Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T15:31:35.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pliocene age of glacial deposits at Heidemann Valley, East Antarctica: evidence for the last major glaciation in the Vestfold Hills

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Eric A. Colhoun ,
Kevin W. Kiernan ,
Anne McConnell ,
Patrick G. Quilty ,
David Fink ,
Colin V. Murray-Wallace  and
Jason Whitehead
Eric A. Colhoun
Affiliation:
School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Kevin W. Kiernan
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
Anne McConnell
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
Patrick G. Quilty*
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 79, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
David Fink
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Research, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
Colin V. Murray-Wallace
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Jason Whitehead
Affiliation:
Institute for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS), University of Tasmania, Private Bag 77, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
*
*corresponding author: p.quilty@utas.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A Pliocene (2.6–3.5 Ma) age is determined from glacial sediments studied in a 20 m long, 4 m deep trench excavated in Heidemann Valley, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. The age determination is based on a combined study of amino acid racemization, diatoms, foraminifera, and magnetic polarity, and supports earlier estimates of the age of the sedimentary section; all are beyond 14C range. Four till units are recognized and documented, and 16 subunits are identified. All are ascribed to deposition during a Late Pliocene glaciation that was probably the last time the entire Vestfold Hills was covered by an enlarged East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). Evidence for other more recent glacial events of the ‘Vestfold Glaciation’ may have been due to lateral expansion of the Sørsdal Glacier and limited expansion of the icesheet margin during the Last Glacial Maximum rather than a major expansion of the EAIS. The deposit appears to correlate with a marine deposition event recorded in Ocean Drilling Program Site 1166 in Prydz Bay, possibly with the Bardin Bluffs Formation of the Prince Charles Mountains and with part of the time represented in the ANDRILL AND-1B core in the Ross Sea.

Keywords

amino acid racemization datingdiatomsforaminiferamagnetic polarityoriginSørsdal Glaciertrench excavation
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 53 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

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. Colhoun, E.A. 1992. Late Quaternary glaciation and deglaciation of the Bunger Hills, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 4, 435–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adamson, D.A. Pickard, J. 1986. Cainozoic history of the Vestfold Hills. In Pickard, J., ed. Antarctic oasis: terrestrial environments and history of the Vestfold Hills. Sydney: Academic Press, 63–97.Google Scholar
Armand, L.A. 1997. The use of diatom transfer functions in estimating sea-surface temperature and sea-ice in cores from the southeast Indian Ocean. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, 392 pp. [Unpublished].Google Scholar
Augustinus, P., Gore, D.B., Leishman, M.R., Zwartz, D. Colhoun, E.A. 1997. Reconstruction of ice flow across the Bunger Hills, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 9, 347–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berggren, W.A., Kent, D.V., Swisher, C.C. Jr Aubry, M.-P. 1995. A revised Cenozoic geochronology and chronostratigraphy. Special Publication, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, 54, 131–212.Google Scholar
Berkman, P.A. Prentice, M.L. 1996. Pliocene extinction of Antarctic pectenid molluscs. Science, 271, 1606–1607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohaty, S.M., Scherer, R.P. Harwood, D.M. 1998. Quaternary diatom biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments of the CRP-1 drillcore, Ross Sea, Antarctica. Terra Antartica, 5, 431–453.Google Scholar
Bronge, C. 1989. Holocene climatic record from lacustrine sediments in a freshwater lake in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. Geografiska Annaler, 74A, 47–58.Google Scholar
Burgess, J.S., Spate, A.P. Shevlin, J. 1994. The onset of deglaciation in the Larsemann Hills, eastern Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 6, 491–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colhoun, E.A. 1991. Geological evidence for changes in the east Antarctic ice sheet (60°–120°E) during the last glaciation. Polar Record, 27, 345–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, W.D. Treloar, F.E. 1977. The application of racemisation dating in archaeology: a critical review. The Artefact, 2, 63–94.Google Scholar
Domack, E.W., Jull, A.J.T. Donaghue, D.J. 1991. Holocene chronology for the unconsolidated sediments at Hole 740A: Prydz Bay, East Antarctica. In Barron, J., Larsen, B., et al. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, 119, 747–750.Google Scholar
Fabel, D., Stone, J., Fifield, L.K. Cresswell, R.G. 1997. Deglaciation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica: preliminary evidence from exposure dating of three subglacial erratics. In Ricci, C.A., ed. The Antarctic region: geological evolution and processes. Siena: Terra Antartica, 829–834.Google Scholar
Fink, D., Hotchkis, M.A.C., Hua, Q., Jacobsen, G.E., Smith, A.M., Zoppi, U., Child, D., Mifsud, C., van Der Gaast, H.A., Williams, A.A. Williams, M. 2004. The ANTARES AMS Facility at ANSTO. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, B223–24, 109–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzsimons, S.J. Domack, E.W. 1993. Evidence for early Holocene deglaciation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. Polar Record, 29, 237–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fordyce, R.E., Quilty, P.G. Daniels, J. 2002. Australodelphis mirus, a bizarre new toothless ziphiid-like fossil dolphin (Cetacea: Delphinidae) from the Pliocene of Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 14, 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J.A.E., Paterson, K.S., White, C.A. Swadling, K.M. 2009. Evidence for the continued existence of Abraxas Lake, Vestfold Hills during the Last Glacial Maximum. Antarctic Science, 21, 269–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, I.D. 1993. Holocene deglaciation, sea-level change, and the emergence of the Windmill Islands, Budd Coast, Antarctica. Quaternary Research, 40, 70–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gore, D.B. 1997. Last glaciation of Vestfold Hills: extension of the east Antarctic ice sheet or lateral expansion of the Sørsdal Glacier? Polar Record, 33, 5–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gore, D.B. Colhoun, E.A. 1997. Regional contrasts in weathering and glacial sediments suggest long term subaerial exposure of Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. In Ricci, C.A., ed. The Antarctic region: geological evolution and processes. Siena: Terra Antartica, 835–839.Google Scholar
Harris, P.T., O’Brien, P.E., Sedwick, P.N. Truswell, E.M. 1996. Late Quaternary history of sedimentation on the Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica: problems with 14C dating of marine sediment cores. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 130(2), 47–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harwood, D.M. Maruyama, T. 1992. Middle Eocene to Pleistocene diatom biostratigraphy of Southern Ocean sediments from the Kerguelen Plateau, Leg 120. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, 120, 683–773.Google Scholar
Harwood, D.M. Webb, P.-N. 1998. Glacial transport of diatoms in the Antarctic Sirius Group: Pliocene refrigerator. GSA Today, 8, 4–7.Google Scholar
Harwood, D.M., McMinn, A. Quilty, P.G. 2000. Diatom stratigraphy and age of the Pliocene Sørsdal Formation, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 12, 443–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haywood, A.M., Smellie, J.L., Ashworth, A.C., Cantrill, D.J., Florindo, F., Hambrey, M.J., Hill, D., Hillenbrand, C.-D., Hunter, S.J., Larter, R.D., Lear, C.H., Passchier, S. van der Wal, R. 2009. Middle Miocene to Pliocene history of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. In Florindo, F. & Siegert, M., eds. Antarctic climate evolution. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 401–462.Google Scholar
Hirvas, H., Nenonen, K. Quilty, P.G. 1993. Till stratigraphy and glacial history of the Vestfold Hills area, East Antarctica. Quaternary International, 18, 81–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, D.A., Noon, P.E., Vyverman, W., Bryant, C.L., Gore, D.B., Appleby, P., Gilmour, M., Verleyen, E., Sabbe, K., Jones, V.J., Ellis-Evans, J.C. Wood, P.B. 2001. Were the Larsemann Hills ice-free through the Last Glacial Maximum? Antarctic Science, 13, 440–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hua, Q., Barbetti, M., Zoppi, U., Chapman, D.M. Thomson, B. 2003. Bomb radiocarbon in tree rings from northern New South Wales, Australia: implications for dendrochronology, atmospheric transport, and air-sea exchange of CO2. Radiocarbon, 45, 431–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hua, Q., Jacobsen, G.E., Zoppi, U., Lawson, E.M., Williams, A.A., Smith, A.M. Mcgann, M.J. 2001. Progress in radiocarbon target preparation at the ANTARES AMS Centre. Radiocarbon, 43, 275–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, N.P., Bone, Y., Carter, R.M. Murray-Wallace, C.V. 2006. Origin of the Late Neogene Roe Plains and their calcarenite veneer: implications for sedimentology and tectonics in the Great Australian Bight. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 53, 407–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiernan, K., Gore, D.B., Fink, D., White, D.A., McConnell, A. Sigurdsson, I.A. 2009. Deglaciation and weathering of Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 21, 373–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melles, M., Kulbe, T., Verkulich, S.R., Pushina, Z.V. Hubberten, H.-W. 1997. Late Pleistocene and Holocene environmental history of Bunger Hills, East Antarctica, as revealed by fresh-water and epishelf lake sediments. In Ricci, C.A., ed. The Antarctic region: geological evolution and processes. Siena: Terra Antartica, 809–820.Google Scholar
Miller, K.G., Kominz, M.A., Browning, J.V., Wright, J.D., Mountain, G.S., Katz, M.E., Sugarman, P.J., Cramer, B.S., Christie-Blick, N. Pekar, S.F. 2005. The Phanerozoic record of sea-level change. Science, 310, 1293–1298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray-Wallace, C.V. 1993. A review of the application of the amino acid racemisation reaction to archaeological dating. The Artefact, 16, 19–26.Google Scholar
Murray-Wallace, C.V. 2000. Quaternary coastal aminostratigraphy: Australian data in a global context. In Goodfriend, G.A., Collins, M.J., Fogel, M.L., Macko, S.A. & Wehmiller, J.F., eds. Perspectives in amino acid and protein geochemistry. New York: Oxford University Press, 279–300.Google Scholar
Pickard, J., Adamson, D.A., Harwood, D.M., Miller, G.H., Quilty, P.G. Dell, R.K. 1988. Early Pliocene marine sediments, coastline, and climate of east Antarctica. Geology, 16, 158–161.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quilty, P.G. 1985. Distribution of foraminiferids in sediments of Prydz Bay, Antarctica. Special Publications, South Australian Department of Mines and Energy, 5, 329–340.Google Scholar
Quilty, P.G. 1991. The geology of Marine Plain, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. In Thomson, M.R.A., Crame, J.A. & Thomson, J.W., eds. The geological evolution of Antarctica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 683–686.Google Scholar
Quilty, P.G. Franklin, D. 1997. Geology of possible runway sites in the Davis region, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. ANARE Research Notes, 98, 1–57.Google Scholar
Quilty, P.G., Lirio, J.M. Jillett, D. 2000. Stratigraphy of the Pliocene Sørsdal Formation, Marine Plain, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 12, 205–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M. Dowsett, H.J. 2008. Pliocene role in assessing future climate impacts. EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 89, 501–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, R.P. 1991. Quaternary and Tertiary microfossils from beneath Ice Stream B: evidence for a dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet history. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 90, 395–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, J., Bird, M.I., Zwartz, D., Lambeck, K., Fifield, L.K. Allan, G.L. 1993. Deglaciation and sea-level in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 74/43, 234.Google Scholar
Stroeven, A.P., Burckle, L.H., Kleman, J. Prentice, M.L. 1998. Atmospheric transport of diatoms in the Antarctic Sirius Group: Pliocene deep freeze. GSA Today, 8, 4–6.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. Polach, A. 1977. Reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon, 19, 355–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, J.M., Quilty, P.G., McKelvey, B.C. O’Brien, P.E. 2006. A review of the Cenozoic stratigraphy and glacial history of the Lambert Graben–Prydz Bay region, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 18, 83–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar