Holocene raised beaches at Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica

Abstract

More than 40 14C dates for raised beaches at Terra Nova Bay ranging from the present to 7505 ± 230 yr B.P. supply minimum or maximum limiting ages that bracket a relative sea-level curve for this part of Victoria Land. Most samples consist of guano and penguin remains collected from abandoned nesting sites on beach deposits. Up to four 14C dates in stratigraphic sequence have been obtained in two soil profiles. Other samples consist of marine shells collected both within and on the surface of raised beaches. All 14C ages for organisms that lived or fed in circumantarctic waters were corrected for a large reservoir effect. The calibrated ages delimit a first relative sea-level curve for Victoria Land. Rates of uplift ranged from about 10 mm/yr following deglaciation to about 2 mm/yr in the last 3 millennia. Widespread presence of Adélie penguin nesting sites suggests that Terra Nova Bay was deglaciated before 7065 ± 250 yr B.P. (7059/6439 cal yr B.P.), when environmental conditions in the coastal area were similar to the present ones.

Stable isotopes reveal Holocene changes in the diet of Adélie penguins in Northern Victoria Land (Ross Sea, Antarctica)

“…The dietary changes observed in the last 2,000 years, as suggested by the isotopic values of penguin eggshells, probably represent the ecological responses of Adélie penguins to habitat modiWcation. Geomorphological, glaciological and paleoecological evidences have demonstrated that in Victoria Land climatic and environmental conditions have changed during the Holocene, with glacial advances and retreats and changes in sea-ice extent (Baroni and Orombelli 1991, 1994a, 1994bBaroni and Hall 2004;Hall et al 2004Hall et al , 2006Hall 2009). These environmental reconstructions seem to be also documented in the Adélie penguin paleodietary record whose variability seems to be aVected by changes in the persistence of sea-ice.…”

Interpreting last glacial to Holocene dust changes at Talos Dome (East Antarctica): implications for atmospheric variations from regional to hemispheric scales

“…After the deglaciation, when most of the regional ice loss happened with the retreat and floating of the Ross Ice Sheet (Mackintosh et al, 2011), the opening of the Ross Sea embayment ∼8 kyr BP marked the beginning of a new phase of retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf (Conway et al, 1999). The process continued (Baroni and Orombelli, 1991;Baroni and Hall, 2004), albeit with temporal and spatial variability (Hall et al, 2006), throughout the Holocene before a neoglacial re-advance during the last millennium (Hall, 2009). These events can indeed cause a consequent modification of the regional atmospheric circulation patterns, and the opening of the Ross Sea embayment appears to be coeval with the Holocene decreasing trend in dust flux at Talos Dome, evident in both the 1-5 µm and the 5-10 µm size fractions.…”

A new Holocene relative sea‐level curve for Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica

“…In the Northern Foothills, the most useful ages come from the area adjacent to Terra Nova Station, from the northern margin of Gerlache Inlet close to Gondwana Station and from Adélie Cove. These dates range (1) Whitehouse et al, 1989; (2) Baroni and Orombelli, 1991; (3) Baroni and Orombelli, 1994;(4) Lambert et al, 2002. All dates have been adjusted for 13 C variations.…”

“…Subsequent isostatic rebound led to the formation of raised beaches and other marine features, first recognised by Priestley (1923). For a more detailed discussion of previous JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE studies at Terra Nova Bay, see Baroni and Orombelli (1991) and references therein. Our results are based on geomorphological mapping of coastal areas, as well as on approximately 100 excavations in raised beaches and other marine sediments.…”