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Paleoenvironmental Evolution of On-Shore Ice-Free Areas Around Maxwell Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Islands

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Paleoenvironmental Evolution of On-Shore Ice-Free Areas Around Maxwell Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Islands PALEOENVIRONMENTAL EVOLUTION OF ON-SHORE ICE-FREE AREAS AROUND MAXWELL BAY, KING GEORGE ISLAND, SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS Dissertation Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften Dr. rer. nat. am Fachbereich FB05-Geowissenschaften der Universität Bremen vorgelegt von Geol. Pablo Alfredo Heredia Barión geb. In Córdoba, Argentinien Tag der wissenschaftlichen Aussprache: 7. Juni 2019 Bremen 2019 Erstgutachterin: Professor Dr. Cornelia Spiegel Zweitgutachter: Professor Dr. Martin Melles Neji: "¿Porqué tener una batalla inútil tratando de desafiar a tu destino?" Naruto: "por que me has llamado fracasado...probare que estas equivocado" -Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto- ii This Ph. D. thesis was conducted at the Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (Research Center on Earth Sciences; CICTERRA), Córdoba, Argentina, an institute that belongs to CONICET- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (National Scientific and Technical Research Council) and the UNC-Universidad Nacional de Cordoba (National University of Cordoba), between April 2013 and January 2017; and the Geosciences Division of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany, until its completion. It was carried out in collaboration with the Working Group Geodynamics of the Polar Regions, led by Prof. Dr. Cornelia Spiegel, Bremen University, Department of Geosciences. This work was financially supported by CONICET, the DNA/IAA in the framework of the Project PICTA, 2011 – 0102, IAA “Geomorfología y Geología Glaciar del Archipiélago James Ross e Islas Shetland del Sur, Sector Norte de la Península Antártica”, the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research PACES II (Polar Regions and Coasts in the changing Earth System), as well as by IMCONet (FP7 IRSES, Action no. 318718). iii Versicherung an Eides Statt / Affirmation in lieu of an oath gem. § 5 Abs. 5 der Promotionsordnung vom 18.06.2018 / according to § 5 (5) of the Doctoral Degree Rules and Regulations of 18 June, 2018 Ich / I, Pablo Alfredo Heredia Barión, Neuelandstraße 72, 27576 Bremerhaven versichere an Eides Statt durch meine Unterschrift, dass ich die vorliegende Dissertation selbständig und ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt und alle Stellen, die ich wörtlich dem Sinne nach aus Veröffentlichungen entnommen habe, als solche kenntlich gemacht habe, mich auch keiner anderen als der angegebenen Literatur oder sonstiger Hilfsmittel bedient habe und die zu Prüfungszwecken beigelegte elektronische Version (PDF) der Dissertation mit der abgegebenen gedruckten Version identisch ist. / With my signature I affirm in lieu of an oath that I prepared the submitted dissertation independently and without illicit assistance from third parties, that I appropriately referenced any text or content from other sources, that I used only literature and resources listed in the dissertation, and that the electronic (PDF) and printed versions of the dissertation are identical. Ich versichere an Eides Statt, dass ich die vorgenannten Angaben nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen gemacht habe und dass die Angaben der Wahrheit entsprechen und ich nichts verschwiegen habe. / I affirm in lieu of an oath that the information provided herein to the best of my knowledge is true and complete. Die Strafbarkeit einer falschen eidesstattlichen Versicherung ist mir bekannt, namentlich die Strafandrohung gemäß § 156 StGB bis zu drei Jahren Freiheitsstrafe oder Geldstrafe bei vorsätzlicher Begehung der Tat bzw. gemäß § 161 Abs. 1 StGB bis zu einem Jahr Freiheitsstrafe oder Geldstrafe bei fahrlässiger Begehung. / I am aware that a false affidavit is a criminal offence which is punishable by law in accordance with § 156 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) with up to three years imprisonment or a fine in case of intention, or in accordance with § 161 (1) of the German Criminal Code with up to one year imprisonment or a fine in case of negligence. __________________________ ___________________________ Ort / Place, Datum / Date Unterschrift / Signature iv ABSTRACT Understanding the Holocene is particularly important for providing the context for recent ice sheet dynamics –i.e. understanding whether current ice sheet dynamics are unusual or part of Holocene natural variability (Bentley et al., 2014). Knowledge on the most recent millennia of Antarctic Ice Sheet history is vital for evaluating the response of the ice sheet to various forcing agents, such as sea-level rise, atmospheric and oceanographic temperature changes, and for constraining grounding-line retreat on Holocene to recent time scales (Bentley et al., 2014). The main objective of this thesis is to add new data to reconstruct the Holocene deglaciation history of King George Island, South Shetland Islands, northwest Antarctic Peninsula, by investigating morpho-sedimentary records of glacigenic and coastal landforms and associated sediments from the on-shore ice-free areas around Maxwell Bay (King George Island), namely Potter Peninsula and Fildes Peninsulas. In order to accomplish the thesis objectives, I used (i) cosmogenic exposure dating and radiocarbon dating for absolute chronological constraints; (ii) stratigraphy and sedimentology for relative chronological constraints and reconstruction of paleoenvironmental conditions; (iii) geomorphological mapping for spatial distribution of landsystems; (iv) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) investigations for the study of internal sedimentary architecture of coastal landforms. Radiocarbon dating results yield new age constraints for the onset of deglaciation on Potter Peninsula, which occurred around at or before 7.8 ka cal BP instead of an earlier accepted age of 9.5 ka cal BP. I provide additional evidence for a short-lived glacier re-advance between 7.2 and 7.0 ka cal BP. This re-advance is likely linked to a glacier re-advance or still-stand documented on South Shetland Islands for that time period. Nevertheless, climatic conditions associated with this glacial re-advance remain unclear. In contrast, on Fildes Peninsula, exposure and radiocarbon dating indicate that glacial oscillations were minimal during the last 7 ka. I applied radiocarbon dating to remnants of mosses preserved in moraines. The moraines were formed close to the present glacier limit between 0.5 and 0.1 ka cal BP, during the last glacier re-advance in South Shetland Islands. This advance is linked to reductions in summer/annual insolation coupled with a shift to more intense Southern Hemisphere westerly winds in the Southern Ocean. Stronger, and possibly more poleward-shifted southern westerly winds produced more precipitation-laden storm fronts passing over the South Shetland Islands and thus, increased ice accumulation. The data also show that between 1.9 and 1.3 ka cal BP a climatic optimum was reached on Fildes and Potter Peninsula, which lasted until the last glacier readvance. GPR investigations and radiocarbon dating from a gravel spit system on Potter Peninsula document coastal progradation during the late phase of the last glacier re-advance, with a stable relative sea-level. Results also show an interruption of spit progradation that coincides with a proposed onset of accelerated isostatic rebound in reaction to glacier retreat subsequent to the last glacier re-advance. Spit growth resumed in the late 19th century after the rate of isostatic rebound decreased, and continues until today. The findings of this thesis support both, glacio-isostatic adjustment (GIA) models that show limited and those which show more pronounced ice-load changes on the South Shetland Islands during the late Holocene, suggesting that some GIA model parameters for the South Shetland Islands (e.g., v lithospheric thickness, mantle viscosity) need to be better constrained. Furthermore, my findings have implications for regional paleoclimatic reconstructions and on ice sheet modeling for the Holocene of the northwest Antarctic Peninsula region. vi ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Das Verständnis über das Holozän ist besonders wichtig, um die gegenwärtige Eisschilddynamik in den richtigen Kontext setzen zu können. So ist z.B. zu klären ob die derzeitige Eisschilddynamik ungewöhnlich ist oder eher als Teil der Holozänen klimatische Schwankungen zu sehen ist (Bentley et al., 2014). Kenntnis über die Entwicklung der antarktischen Eisschilde im letzten Jahrtausend ist dabei sehr wichtig, um das Verhalten dieser Eisschilde gegenüber verschiedenen Faktoren wie z.B. Meerespiegelanstieg, atmosphärische und Schwankungen von Atmosphären und Wassertemperatur abzuschätzen, und um den Rückzug der Aufsetzlinie über Holozäne und rezente Zeitskalen zu bestimmen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, neue Daten zur Rekonstruktion der Holozänen Gletscherrückzugsgeschichte auf King George Island, den südlichen Shetland Inseln und der nordwestlichen Antarktischen Halbinsel zu gewinnen. Die Rekonstruktion basiert auf morpho- sedimentären Studien von glazigene und küstennahe Landschaftsformen und ihrer assoziierten Sedimenten der eisfreien Landgebiete in der Maxwell Bay (King George Island), namentlich der Potter und Fildes Halbinsel. Um die Ziele dieser Arbeit zu erreichen, habe ich folgende Methoden benutzt: (i) kosmogene Expositionsdatierungen und Datierungen mit der Radiokarbon Methode für eine absolute zeitliche Einordnung, (ii) stratigraphische und sedimentologische Methoden für relative Altersabschätzungen und für die Rekonstruktion der paläo-Umweltbedingungen, (iii) Kartieren mit geomorphologischem Schwerpunkt
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