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The stratigraphy of the Pliocene-lower Pleistocene Bardin Bluffs Formation, Amery Oasis, northern Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 16:02 authored by Whitehead, JM, McKelvey, BC
In the Amery Oasis of the northern Prince Charles Mountains, the glaciomarine Bardin Bluffs Formation of the Pagodroma Group was deposited between the Late Pliocene (< 3.1 Ma) and Early Pleistocene (> 1 Ma). The formation provides evidence of (i) a reduced East Antarctic ice sheet compared to that of the present day and (ii) a subsequent Plio-Pleistocene ice sheet expansion. The formation consists of two members. The older, basal Member 1 is c. 12.5 m thick and consists of relatively ice-distal silty, sandy and sparsely fossiliferous fjordal strata. Member 1 reflects largely ice-free marine sedimentation c. 250 km inland from the current Amery Ice Shelf edge. The member is restricted to the area about the north-eastern end of Pagodroma Gorge where it infills a chemically weathered erosion surface, cut in the form of a valley on the Permo-Triassic Amery Group. Weathering occurred during aerial exposure of the Amery Oasis in a warmer climate than that of today. The younger Member 2 exceeds 40 m in thickness and is made up of coarse ice proximal glaciomarine diamicts. It overlies disconformably Member 1 at Pagodroma Gorge. Elsewhere, Member 2 rests directly upon a smoothed and striated erosion surface, cut on the Amery Group, which was part of a fjord floor. This erosional surface and the facies contrast between the two members, indicates an East Antarctic Ice Sheet expansion and Lambert Glacier grounding-line advance.

History

Publication title

Antarctic Science

Volume

13

Pagination

79-86

ISSN

0954-1020

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

British Antarctic Survey

Place of publication

UK

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Climate variability (excl. social impacts)

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