Water chemistry, sediment radiocarbon age and diatom zonation at Peterson Inlet and Browning Bay, Antarctica ...

• Main Authors: Cremer, Holger, Gore, Damian B, Melles, Martin, Roberts, Donna
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2003
• Subjects: Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas SPP1158; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Sea ice; Windmill Islands
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.847404; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.847404

The late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental history of the southern Windmill Islands, East Antarctica, has been reconstructed using diatom assemblages from two long, well-dated sediment cores taken in two marine bays. The diatom assemblage of the lowest sediment layers suggests a warm climate with mostly open water conditions during the late Pleistocene. During the following glacial, the Windmill Islands were covered by grounded ice preventing any in situ bioproductivity. Following deglaciation, a sapropel with a well-preserved diatom assemblage was deposited from ~10500 cal yr BP. Between ~10500 and ~4000 cal yr BP, total organic carbon (Corg) and total diatom valve concentrations as well as the diatom species composition suggest relatively cool summer temperatures. Hydrological conditions in coastal bays were characterised by combined winter sea-ice and open water conditions. This extensive period of glacial retreat was followed by the Holocene optimum (~4000 to ~1000 cal yr BP), which occurred later in the ... : Supplement to: Cremer, Holger; Gore, Damian B; Melles, Martin; Roberts, Donna (2003): Palaeoclimatic significance of late Quaternary diatom assemblages from southern Windmill Islands, East Antarctica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 195(3-4), 261-280 ...