the last 14 Ma, with some retreat around the margins and periodic collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet in Pliocene times.

Cenozoic Glacial and Tectonic History of the Transantarctic Mountains in the McMurdo Sound Region: Recent Progress from Drilling and Related Studies

Polar Record ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 20 (129) ◽  
pp. 543-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Barrett ◽  
B. C. McKelvey
Keyword(s):  
Ross Sea ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cover ◽  
Early History ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Transantarctic Mountains ◽  
East Antarctic Ice Sheet

Two of the outstanding problems in Antarctic earth sciences are the early history of the East Antarctic ice sheet, and the history of the Transantarctic Mountains. These two problems may well be linked, for if the initial uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains was sufficient to promote a permanent ice cap, this may have triggered formation of the East Antarctic ice sheet in the manner oudined by Drewry (1975, p 266). Glomar Challenger in 1973 made the first major breakthrough concerning early history of the ice sheet by recovering cores from the centre of the Ross Sea; they show that ice rafting began there 25 Ma BP and has been going on ever since (Hayes and others, 1975). However, the core data give little indication of the extent of ice cover, or of the climatic changes that led to expanded ice cover which produced the ice-rafted debris.

Early Miocene Subglacial Basalts, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, and Uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains

Science ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 207 (4432) ◽  
pp. 757-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. STUMP ◽  
M. F. SHERIDAN ◽  
S. G. BORG ◽  
J. F. SUTTER
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Transantarctic Mountains ◽  
East Antarctic Ice Sheet

scholarly journals Geology of the Sirius Group at Mount Feather and Table Mountain, South Victoria Land, Antarctica

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nerida Lynn Bleakley
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Transport ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Table Mountain ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Transantarctic Mountains ◽  
High Elevations ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Marine Basins ◽  
Middle Pliocene

<p>The Sirius Group comprises of wet based glacial and related deposits found at high elevations throughout the Transantarctic Mountains. The discovery of marine Pliocene diatoms from within glacial till by Harwood (1983) led Webb et al. (1984) to propose that they were sourced from diatom bearing sediment eroded by glaciers from middle Pliocene marine basins inland of the Transantarctic Mountains. Others consider that temperatures during middle Pliocene times were not high enough to melt back the Antarctic ice sheet and expose these inland basins. They support the long held view of a stable Antarctic ice sheet since middle Miocene times, and insist that the Sirius Group is much older, explaining the diatoms as wind blown. This study was undertaken in order to determine whether the diatoms were incorporated into Sirius Group tills during or after their deposition. Sites were sampled at Mount Feather and Table Mountain in South Victoria Land. The distribution of diatoms through the upper 37 cm of the till were documented. Samples were also taken in snow and from other non Sirius Group surfaces (regolith) for comparison purposes. The geomorphic setting of the Sirius Group tills at Mt. Feather and Table Mountain suggests that their deposition predated the deep valleys that now run through the Transantarctic Mountains. Diatom abundances from within the tills are low (averaging about 1 diatom diatom per gram) and highly variable from site to site. Initially 184 diatoms were recovered from 10 samples at Mt. Feather and less than 7 diatoms were found from 4 samples of till at Table Mountain. At Mount Feather diatoms are concentrated in the surface few centimetres of the till and numbers generally decrease with depth. The pore size within the tills is highly variable but is on average ten times the size of the average diatom (10-15 microns) from within the deposits, allowing at least some diatoms to work their way into the tills from the surface. Diatoms from the snow and regolith from other rock surfaces have a similar diatom assemblage to the Sirius tills, containing many of the same common forms. Some non Sirius Group regolith samples have much larger concentrations of diatoms suggesting they have a much better trapping ability than the Sirius Group tills. These data indicate that most diatoms from the Sirius Group tills have been introduced from the atmosphere and have worked their way into the till. Thus the Sirius diatoms record not Pliocene marine basins of the Antarctic interior and subsequent extensive over riding glaciation, but the atmospheric transport and collection of both modern and ancient diatom bearing dust from within and beyond the continent. The Sirius Group tills do however have a phytolith (siliceous clasts from the cells of plant tissue) flora of glaciogenic origin, indicated by the lack of a vertical trend in abundance and very low levels of phytoliths in nearby snow and regolith samples.</p>

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