Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica
The Vestfold Hills (68°35'S 78°00'E) are a 400 km² ice-free oasis on the coast of East Antarctica. Low hills of Archaean gneisses are draped with Holocene till. The area is bounded in the east by the ice sheet and in the south by the Sørsdal Glacier. Present geomorphic processes are variab...
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ftdatacite:10.25949/19427654 2023-05-15T14:04:19+02:00 Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica Pickard, John 2022 https://dx.doi.org/10.25949/19427654 https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/Landscape_development_and_vegetation_of_the_Vestfold_Hills_East_Antarctica/19427654 unknown Macquarie University In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Other education not elsewhere classified article-journal ScholarlyArticle Thesis Text 2022 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.25949/19427654 2022-04-01T18:21:01Z The Vestfold Hills (68°35'S 78°00'E) are a 400 km² ice-free oasis on the coast of East Antarctica. Low hills of Archaean gneisses are draped with Holocene till. The area is bounded in the east by the ice sheet and in the south by the Sørsdal Glacier. Present geomorphic processes are variable across the Hills from the coast to the ice sheet. Active melt processes have been measured on the ice margins and on an ice-cored moraine. Rivers flowing through the Hills carry meltwater from the ice sheet and glacier via a series of lakes to the sea. The Druzhby River system is one of the largest externally-draining systems in Antarctica. Pingos occur on the ice-cored moraine, the only-known site in the Southern Hemisphere. Freeze/thaw activity is high across the Hills, but periglacial landforms are not uniformly distributed. -- Vegetation is sparse overall but most abundant in a zone a few kilometres from the ice sheet, due to the interaction of windblown salt, water, and nutrient availability. The HIlls belong to the Coastal Zone of the Continental Antarctic Region. Within a single moss bed, chance is important in determining distribution. Mosses are among the oldest Holocene fossils in the Hills. Problems with moss taxonomy severely retard ecological and physiological research. -- Tertiary marine sediments mark the location of a Late Miocene coast remarkably close to the present coastline, during an interglacial period with climate similar to the present. The terminal Pleistocene expansion of the ice sheet (Vestfold Glaciation) swamped the Hills under > 1000 m of ice. Holocene ice retreat has exposed the Hills. Retreat is documented and radiocarbon-dated by abundant marine fossils above hypersaline lakes. -- Marine inlets isolated by isostatic uplift became chains of lakes with complex Holocene histories, All Holocene marine fossils are extant species with wide ecological tolerances. Holocene climates in the Hills were little different from present. Fossil mosses and stromatolites indicate unusual lakes which have changed from marine to fresh and vice versa. -- Low altitude makes the Hills an excellent site for the preservation of evidence hearing on the Holocene collapse of the antarctic ice sheet. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Sørsdal Glacier DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Antarctic East Antarctica Sørsdal Glacier ENVELOPE(78.167,78.167,-68.700,-68.700) The Antarctic Vestfold Vestfold Hills |
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Other education not elsewhere classified Pickard, John Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Other education not elsewhere classified |
description |
The Vestfold Hills (68°35'S 78°00'E) are a 400 km² ice-free oasis on the coast of East Antarctica. Low hills of Archaean gneisses are draped with Holocene till. The area is bounded in the east by the ice sheet and in the south by the Sørsdal Glacier. Present geomorphic processes are variable across the Hills from the coast to the ice sheet. Active melt processes have been measured on the ice margins and on an ice-cored moraine. Rivers flowing through the Hills carry meltwater from the ice sheet and glacier via a series of lakes to the sea. The Druzhby River system is one of the largest externally-draining systems in Antarctica. Pingos occur on the ice-cored moraine, the only-known site in the Southern Hemisphere. Freeze/thaw activity is high across the Hills, but periglacial landforms are not uniformly distributed. -- Vegetation is sparse overall but most abundant in a zone a few kilometres from the ice sheet, due to the interaction of windblown salt, water, and nutrient availability. The HIlls belong to the Coastal Zone of the Continental Antarctic Region. Within a single moss bed, chance is important in determining distribution. Mosses are among the oldest Holocene fossils in the Hills. Problems with moss taxonomy severely retard ecological and physiological research. -- Tertiary marine sediments mark the location of a Late Miocene coast remarkably close to the present coastline, during an interglacial period with climate similar to the present. The terminal Pleistocene expansion of the ice sheet (Vestfold Glaciation) swamped the Hills under > 1000 m of ice. Holocene ice retreat has exposed the Hills. Retreat is documented and radiocarbon-dated by abundant marine fossils above hypersaline lakes. -- Marine inlets isolated by isostatic uplift became chains of lakes with complex Holocene histories, All Holocene marine fossils are extant species with wide ecological tolerances. Holocene climates in the Hills were little different from present. Fossil mosses and stromatolites indicate unusual lakes which have changed from marine to fresh and vice versa. -- Low altitude makes the Hills an excellent site for the preservation of evidence hearing on the Holocene collapse of the antarctic ice sheet. |
format |
Text |
author |
Pickard, John |
author_facet |
Pickard, John |
author_sort |
Pickard, John |
title |
Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_short |
Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_full |
Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_sort |
landscape development and vegetation of the vestfold hills, east antarctica |
publisher |
Macquarie University |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.25949/19427654 https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/Landscape_development_and_vegetation_of_the_Vestfold_Hills_East_Antarctica/19427654 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(78.167,78.167,-68.700,-68.700) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Sørsdal Glacier The Antarctic Vestfold Vestfold Hills |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Sørsdal Glacier The Antarctic Vestfold Vestfold Hills |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Sørsdal Glacier |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Sørsdal Glacier |
op_rights |
In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.25949/19427654 |
_version_ |
1766275345488543744 |