Micromorphology of Last Glacial Maximum Grounding line sediments around the Antarctic Peninsula

• Main Author: Arnold, Holly
• Other Authors: Department of Earth Sciences
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: Brock University 2012
• Subjects: Glaciology - Antarctic Peninsula; Sediments (Geology); Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10464/4128

Sediments recovered from seven Last Glacial Maximum grounding lines sites, around the Antarctic Peninsula, were analyzed using micromorphology. This is the first evidence that grounding line sediments from around the Antarctic Peninsula have complex deformational histories and subglacial origins. It was determined that grounding zone wedge contain multiple units, or diamicton layers, with homogenized boundaries. The multiple diamicton units / layers are due to the accretionary formation of a grounding line wedge. All the sediments were deposited via deformation, and continual reincorporation, homogenization of lower diamicton layers by upper diamicton layers produced what macroscopically appeared to be a single massive diamicton unit. The morainal ridge that was sampled, alternatively, is composed of a single unit, or diamicton layer, that was subglacial in origin and believed to have been pushed out to form a ridge that was subsequently deformed via glacial push.