-`513`- A Preliminary Geomorphic Overview of Late Quaternary Glacier Fluctuations in the South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica

• Main Authors: Yeong Bae Seong, Hyoun Soo Lim, Ho Il Yoon, Yong Il Lee, Yeadong Kim, Lewis A. Owen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Key Words; West Antarctica; South Shetland Islands; Late Quaternary; glacier; subglacial meltwater channel; moraine; Admiralty Bay; Fildes; Fildes peninsula; Maxwell Bay; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice cap
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.574.1072; http://kgeography.or.kr/publishing/journal/41/05/01.pdf

Abstract：The timing and extent of glaciations during the Late Quaternary in the South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica were defined using field mapping, geomorphic analysis and radiocarbon dating. Landforms of glacial erosion and deposition, in particular subglacial meltwater channel erosion, suggest that at least three glaciations occurred during the late Quaternary within the study region. During the global LGM, glacial troughs (such as Maxwell Bay and Admiralty Bay) were overdeepened by an ice stream moving south from an~1000m-thick ice cap centered on the present-day continental shelf to the north. This ice was responsible for the subglacial meltwater channel erosion, and glacial polished and striated bedrock on the Fildes Peninsula. The recent local glaciations occurred about 2,000 years ago and during Little Ice Age (LIA). During these glaciations, glaciers were less extensive than the previous one and less erosive as a cold-based ice.