Abstract:
A detailed assessment of the history of local ice dome and outlet glacier fluctuations in the Rennick Glacier area of north Victoria Land, which contains a record of global climate driven outlet glacier fluctuations, was undertaken to establish the extent and dynamics of late Cenozoic Antarctic ice sheet fluctuations in the region. In the lower Rennick Glacier area, moraines and ice eroded
... bedrock surfaces were mapped in the Morozumi Range to Helliwell Hills area. Ice-moulded bedrock and quartz-rich erratic boulders were sampled for exposure age dating using cosmogenic nuclides (CNs) (10Be and 26Al), Uranium series dating (U-Th/He) and apatite fission track dating. A number of sites in the Boggs Valley (Helliwell Hills) had subglacially precipitated calcite mantling ice moulded bedrock hummocks and samples were taken for exposure age dating (Uranium series dating) and oxygen and carbon isotopic analysis. In the upper Rennick Glacier region, mapping and CNs sampling efforts were carried out, specifically in the area between the Mesa Range and extending west to Lichen and Caudal Hills. The glacial landforms and ice abraded surface in the upper Rennick Glacier area was mapped. Sites with well preserved moraines and erratic boulders in stable positions suitable for dating using CNs were encountered and sampled in the Lichen, Vantage, Illusion and Caudal Hills, as well as the western side of the Mesa Range. The results from this study will help to determine the history of the east Antarctic ice sheet which is essential to the ongoing and crucial debate regarding the long term stability of the ice sheet and sensitivity of the ice sheets to climate change. 
