Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past
Rapid regional warming at an increasing pace ever since the end of the Little Ice Age (c. AD 1900) causes significant change in the coastal marine environments of the West Antarctic Peninsula and beyond. A comprehensive set of hydroacoustic ground-discrimination data (RoxAnn GDX) was gathered to dev...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:37276 2024-09-09T19:12:00+00:00 Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past Hass, H. C. Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Wittenberg, Nina Betzler, Christian Kuhn, Gerhard 2014 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37276/ https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm14/meetingapp.cgi#Paper/22264 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.44968 unknown AGU Hass, H. C. , Wölfl, A. C. , Wittenberg, N. , Betzler, C. and Kuhn, G. (2014) Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past , AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 15 December 2014 - 19 December 2014 . hdl:10013/epic.44968 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess EPIC3AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 2014-12-15-2014-12-19Washington, DC, USA, AGU Conference notRev info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject 2014 ftawi 2024-06-24T04:11:05Z Rapid regional warming at an increasing pace ever since the end of the Little Ice Age (c. AD 1900) causes significant change in the coastal marine environments of the West Antarctic Peninsula and beyond. A comprehensive set of hydroacoustic ground-discrimination data (RoxAnn GDX) was gathered to develop a high resolution characterization of the seafloor habitats in the Potter Cove, King George Island, a small fjord with a retreating former tidewater glacier at its head. Sediment samples and underwater video footage are used for ground truthing. Seven habitat zones are distinguished. These include the shallow high-energy wave zone exposing unvegetated rocks to the low-energy deeper basins characterized by muddy sediments and the typical biota including ophiuroids, ascidians, sponges, sea pens. The results allow to subdivide the Potter Cove into a “dynamic zone” (DZ) with rocks and mixed fine sediments covering the inner cove, a large transition zone that we call the “subrecent zone” (SZ) buried under fine meltwater sediments and the “quasi persistent zone” (QPZ) that reveals more mature conditions in many aspects further downfjord. These zones represent development stages resulting from the increasing distance to and decreasing influence of the glacier front. The DZ is trailing directly behind the retreating glacier front. As long as there is strong discharge of sediment-loaded meltwater the DZ transitions into the SZ after a period of time (under recent conditions: decades) which itself transitions into the QPZ after centuries. We assume that during the Medieval Warm Period (c. AD 800-1350) the glacier terminus was at or even behind its present position. Until the maximum of the Little Ice Age the glacier advanced to form a prominent moraine complex. Ever since the glacier retreated at increasing speed to its recent position. If the warming trend continues the glacier will retreat further away from the fjord head and the QPZ will likely cover the entire fjord after several centuries. Conference Object Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula King George Island Tidewater Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula King George Island Potter Cove |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Rapid regional warming at an increasing pace ever since the end of the Little Ice Age (c. AD 1900) causes significant change in the coastal marine environments of the West Antarctic Peninsula and beyond. A comprehensive set of hydroacoustic ground-discrimination data (RoxAnn GDX) was gathered to develop a high resolution characterization of the seafloor habitats in the Potter Cove, King George Island, a small fjord with a retreating former tidewater glacier at its head. Sediment samples and underwater video footage are used for ground truthing. Seven habitat zones are distinguished. These include the shallow high-energy wave zone exposing unvegetated rocks to the low-energy deeper basins characterized by muddy sediments and the typical biota including ophiuroids, ascidians, sponges, sea pens. The results allow to subdivide the Potter Cove into a “dynamic zone” (DZ) with rocks and mixed fine sediments covering the inner cove, a large transition zone that we call the “subrecent zone” (SZ) buried under fine meltwater sediments and the “quasi persistent zone” (QPZ) that reveals more mature conditions in many aspects further downfjord. These zones represent development stages resulting from the increasing distance to and decreasing influence of the glacier front. The DZ is trailing directly behind the retreating glacier front. As long as there is strong discharge of sediment-loaded meltwater the DZ transitions into the SZ after a period of time (under recent conditions: decades) which itself transitions into the QPZ after centuries. We assume that during the Medieval Warm Period (c. AD 800-1350) the glacier terminus was at or even behind its present position. Until the maximum of the Little Ice Age the glacier advanced to form a prominent moraine complex. Ever since the glacier retreated at increasing speed to its recent position. If the warming trend continues the glacier will retreat further away from the fjord head and the QPZ will likely cover the entire fjord after several centuries. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Hass, H. C. Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Wittenberg, Nina Betzler, Christian Kuhn, Gerhard |
spellingShingle |
Hass, H. C. Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Wittenberg, Nina Betzler, Christian Kuhn, Gerhard Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past |
author_facet |
Hass, H. C. Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Wittenberg, Nina Betzler, Christian Kuhn, Gerhard |
author_sort |
Hass, H. C. |
title |
Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past |
title_short |
Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past |
title_full |
Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past |
title_fullStr |
Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past |
title_sort |
environmental evolution of a small antarctic fjord through the recent past |
publisher |
AGU |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37276/ https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm14/meetingapp.cgi#Paper/22264 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.44968 |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula King George Island Potter Cove |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula King George Island Potter Cove |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula King George Island Tidewater |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula King George Island Tidewater |
op_source |
EPIC3AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 2014-12-15-2014-12-19Washington, DC, USA, AGU |
op_relation |
Hass, H. C. , Wölfl, A. C. , Wittenberg, N. , Betzler, C. and Kuhn, G. (2014) Environmental evolution of a small Antarctic fjord through the recent past , AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 15 December 2014 - 19 December 2014 . hdl:10013/epic.44968 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1809752416457850880 |