TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of Holocene deglaciation and glacial dynamics on the landscapes and geomorphology of Potter Peninsula, King George Island (Isla 25 Mayo), NW Antarctic Peninsula
AU - Heredia Barión, Pablo A.
AU - Strelin, Jorge A.
AU - Roberts, Stephen J.
AU - Spiegel, Cornelia
AU - Wacker, Lukas
AU - Niedermann, Samuel
AU - Bentley, Michael J.
AU - Pearson, Emma J.
AU - Czalbowski, Nadia T. Manograsso
AU - Davies, Sarah J.
AU - Schnetger, Bernhard
AU - Grosjean, Martin
AU - Arcusa, Stephanie
AU - Perren, Bianca
AU - Hocking, Emma P.
AU - Kuhn, Gerhard
N1 - Funding
This study was funded by Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), the Dirección Nacional del Antártico/Instituto Antártico Argentino (DNA/IAA), in the framework of the Project PICTA, 2011 – 0102, IAA “Geomorfología y Geología Glaciar del Archipiélago James Ross e Islas Shetland del Sur, Sector Norte de la Península Antártica,” and the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) research program Polar Regions and Coasts in a Changing Earth System (PACES II). PHB, GK, JS, SR, EP, and TMC were funded IMCONet (FP7 IRSES, action no. 318718) led by Doris Abele (AWI). EP and SR received additional funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC/BAS-CGS Grant no.81). SR and MB were funded by the NERC/BAS science programmes CACHE-PEP: Natural climate variability—extending the Americas palaeoclimate transect through the Antarctic Peninsula to the pole and GRADES-QWAD: Quaternary West Antarctic Deglaciations.
PY - 2023/1/4
Y1 - 2023/1/4
N2 - The timing and impact of deglaciation and Holocene readvances on the terrestrial continental margins of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) have been well-studied but are still debated. Potter Peninsula on King George Island (KGI) (Isla 25 de Mayo), South Shetland Islands (SSI), NW Antarctic Peninsula, has a detailed assemblage of glacial landforms and stratigraphic exposures for constraining deglacial landscape development and glacier readvances. We undertook new morphostratigraphic mapping of the deglaciated foreland of the Warszawa Icefield, an outlet of the Bellingshausen (Collins) Ice Cap on Potter Peninsula, using satellite imagery and new lithofacies recognition and interpretations, combined with new chronostratigraphic analysis of stratigraphic sections, lake sediments, and moraine deposits. Results show that the deglaciation on Potter Peninsula began before c. 8.2 ka. Around c. 7.0 ka, the Warszawa Icefield and the marine-facing Fourcade Glacier readvanced across Potter Peninsula and to the outer part of Potter Cove. Evidence of further readvances on Potter Peninsula was absent until the Warszawa Icefield margin was landward of its present position on three occasions: c. 1.7–1.4 ka, after c. 0.7 ka (most likely c. 0.5–0.1 ka), and by 1956 CE. The timing of Holocene deglaciation and glacier fluctuations on Potter Peninsula are broadly coeval with other glacier- and ice-free areas on the SSI and the northern AP and likely driven by interactions between millennial–centennial-scale changes in solar insolation and irradiance, the southern westerlies, and the Southern Annular Mode.
AB - The timing and impact of deglaciation and Holocene readvances on the terrestrial continental margins of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) have been well-studied but are still debated. Potter Peninsula on King George Island (KGI) (Isla 25 de Mayo), South Shetland Islands (SSI), NW Antarctic Peninsula, has a detailed assemblage of glacial landforms and stratigraphic exposures for constraining deglacial landscape development and glacier readvances. We undertook new morphostratigraphic mapping of the deglaciated foreland of the Warszawa Icefield, an outlet of the Bellingshausen (Collins) Ice Cap on Potter Peninsula, using satellite imagery and new lithofacies recognition and interpretations, combined with new chronostratigraphic analysis of stratigraphic sections, lake sediments, and moraine deposits. Results show that the deglaciation on Potter Peninsula began before c. 8.2 ka. Around c. 7.0 ka, the Warszawa Icefield and the marine-facing Fourcade Glacier readvanced across Potter Peninsula and to the outer part of Potter Cove. Evidence of further readvances on Potter Peninsula was absent until the Warszawa Icefield margin was landward of its present position on three occasions: c. 1.7–1.4 ka, after c. 0.7 ka (most likely c. 0.5–0.1 ka), and by 1956 CE. The timing of Holocene deglaciation and glacier fluctuations on Potter Peninsula are broadly coeval with other glacier- and ice-free areas on the SSI and the northern AP and likely driven by interactions between millennial–centennial-scale changes in solar insolation and irradiance, the southern westerlies, and the Southern Annular Mode.
KW - deglaciation
KW - geomorphological mapping
KW - radiocarbon dating
KW - South Shetland islands
KW - stratigraphy
KW - glacier readvance
U2 - 10.3389/feart.2022.1073075
DO - 10.3389/feart.2022.1073075
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-6463
VL - 10
SP - 1073075
JO - Frontiers in Earth Science
JF - Frontiers in Earth Science
ER -