Tectonic, Climatic, and Cryospheric Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Special Publications Series.

Tectonic, Climatic, and Cryospheric Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula presents the analysis of data collected during the SHALDRIL program, which sampled the most complete Cenozoic stratigraphic section in the Antarctic Peninsula. The stratigraphic intervals sampled fill major gaps in the existing stratigraphic record in the region, which is believed to have been the last place in Antarctica to become fully glaciated and, as such, the last refugium for plants and animals living on the continent. Providing previously unpublished results from studies aimed at improving our understanding of the changes in climate, glacial setting, and fauna and flora that took place over the past 30 million years, the volume highlights include discussions of marine seismic and drill core records documenting the initial growth and expansion of an ice sheet across the northernmost Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf in the northwestern Weddell Sea.

The book features:

• Detailed vegetation and phytoplankton evolution from greenhouse through icehouse conditions in Antarctica's last refugium
• Sand grain texture and micromorphology indicating ice sheet control of weathering style
• Exhumational history around the Drake Passage margins from thermochronology and sediment provenance
• Comprehensive review of the opening of the ocean passageway between Antarctica and South America and the associated regional tectonics.

Tectonic, Climatic, and Cryospheric Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula will be of interest to geologists, climatologists, and glaciologists interested in climate and cryosphere evolution and those factors that regulate it.