Persistence of drift pumice in southern Australasian waters

• Published in: Papers and Proceedings of The Royal Society of Tasmania
• Main Authors: Sutherland, FL, Olsen, AM
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1968
• Subjects: Royal Society of Tasmania; RST; Van Diemens Land; natural history; science; ecology; taxonomy; botany; zoology; geology; geography; papers & proceedings; Australia; UTAS Library; Antarctic; Sandwich Islands; South Sandwich Islands; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://eprints.utas.edu.au/14238/; https://eprints.utas.edu.au/14238/4/1968_Sutherland_Persistence_drift_pumice.pdf

Drift pumice from the 1962 South Sandwich Islands eruption was observed to persist in Southern Australasian waters five and a half years after its eruption and over four years after its first appearance in these waters. Mostly fine pumice gravels and sands have been stranded since early 1965. Regular surface plankton hauls in Mercury Passage, east Tasmania, in the past two years indicated a number of influxes of the pumice into eastern Tasmanian waters. It is postulated that these influxes probably largely represent material recycled from earlier standings, although some pumice may have arrived from continuous indirect drift. As yet there is no evidence to discount the possibility of circum-Antarctic circulation of some of the pumice, before stranding.