Tectonic, Climatic, and Cryospheric Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula Linking Trophic Interactions and Nutrient Dynamics

About this book

Tectonic, Climatic, and Cryospheric Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula presents the analysis of data collected during the SHALDRIL program, which sampled the most complete Cenozoic stratigraphic section in the Antarctic Peninsula. The stratigraphic intervals sampled fill major gaps in the existing stratigraphic record in the region, which is believed to have been the last place in Antarctica to become fully glaciated and, as such, the last refugium for plants and animals living on the continent. Providing previously unpublished results from studies aimed at improving our understanding of the changes in climate, glacial setting, and fauna and flora that took place over the past 30 million years, the volume highlights include discussions of marine seismic and drill core records documenting the initial growth and expansion of an ice sheet across the northernmost Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf in the northwestern Weddell Sea.

The book features:
- Detailed vegetation and phytoplankton evolution from greenhouse through icehouse conditions in Antarctica's last refugium
- Sand grain texture and micromorphology indicating ice sheet control of weathering style
- Exhumational history around the Drake Passage margins from thermochronology and sediment provenance
- Comprehensive review of the opening of the ocean passageway between Antarctica and South America and the associated regional tectonics.

Tectonic, Climatic, and Cryospheric Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula will be of interest to geologists, climatologists, and glaciologists interested in climate and cryosphere evolution and those factors that regulate it.

Contents

Preface
      John B. Anderson and Julia S. Wellner v
Introduction
      John B. Anderson and Julia S. Wellner 1
A Different Look at Gateways: Drake Passage and Australia/Antarctica
      Lawrence A. Lawver, Lisa M. Gahagan, and Ian W. D. Dalziel 5
Exhumational History of the Margins of Drake Passage: From Thermochronology and Sediment Provenance
      David L. Barbeau Jr 35
Seismic Stratigraphy of the Joinville Plateau: Implications for Regional Climate Evolution
      R. Tyler Smith and John B. Anderson 51
Age Assessment of Eocene-Pliocene Drill Cores Recovered During the SHALDRIL II Expedition, Antarctic Peninsula
      Steven M. Bohaty, Denise K. Kulhanek, Sherwood W. Wise Jr., Kelly Jemison, Sophie Warny, and Charlotte Sjunneskog 63
Magnetic Properties of Oligocene-Eocene Cores From SHALDRIL II, Antarctica
      Luigi Jovane and Kenneth L. Verosub 115
History of an Evolving Ice Sheet as Recorded in SHALDRIL Cores: From the Northwestern Weddell Sea, Antarctica
      Julia S. Wellner, John B. Anderson, Werner Ehrmann, Fred M. Weaver, Alexandra Kirshner, Daniel Livsey, and Alexander R. Simms 131
Cenozoic Glacial History of the Northern Antarctic Peninsula: A Micromorphological Investigation of Quartz Sand Grains
      Alexandra E. Kirshner and John B. Anderson 153
Last Remnants of Cenozoic Vegetation and Organic-Walled Phytoplankton in the Antarctic Peninsula's Icehouse World
      Sophie Warny and Rosemary Askin 167
Vegetation and Organic-Walled Phytoplankton at the End of the Antarctic Greenhouse World: Latest Eocene Cooling Events
      Sophie Warny and Rosemary Askin 193

AGU Category Index 211
Index 213

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