Former extension of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Author: Lundqvist, Jan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 1989
• Subjects: Antarctic; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2407; https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v7i2.6835

Knowledge about the Quarternary geology of the Australian sector of Antarctica is very incomplete. Scattered observations of glacial deposits in that area, made during the ANARE 6 expedition in 1987, indicate that the inland ice had formerly a considerably wider extension than today. The ice was more than 200 m thicker, probably of the order 1, 000m. This maximum stage cannot yet be dated, but conditions seem to favour a late Wisconsin-Weichselian maximum age. However, a much higher age cannot be excluded.