Shore-platform development in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

• Published in: Marine Geology
• Main Author: Hansom, James D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 1983
• Subjects: South Shetland Islands; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/99608/; https://doi.org/10.1016/0025-3227(83)90075-0

Shore platforms in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, display morphological differences from mid-latitude platforms that are explicable in terms of the morphogenetic environment. These differences include marked horizontality of the platform surface terminated abruptly by low-tide and high-tide gradient changes. Since the processes of ice freezing-on, quarrying by impact and abrasion are responsible for such horizontality the platforms are widest in areas of restricted fetch where ice persists longest. In exposed locations, wave quarrying and abrasion limit the development of horizontality. Stratigraphic evidence suggests that the shore platforms of the South Shetland Islands are inherited features that have been rapidly retrimmed by polar shore processes. Some suggestions for future research are made.