Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T14:57:33.560Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Record of Late Miocene glacial deposits on Isla Marambio (Seymour Island), Antarctic Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2009

Sergio A. Marenssi ,
Silvio Casadío  and
Sergio N. Santillana
Sergio A. Marenssi*
Affiliation:
Instituto Antártico Argentino, Universidad de Buenos Aires & CONICET, Cerrito 1248, Buenos Aires (1010), Argentina
Silvio Casadío
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa & CONICET, Uruguay 151, Santa Rosa (6300), La Pampa, Argentina
Sergio N. Santillana
Affiliation:
Instituto Antártico Argentino & Universidad de Buenos Aires, Cerrito 1248, Buenos Aires (1010), Argentina
*
*smarenssi@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We report and describe two new small diamictite outcrops on Isla Marambio (Seymour Island), Antarctic Peninsula. These rocks rest on an erosional unconformity on top of the Eocene La Meseta Formation and are unconformably covered by glaciomarine rocks of the ?Pliocene–Pleistocene Weddell Sea Formation. The lithology, fossil content and isotopic ages obtained strongly suggest that the rocks belong to the Hobbs Glacier Formation and support a Late Miocene age for this unit. Additionally, the dated basalt clast provides the oldest age (12.4 Ma) for the James Ross Island Volcanic Group recorded up to now. The here described diamictite cannot be confidently correlated with a glaciomarine unit previously assigned to the Late Eocene–Lower Oligocene taken as proof that initial expansion of ice on Antarctica encompassed the entire continent synchronously in the earliest Oligocene. However, it is now evident that there are likely to be more, short but important, stratigraphic sequences of key regional and Antarctic wide interest preserved on the plateau of Isla Marambio.

Keywords

Antarcticadiamictite outcropsglaciationisotopic ages
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 193 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, P.J., ed. 1989. Antarctic Cenozoic history from the CIROS-1 Drillhole, McMurdo Sound. Wellington: New Zealand DSIR Bulletin. No. 245, 251 pp.Google Scholar
Barrett, P.J. 1996. Antarctic palaeoenvironment through Cenozoic times - a review. Terra Antarctica, 3, 103–119.Google Scholar
Barrett, P.J., Hambrey, M.J., Harwood, D.M., Pyne, A.R.Webb, P.-N. 1989. Synthesis. In Barrett, P.J., ed. Antarctic Cenozoic history from the CIROS-1 drillhole, McMurdo Sound. Wellington: New Zealand DSIR Bulletin. No. 245, 241–251.Google Scholar
Cacabelos, E., Quintas, P.Troncoso, J.S. 2008. Spatial distribution of soft-bottom molluscs in the Ensenada de San Simón (NW Spain). American Malacological Bulletin, 25, 9–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Concheyro, A., Salani, F.M., Adamonis, S.Lirio, J.M. 2007. Los depósitos diamictíticos cenozoicos de la cuenca James Ross, Antártida: una síntesis estratigráfica y nuevos hallazgos paleontológicos. Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, 62, 568–585.Google Scholar
DeConto, R.M.Pollard, D. 2003. Rapid Cenozoic glaciation of Antarctica triggered by declining atmospheric CO2. Nature, 421, 245–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dingle, R.V.Lavelle, M. 1998. Antarctic Peninsular cryosphere: Early Oligocene (c. 30 Ma) initiation and a revised glacial chronology. Journal of the Geological Society, 55, 433–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dingle, R.V., Marenssi, S.A.Lavelle, M. 1998. High latitude Eocene climate deterioration: evidence from the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 11, 571–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutton, A.L., Lohmann, K.C.Zinsmeister, W.J. 2002. Stable isotope and minor element proxies for Eocene climate of Seymour Island, Antarctica. Paleoceanography, 17, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliot, D.H.Trautman, T.A. 1982. Lower Tertiary strata on Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. In Craddock, C., ed. Antarctic geosciences. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 287–297.Google Scholar
Gaździcki, A.J., Gruszczynski, M., Hofan, A., Malkowski, K., Marenssi, S.A., Halas, S.Tatur, A. 1992. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope record in the Paleogene La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 4, 461–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hambrey, M.J.Smellie, J.L. 2006. Distribution, lithofacies and environmental context of Neogene glacial sequences on James Ross and vega islands, Antarctic Peninsula. In Francis. J.E., Pirrie, D. & Crame,A.,eds. Cretaceous–Tertiary high-latitude palaeoenvironments, James Ross Basin, Antarctica. Geological Society of London, Special Publications, 258, 187–200.Google Scholar
Hambrey, M.J., Ehrmann, W.U.Larsen, B. 1991. The Cenozoic glacial record from the Prydz Bay continental shelf, East Antarctica. In Barron, J., Larsen, B. & Shipboard Scientific Party.Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, 119, 77–132.Google Scholar
Hambrey, M.J., Smellie, J.L., Nelson, A.E.Johnson, J.S. 2008. Late Cenozoic glacier-volcano interaction on James Ross Island and adjacent areas, Antarctic Peninsula region. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 120, 709–731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hannah, M.J. 2006. The palynology of ODP site 1165, Prydz Bay, East Antarctica: a record of Miocene glacial advance and retreat. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 231, 120–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivany, L.C., Van Simaeys, S., Domack, E.W.Samson, S.D. 2006. Evidence for an earliest Oligocene ice sheet on the Antarctic Peninsula. Geology, 34, 377–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jonkers, H.A. 1998. The Cockburn Island Formation; Late Pliocene interglacial sedimentation in the James Ross Basin, northern Antarctic Peninsula. Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 36, 63–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jonkers, H.A., Lirio, J.M., Del Valle, R.A.Kelley, S.P. 2002. Age and environment of Miocene–Pliocene glaciomarine deposits, James Ross Island, Antarctica. Geological Magazine, 139, 577–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauffman, E.G. 1969. Form, function, and evolution. In Moore, R.C. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Mollusca, part 1. Lwrence, KA: University of Kansas Press and Geological Society of America, 129–205.Google Scholar
Kristjánsson, L., Magnús, T., Gudmundsson, J., Smellie, J., Mcintosh, W.C.Esser, R. 2005. Palaeomagnetic, 40Ar/39Ar, and stratigraphical correlation of Miocene–Pliocene basalts in the Brandy Bay area, James Ross Island, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 17, 409–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lirio, J.M., Nuñez, H.J., Bertels Psotka, A.Del Valle, R.A. 2003. Diamictos fosilíferos (Mioceno–Pleistoceno): formaciones Belén, Gage y Terrapin en la isla James Ross, Antártida. Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, 58, 298–310.Google Scholar
Livermore, R., Eagles, G., Morris, P.Maldonado, A. 2004. Shackleton Fracture Zone: no barrier to early circumpolar ocean circulation. Geology, 32, 797–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
López-Jamar, E.Parra, S. 1997. Distribución y ecología de Thyasira flexuosa (Montagu, 1803) (Bivalvia, Lucinacea) en las rías de Galicia. Publicación Especial Instituto Español de Oceanografía, 23, 187–197.Google Scholar
Marenssi, S.A., Net, L.I.Santillana, S.N. 2002. Provenance, environmental and paleogeographic controls on sandstone composition in an incised-valley system: the Eocene La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica. Sedimentary Geology, 150, 301–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marenssi, S.A., Santillana, S.N.Rinaldi, C.A. 1998. Stratigraphy of the La Meseta Formation (Eocene), Marambio (Seymour) Island, Antarctica. Asociación Paleontológica Argentina, Publicación Especial, 5, 137–146.Google Scholar
McArthur, J.M., Howarth, R.J.Bailey, T.R. 2001. Strontium isotope stratigraphy: LOWESS Version 3: Best fit to the marine Sr-isotope curve for 0–509 Ma and accompanying look-up table for deriving numerical age. The Journal of Geology, 109, 155–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfuhl, H.A.McCave, I.N. 2005. Evidence for late Oligocene establishment of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 235, 715–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pirrie, D., Crame, J.A., Riding, J.B., Butcher, A.R.Taylor, P.D. 1997. Miocene glaciomarine sedimentation in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region: the stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Hobbs Glacier Formation, James Ross Island. Geological Magazine, 136, 745–762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porębski, S.J. 1995. Facies architecture in a tectonicallycontrolled incised-valley estuary: La Meseta Formation (Eocene) of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Studia Geologica Polonica, 107, 7–97.Google Scholar
Sadler, P. 1988. Geometry and stratification of uppermost Cretaceous and Paleogene units on Seymour Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula. In Feldmann, R.M. & Woodburne, M.O., eds. Geology and paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Memoir of the Geological Society of America, No. 169, 303–320.Google Scholar
Smellie, J.L., Mcarthur, J.M., Mcintosh, W.C.Esser, R. 2006. Late Neogene interglacial events in the James Ross Island region, northern Antarctic Peninsula, dated by Ar/Ar and Sr-isotope stratigraphy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 242, 169–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smellie, J.L., Johnson, J.S., Mcintosh, W.C., Esser, R., Gudmunsson, M.T., Hambrey, M.J.Van Wyk De Vries, B. 2008. Six million years of glacial history recorded in volcanic lithofacies of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group, Antarctic Peninsula. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 260, 122–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sykes, M.A. 1988. New K–Ar age determinations on the James Ross Island Group, north-east Graham Land, Antarctica. British Antarctic Survey Bulletin, No 80, 51–56.Google Scholar
Troedson, A.L.Smellie, J.L. 2002. The Polonez Cove Formation of King George Island, Antarctica: stratigraphy, facies and implications for mid-Cenozoic cryosphere development. Sedimentology, 49, 277–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zachos, J.C., Stott, L.D.Lohmann, K.C. 1994. Evolution of early Cenozoic marine temperatures. Paleoceanography, 9, 353–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zachos, J.C., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E.Billups, K. 2001. Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science, 292, 686–693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zinsmeister, W.J.De Vries, T.J. 1983. Quaternary glacial marine deposits on Seymour Island. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 18, 64–65.Google Scholar