Diatom biostratigraphy of the Cenozoic glaciomarine Pagodroma Group, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica

• Main Authors: Whitehead, JM, Harwood, DM, McKelvey, Barrie Cooper, School of Environmental and Rural Science, Hambrey, MJ, McMinn, A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2004
• Subjects: Stratigraphy (incl Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy); Amery; Amery Ice Shelf; Bardin Bluffs; Battye Glacier; East Antarctica; Fisher Massif; Prince Charles Mountains; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/1424

In the northern Prince Charles Mountains glaciomarine sediments of the Pagodroma Group outcrop on Fisher Massif (Mt Johnston and Fisher Bench Formations) and at the Amery Oasis (Battye Glacier and Bardin Bluffs Formations), at locations 300 and 250 km south of the Amery Ice Shelf edge, respectively. Most of the Pagodroma Group consists of ice-proximal glaciomarine diamict, and a much subordinate (30.1 Ma), Middle Miocene (14.5-12.5 Ma and 12.1-11.5 Ma), Early Pliocene (4.9-3.6 Ma) and, tentatively, Late Pliocene (3.4-2.6 Ma) strata. These microfossil data further develop the interpretation that the Pagodroma Group formed during episodes of reduced glacial extent when, in the absence of an ice shelf, marine waters penetrated far southwards into the Lambert Graben of East Antarctica.