Tectonic, Climatic, and Cryospheric Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula / Special Publications (PDF)

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previously unpublished results from studies aimed at improving our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.