Granulometry of two sediment cores from Maxwell Bay, South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica ...

• Main Authors: Hass, H Christian, Kuhn, Gerhard, Monien, Patrick, Brumsack, Hans-Jürgen, Forwick, Matthias
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2010
• Subjects: Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions from Marine Sediments @ AWI AWI_Paleo; Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas SPP1158; Antarctic; Arctic; Austin; King George Island; Maxwell Bay; South Shetland Islands; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.788113; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.788113

The climate evolution of the South Shetland Islands during the last c. 2000 years is inferred from the multiproxy analyses of a long (928 cm) sediment core retrieved from Maxwell Bay off King George Island. The vertical sediment flux at the core location is controlled by summer melting processes that cause sediment-laden meltwater plumes to form. These leave a characteristic signature in the sediments of NE Maxwell Bay. We use this signature to distinguish summer and winter-dominated periods. During the Medieval Warm Period, sediments are generally finer which indicates summer-type conditions. In contrast, during the Little Ice Age (LIA) sediments are generally coarser and are indicative of winter-dominated conditions. Comparison with Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic, and global temperature reconstructions reveals that the mean grain-size curve from Maxwell Bay closely resembles the curve of the global temperature reconstruction. We show that the medieval warming occurred earlier in the Southern ... : Supplement to: Hass, H Christian; Kuhn, Gerhard; Monien, Patrick; Brumsack, Hans-Jürgen; Forwick, Matthias (2010): Climate fluctuations during the past two millennia as recorded in sediments from Maxwell Bay, South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica. In: Howe, J; Austin, WEN; Paetzel, M and Forwick, M (eds.): Fjordic Depositional Systems and Archives, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 344, 243-260 ...