scholarly journals Kinematics of the Neogene Terror Rift: Constraints from calcite twinning strains in the ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf (AND-1B) core, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica

Geosphere ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 828-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy S. Paulsen ◽  
Terry J. Wilson ◽  
Christie Demosthenous ◽  
Cristina Millan ◽  
Rich Jarrard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Victoria Land Basin

Environmental magnetic record of Antarctic palaeoclimate from Eocene/Oligocene glaciomarine sediments, Victoria Land Basin

1998 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Sagnotti ◽  
Fabio Florindo ◽  
Kenneth L. Verosub ◽  
Gary S. Wilson ◽  
Andrew P. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Victoria Land ◽  
Magnetic Record ◽  
Victoria Land Basin ◽  
Glaciomarine Sediments

scholarly journals Enhanced Moisture Delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica During the Early Last Interglacial: Implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet Stability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzhen Yan ◽  
Nicole E. Spaulding ◽  
Michael L. Bender ◽  
Edward J. Brook ◽  
John A. Higgins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Accumulation Rates ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Ross Ice Shelf ◽  
Victoria Land

Abstract. The S27 ice core, drilled in the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area of East Antarctica, is located in Southern Victoria Land ~80 km away from the present-day northern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Here, we utilize the reconstructed accumulation rate of S27 covering the Last Interglacial (LIG) period between 129 and 116 thousand years before present (ka) to infer moisture transport into the region. The accumulation rate is based on the ice age-gas age differences calculated from the ice chronology, which is constrained by the stable water isotopes of the ice, and an improved gas chronology based on measurements of oxygen isotopes of O2 in the trapped gases. The peak accumulation rate in S27 occurred at 128.2 ka, near the peak LIG warming in Antarctica. Even the most conservative estimate yields a six-fold increase in the accumulation rate in the LIG, whereas other Antarctic ice cores are typically characterized by a glacial-interglacial difference of a factor of two to three. While part of the increase in S27 accumulation rates must originate from changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation, additional mechanisms are needed to explain the large changes. We hypothesize that the exceptionally high snow accumulation recorded in S27 reflects open-ocean conditions in the Ross Sea, created by reduced sea ice extent and increased polynya size, and perhaps by a southward retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf relative to its present-day position near the onset of LIG. The proposed ice shelf retreat would also be compatible with a sea-level high stand around 129 ka significantly sourced from West Antarctica. The peak in S27 accumulation rates is transient, suggesting that if the Ross Ice Shelf had indeed retreated during the early LIG, it would have re-advanced by 125 ka.

scholarly journals Pattern of Ice Surface Lowering for Rennick Glacier, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (86) ◽  
pp. 53-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Mayewski ◽  
John W. Attig ◽  
David J. Drewry
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Current Fluctuations ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Surface Cover ◽  
Ross Ice Shelf ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
And Sea Level

AbstractRennick Glacier is one of the major ice drainages in northern Victoria Land. Unlike glaciers farther south along the Transantarctic Mountains, Rennick Glacier does not drain into the Ross Ice Shelf but flows directly into a seasonally ice-covered ocean. Therefore, current fluctuations of this glacier are unhampered by the dampening effects of the Ross Ice Shelf. The primary controls on the activity of this glacier and others in this region are mass balance and sea-level.Two major glacial events are recorded in the upper Rennick Glacier region. The location of erratics and glacially scoured features suggest that during the oldest or Evans glaciation ice covered all but the highest peaks in the region. Following this glaciation a re-advance produced the Rennick glaciation. Drift produced during this glaciation has a surface cover of unweathered clasts and is commonly found in the form of recessional moraines with associated ice-marginal lakes. Rennick Glacier is currently in a recessional phase of the Rennick glaciation. The phase is characterized by physical re-adjustments of local ice masses including progressive inland migration of the Rennick Glacier grounding line. To date the grounding line has migrated up to the mid-point of the glacier. This trend may be expected to continue.

scholarly journals Large Salt Beds on the Surface of the Ross Ice Shelf Near Black Island, Antarctica

1981 ◽  
Vol 27 (95) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Thomas Brady ◽  
Barry Batts
Keyword(s):  
Thin Layer ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Mcmurdo Sound ◽  
Extensive System ◽  
Ross Ice Shelf ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Marine Algal ◽  
Algal Mat

AbstractAn extensive system of mirabilite (Na2SO4· 10H2O) beds has been mapped on the Ross Ice Shelf near Black Island. The salt beds are normally underlain by a thin layer of mud and their surface is covered by a non-marine algal mat and boulder lag. These authors suggest the salt has been formed by the displacement of sub-ice-shelf brines to the ice-shelf surface. Evidence also suggests that other terrestrial mirabilite beds in the McMurdo Sound area were formed in the same manner and deposited by the Ross Ice Shelf during its Wisconsin retreat from McMurdo Sound. Mirabilite salt in the dry valleys, southern Victoria Land, may have also originated from melt waters which dissolved ice-shelf mirabilite beds.

Clay mineral assemblages as indicators of hydrothermalism in the basal part of the CRP-3 core (Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica)

Clay Minerals ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Setti ◽  
L. Marinoni ◽  
A. Lopez-Galindo
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Clay Minerals ◽  
Clay Mineral ◽  
Particle Morphology ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Mineral Assemblages ◽  
Variable Chemical ◽  
Victoria Land Basin ◽  
Glaciogenic Sediments ◽  
Glaciomarine Sediments

AbstractThe CRP-3 drilling project collected sediments from 3 to 939 mbsf (metres below sea floor) in the Victoria Land Basin in Antarctica. The upper sequence (down to ~790 m bsf) is of Cenozoic age and made up of detrital glaciogenic sediments; the characteristics of clay minerals in this part have been reported elsewhere. Here, the compositional features of clay minerals in the lower sequence such as conglomerates, Devonian sandstones and dolerites are described and genetic processes clarified. Clay minerals in the deepest part of the sequence derive from the alteration of different lithologies that mostly make up the sedimentary basin.Two clay mineral assemblages were characterized through analysis by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). From 790 to 823 mbsf, samples consist of authigenic smectite of variable chemical composition forming imbricated texture of plates or flakes. The smectites probably result from hydrothermal/diagenetic transformation of earlier minerals. The primary smectite cement underwent reorganization during shearing and cataclasis. The lowest part of the sequence (below 823 mbsf) is characterized by an assemblage of kaolinite, mixed-layer illite-smectite, Fe oxyhydroxide, sporadic smectite and poorly crystallized illite. It reflects a stronger alteration process than that recorded in the upper units of core CRP-3, related to hydrothermalism connected with the intrusion of an igneous body. Both assemblages show clear differences in particle morphology, texture and smectite composition to the clay assemblages found in the Cenozoic glaciomarine sediments in the upper sequence. The different phases of alteration appear related to the processes of rifting, exhumation and faulting that characterized this region since the Mesozoic.

Decadal timescale variability in ecosystem properties in the ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Hawes ◽  
Clive Howard-Williams ◽  
Brian Sorrell
Keyword(s):  
Buffering Capacity ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Climatic Effect ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Ecosystem Responses ◽  
Winter Snow ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Continental Antarctica ◽  
Long Term Observation

AbstractMeltwater ponds are important biodiversity elements in continental Antarctica. Many occupy closed basins and are vulnerable to changes in the balance between water accrual, through melting of ice and snow, and water loss by ablation and evaporation. We use a two-decade long record of ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf to assess temporal variability in key limnological variables. Ponds underwent many-fold change in biologically conservative variables, such as conductivity, and changes were similar in ponds from different catchments but of comparable area. In contrast, biologically active variables (pH, inorganic nutrients and planktonic/benthic biomass) are buffered by in-pond processes and show consistency between years and no coherence across catchments. Coherent behaviour across catchments implies an overarching, climatic effect. However, we could identify no signature of summer air temperature or irradiance in pond dynamics, although winter snow deposition may leave a legacy of low conductivity to the following summer. While ponds are clearly affected by climate, our data show that ecosystem responses are complex and highlight the need for system-appropriate, long-term observation if directional environmental change is to be separated from inherent variability in systems that respond to multiple climatic variables and which have significant biological buffering capacity.

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