The geochemical response of sedimentary archives to rapid recent glacier retreat at the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP): from source to sink
Off King George Island (western Antarctic Peninsula) major and trace elements were studied in porewaters and sedimentary archives. The results of provenance analyses conducted on marine sediments from Maxwell Bay suggest regional climate variability during the Late Holocene. Moreover, concurrent wit...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | unknown |
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2014
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| Online Access: | http://oops.uni-oldenburg.de/1863/ http://oops.uni-oldenburg.de/1863/1/mongeo14.pdf |
| Summary: | Off King George Island (western Antarctic Peninsula) major and trace elements were studied in porewaters and sedimentary archives. The results of provenance analyses conducted on marine sediments from Maxwell Bay suggest regional climate variability during the Late Holocene. Moreover, concurrent with the rapid glacier retreat sediment accumulation rates have more than tripled since the middle of the 20th century. Using guano-associated bio-elements in lake sediments the waxing and waning of local penguin colonies on Ardley Island could be reconstructed. Changes in local penguin populations during the Holocene are linked to changes in climate, sea ice extent, relative sea level and volcanic eruptions. Porewater data (nutrients, sulphate, Fe, Mn, U, Mo, Re) were used to determine major pathways of organic matter degradation in coastal sediments. Mathematical models let assume that Antarctic shelf areas form a more important source for bioavailable Fe in the Southern Ocean than previously thought. |
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