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Circum-Antarctic coastal environmental shifts during the Late Quaternary reflected by emerged marine deposits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2004

Paul A. Berkman
Affiliation:
Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University, 108 Scott Hall, 1090 Carmack Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
John T. Andrews
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Svante Björck
Affiliation:
Geological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 10, DK-1350, Copenhagen, Denmark
Eric A. Colhoun
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Steven D. Emslie
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA
Ian D. Goodwin
Affiliation:
Antarctic CRC, GPO Box 52-80, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
Brenda L. Hall
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences and Institute of Quaternary Studies, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
Charles P. Hart
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Kazuomi Hirakawa
Affiliation:
Earth Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Kita 10, Nishi 5, Kika-Ku, Sapparo 060, Japan
Atsuo Igarashi
Affiliation:
Department of Polar Biology, National Institute of Polar Research, 9-10 Kaga, 1-Chome, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173, Japan
Olafur Ingólfsson
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Centre, University of Gothenburg, Guldhedsgatan 5a, S-413 81 Gothenburg, Sweden
Jeronimo López-Martínez
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Facultad di Ciencias, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
W. Berry Lyons
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
Mark C.G. Mabin
Affiliation:
Department of Tropical Environmental Studies and Geography, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
Patrick G. Quilty
Affiliation:
Australian Antarctic Division, Channel Highway, Kingston, TAS 7050, Australia
Marco Taviani
Affiliation:
Instituto di Geologia Marina, C.N.R., Via Gobetti 101, 1-40129 Bologna, Italy
Yoshio Yoshida
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Rissho University, 4-2-16, Osaki, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141, Japan

Abstract

This review assesses the circumpolar occurrence of emerged marine macrofossils and sediments from Antarctic coastal areas in relation to Late Quaternary climate changes. Radiocarbon ages of the macrofossils, which are interpreted in view of the complexities of the Antarctic marine radiocarbon reservoir and resolution of this dating technique, show a bimodal distribution. The data indicate that marine species inhabited coastal environments from at least 35 000 to 20 000 yr BP, during Marine Isotope Stage 3 when extensive iceberg calving created a ‘meltwater lid’ over the Southern Ocean. The general absence of these marine species from 20 000 to 8500 yr BP coincides with the subsequent advance of the Antarctic ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum. Synchronous re-appearance of the Antarctic marine fossils in emerged beaches around the continent, all of which have Holocene marine-limit elevations an order of magnitude lower than those in the Arctic, reflect minimal isostatic rebound as relative sea-level rise decelerated. Antarctic coastal marine habitat changes around the continent also coincided with increasing sea-ice extent and outlet glacial advances during the mid-Holocene. In view of the diverse environmental changes that occurred around the Earth during this period, it is suggested that Antarctic coastal areas were responding to a mid-Holocene climatic shift associated with the hydrological cycle. This synthesis of Late Quaternary emerged marine deposits demonstrates the application of evaluating circum-Antarctic phenomena from the glacial-terrestrial-marine transition zone.

Type
Earth Sciences
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1998

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