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An Elemental Analysis of the Glacial Deposits of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica

Entry ID: ASAC_135

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Summary

Abstract: Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 135

Taken from the abstracts of some of the referenced papers:

Vestfold Hills, Antarctica exhibits marked contrasts in the weathering surface and glacial sediments between its eastern and western parts. The boundary between these zones coincides with a regional chemical boundary termed the 'salt line'. The area west of the salt line is saturated with ... marine-derived halite and thenardite that are particularly aggressive agents of rock weathering. In contrast, the area east of the salt line exhibits significantly fewer deposits of these salts. Rock surfaces west of the salt line are characterised by well-developed weathering forms, while glacial polish and striae are largely absent. In contrast, rock surfaces to the east commonly retain glacial polish and striae. In places, differential weathering has caused thin basaltic dykes and felsic veins to stand above the surrounding gneiss. The rate of lowering of the gneiss and dykes to the west of the salt line has been estimated at 0.024 mm and 0.015 mm per year respectively. These measurements suggest that the weathering surface in parts of the Vestfold Hills may record more than 70ka of subaerial exposure.
Glacial sediments are much more abundant, coarser and better sorted northwest of the salt line than to the southeast. The abundant grus produced by physical weathering is coarser grained and better sorted that that produced by subglacial erosion. Such sediment lying on the land surface would be transported and redeposited during glacial advances. The change in nature of the sediments to either side of the salt line, together with the weathering forms found on clasts in the moraines, indicates that the weathering surface prior to the last glacial advance was similar to that of today and must also have developed during long periods of subaerial exposure.

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Radiocarbon dating of marine, lacustrine or terrestrial biogenic deposits is the main technique used to determine when deglaciation of the oases of East Antarctica occurred. However, at many of the oases of East Antarctica, including the Schirmacher Oasis, Stillwell Hills, Amery Oasis, Larsemann Hills, Taylor Islands and Grearson Oasis, snow and ice presently forms extensive blankets that fills valleys and some lake basins, covers perennial lake ice and in places overwhelms local topography to form ice domes up to hundreds of square kilometres in area. Field observations from Larsemann Hills and Taylor Islands suggest that under these conditions, terrestrial and lacustrine biogenic sedimentation is neither widespread nor abundant. If similar conditions prevailed in and around the oases immediately following retreat of the ice sheet, then a lengthy hiatus might exist between deglaciation and the onset of widespread or abundant biogenic sedimentation. As a result, radiocarbon dating might be a clumsy tool with which to reconstruct deglaciation history, and independent dating methods that record emergence of the hilltops from the continental ice must be employed as well.

Related URL

Link: GET DATA

Description: Download point for the data

Link: VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE

Description: Public information for ASAC project 135

Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Description: Download point for the referenced publications (AAD Only)

Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Description: Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

N: -68.0

S: -68.5

E: 78.5

W: 78.0

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1988-09-30

Stop Date: 1995-03-31

Location Keywords

CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Science Keywords

CRYOSPHERE > GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS > GLACIERS

ISO Topic Category

CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE

GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

INLAND WATERS

Quality Values provided in temporal and spatial coverage are approximate only.

See the referenced publications for more information.

These data are old, and have not been thoroughly quality checked.

Access Constraints The data are publicly available for download from the provided URL. Several publications relating to the data are available for download by AAD staff only at the provided URL.

Use Constraints This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASAC_135 when using these data.

Ancillary Keywords

salt line

deglaciation

radiocarbon dating

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Data Center

Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia

Data Center URL: http://data.aad.gov.au

Data Center Personnel
Name: DATA OFFICER AADC Phone: +61 3 6232 3244 Fax: +61 3 6232 3351 Email: metadata at aad.gov.au Contact Address: Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway City: Kingston Province or State: Tasmania Postal Code: 7050 Country: Australia

Distribution

Distribution Media: HTTP

Distribution Size: 400 kb

Distribution Format: Excel

Fees: Free

Distribution Media: HTTP

Distribution Size: 12.1 MB

Distribution Format: PDF

Fees: Free

Personnel

ERIC COLHOUN

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT

Role: DIF AUTHOR

Phone: +61 2 4921 5082

Fax: +61 2 4921 5877

Email: ggeac at cc.newcastle.edu.au

Contact Address:

Department of Geography

CALLAGHAN

UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE

City: Newcastle

Province or State: New South Wales

Postal Code: 2308

Country: Australia

Publications/References

Gore D.B. (1992), Ice-damming and fluvial erosion in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, Antarctic Science, 4, 2, 227-234

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2000-07-19

Last DIF Revision Date: 2012-05-31

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