Antarctic Earth Sciences Research Articles

Antarctic Earth Sciences: Preface

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh / Volume 104 / Issue 01 / March 2013, pp 1 1 DOI: 10.1017/S1755691013000121, Published online: 22 July 2013 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1755691013000121 How to cite this article: Martin Siegert and Tom Bradwell (2013). Antarctic Earth Sciences: Preface. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 104, pp 1-1 doi:10.1017/S1755691013000121 Request Permissions : Click here

Antarctic Palaeoenvironments and Earth-Surface Processes in context

Abstract The 26 papers in this volume comprise those presented at the International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences in Edinburgh in July 2011, as well as several invited review papers, on Antarctic geology and geomorphology. These papers demonstrate a remarkable diversity of Earth science interests in the Antarctic. It is evident that during recent decades there has been a marked change in emphasis from pre-Cenozoic geology to topics related to the 34 million years of directly documented Antarctic glacial history. Increasing emphasis is being placed on the documentation and understanding of the palaeorecord of ice-sheet growth and decay. Furthermore, Antarctic Earth history is providing us with important information about potential future trends, as the impact of global warming is increasingly felt on the continent and its ocean.

About this title ‐ Antarctic Palaeoenvironments and Earth-Surface Processes

The volume highlights developments in our understanding of the palaeogeographical, palaeobiological, palaeoclimatic and cryospheric evolution of Antarctica. It focuses on the sedimentary record from the Devonian to the Quaternary Period. It features tectonic evolution and stratigraphy, as well as processes taking place adjacent to, beneath and beyond the ice-sheet margin, including the continental shelf. The contributions in this volume include several invited review papers, as well as original research papers arising from the International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences in Edinburgh, in July 2011. These papers demonstrate a remarkable diversity of Earth science interests in the Antarctic. Following international trends, there is particular emphasis on the Cenozoic Era, reflecting the increasing emphasis on the documentation and understanding of the past record of ice-sheet fluctuations. Furthermore, Antarctic Earth history is providing us with important information about potential future trends, as the impact of global warming is increasingly felt on the continent and its ocean.

Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World: 10th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences; Santa Barbara, California, 26 August to 1 September 2007

The 10th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences was convened at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where 350 researchers presented talks and posters on topics including climate change, biotic evolution, magmatic processes, surface processes, tectonics, geodynamics, and the cryosphere. The symposium resulted in 335 peer‐reviewed papers, 225 of which are published online (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1047/). A proceedings book will also be published by the National Academies Press.Advances in our understanding of Antarctic tectonics were many, often involving techniques that provide information under ice sheets or from proxies such as glacial till to provide clues on provenance. John Goodge (University of Minnesota‐Duluth) and coworkers reported a 1440‐million‐year‐old granite boulder from glacial till from the Nimrod Glacier that can be matched to North American Laurentian province granites, supporting the postulated (Southwest U.S.—East Antarctica (SWEAT) hypothesis) fit of East Antarctica and North America more than 1 billion years ago. Considerable debate concerned the formation of the Transantarctic Mountains and the role of plateau collapse.

Effort explores 130 Million years of Antarctic paleoenvironment

Antarctic climate history has been dominated by events and turning points with causes that are poorly understood. To fill the gaps in our knowledges new effort is underway in the international geologic community to acquire and coordinate the circum‐Antarctic geologic data needed to derive and model paleoenvironments of the past 130 m.y. The effort, which focuses principally on using shallow (<100 m) stratigraphic drilling and coring to acquire the geologic data, is being led by the Antarctic Offshore Stratigraphy Project (ANTOSTRAT), a group that works under the aegis of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).About 40 scientists from 12 countries met this past summer in Wellington, New Zealand, at an ANTOSTRAT meeting to discuss strategies for implementing the desired paleoenvironmental field and modeling studies. The meeting was held in conjunction with the 8th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences.

The Antarctic Region: Geological Evolution and Processes

The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) supports discipline‐ and issue‐based meetings in Antarctic research, and these are forums for announcing developments in Antarctic science. Refereed symposia proceedings normally follow and generate a number of volumes that almost constitute serial publication. Meetings in the Earth sciences occur at roughly 4‐year intervals. The resulting volumes cover Antarctic Earth science generally and provide convenient access to periodic bibliographic updates.The Antarctic Region: Geological Evolution and Processes is a collection of the Proceedings of the VII International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, held in Siena, Italy, in 1995 and sponsored by SCAR. It was by far the largest such meeting held to date—the next will be in New Zealand in 1999—but the book, even as large as it is, contains only a portion of the papers presented.

Recent Progress in Antarctic Earth Science Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, held at National Women's Education Centre, Ranzan, Saitama, Japan, September 9–13, 1991. Edited by Y. Yoshida, K. Kaminuma & K. Shiraishi Terra Scientific Publishing Company, Tokyo (1992). 796 pages. $299.00 ISBN 4 88704 109 8.

Recent Progress in Antarctic Earth Science Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, held at National Women's Education Centre, Ranzan, Saitama, Japan, September 9–13, 1991. Edited by Y. Yoshida, K. Kaminuma & K. Shiraishi Terra Scientific Publishing Company, Tokyo (1992). 796 pages. $299.00 ISBN 4 88704 109 8. - Volume 7 Issue 2

The future of scientific drilling in Antarctic waters

Over the past twenty years, nine legs of the Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP) and its predecessor the Deep Sea Drilling Project have been conducted at high southern latitudes (>45°S). Only four have taken place near the margins of the Antarctic continent (>60°S), the last off the Amery Ice Shelf in 1988. At present, JOIDES Resolution is drilling on the Chile Rise-Chile Trench triple junction (46°S), but she will return to lower latitudes at the end of this leg (#141). The Planning Committee of ODP has already approved a schedule that precludes a return to the Antarctic prior to the 1994–95 austral summer at the earliest. Few proposals for Antarctic drilling have even been submitted in recent years; none has received high ranking. This should be a matter of considerable concern to the Antarctic earth sciences community. The JOIDES Resolution is an international asset with a unique sampling capability but the lifetime of the ODP may not extend beyond 1998.

6th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, Ranzan-machi, Japan, 9–13 September 1991

6th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, Ranzan-machi, Japan, 9–13 September 1991

Fourth international symposium on Antarctic earth sciences Adelaide, South Australia, 16–20 August 1982

Fourth international symposium on Antarctic earth sciences Adelaide, South Australia, 16–20 August 1982

Cenozoic Glacial and Tectonic History of the Transantarctic Mountains in the McMurdo Sound Region: Recent Progress from Drilling and Related Studies

Two of the outstanding problems in Antarctic earth sciences are the early history of the East Antarctic ice sheet, and the history of the Transantarctic Mountains. These two problems may well be linked, for if the initial uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains was sufficient to promote a permanent ice cap, this may have triggered formation of the East Antarctic ice sheet in the manner oudined by Drewry (1975, p 266). Glomar Challenger in 1973 made the first major breakthrough concerning early history of the ice sheet by recovering cores from the centre of the Ross Sea; they show that ice rafting began there 25 Ma BP and has been going on ever since (Hayes and others, 1975). However, the core data give little indication of the extent of ice cover, or of the climatic changes that led to expanded ice cover which produced the ice-rafted debris.