Granulometry, geochemistry, amino acids, radiocarbon ages and paleomagnetics of samples from Heidemann Valley ...

• Main Authors: Colhoun, Eric A, Kiernan, Kevin W, McConnell, Anne, Quilty, Patrick G, Fink, David, Murray-Wallace, Colin V, Whitehead, Jason M
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2010
• Subjects: Excavation; International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; Antarctic; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; East Antarctica; Heidemann Valley; Sorsdal Glacier; Vestfold; Vestfold Hills; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; International Polar Year; IPY
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.808548; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.808548

A Pliocene (2.6-3.5 Ma) age is determined from glacial sediments studied in a 20m long, 4 m deep trench excavated in Heidemann Valley, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. The age determination is based on a combined study of amino acid racemization, diatoms, foraminifera, and magnetic polarity, and supports earlier estimates of the age of the sedimentary section; all are beyond 14C range. Four till units are recognized and documented, and 16 subunits are identified. All are ascribed to deposition during a Late Pliocene glaciation that was probably the last time the entire Vestfold Hills was covered by an enlarged East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). Evidence for other more recent glacial events of the 'Vestfold Glaciation' may have been due to lateral expansion of the Sorsdal Glacier and limited expansion of the icesheet margin during the Last Glacial Maximum rather than a major expansion of the EAIS. The deposit appears to correlate with a marine deposition event recorded in Ocean Drilling Program Site 1166 in ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...