Antarctic climate variability from greenhouse to icehouse world ...

• Main Author: Tibbett, Emily Jane author
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Southern California Digital Library (USC.DL) 2022
• Subjects: Geological Sciences degree program; Doctor of Philosophy degree; College of Letters, Arts and Sciences school; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; East Antarctica; Sabrina Coast; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-ouc110964848; https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1RP1GLB4

The Cenozoic can be divided into a Greenhouse (Paleocene and Eocene) and an Icehouse world (Oligocene to present). This division is based on the presence of permanent ice sheets in Antarctica; however, the glacial history of Antarctica is more complex with periods of ice sheet growth and retreat of the East, West, and Antarctic Peninsula ice sheets. On the fully glaciated continent today, there are few records of past climate accessible, however the marine margins provide evidence for conditions on land. With the development of biomarker methodologies, these marginal sediments from around the Antarctic continent can now yield new proxy evidence for the fluctuating climate history of Antarctica. This thesis revisits legacy cores drilled over recent decades and finds new evidence for Antarctic climate across the Cenozoic. The first record, Chapter 2, captures a snapshot of the Paleocene/Eocene offshore of the Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica, where few records exist. Application of plant wax dual isotopes (?D ...