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Section Contents
Confirmed Plenary SpeakersPeter Barrett (Victoria University Wellington) Mike Bentley (University of Durham) Alan Cooper (US Geological Survey) Ian Dalziel (University of Texas) Carlota Escutia (IACT, CISC-Univ. de Granada) Helen Fricker (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) Ian Jackson (British Geological Survey) Chuck Kennicutt (Texas A&M; University) Ross MacPhee (American Museum of Natural History) Tim Naish (Victoria University Wellington) Bryan Storey (University of Canterbury) Slawek Tulaczyk (University of California) Jemma Wadham (University of Bristol) Terry Wilson (Ohio State University) Duncan Young (University of Texas) Sessions
PS1. Neogene Climate Evolution and Ice Sheet Response, an Antarctic margin perspectiveRichard Levy and Allan Ashworth Major fluctuations in Earth’s climate have occurred over the past 23 million years including significant cooling events and periods of peak warmth that offer historical analogues for projected future warming. Response of the Antarctic cryosphere to these perturbations in global climate is revealed in stratigraphic data from boreholes around the Antarctic margin and outcrop from ice-free regions inland. This session includes new results from: (1) drilling by the Antarctic Geological Drilling Program (ANDRILL), Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, and Shaldril; (2) studies of terrestrial outcrop and landforms in the Transantarctic Mountains; and (3) latest generation numerical climate and ice sheet models. PS2. Antarctica and Supercontinent EvolutionSimon Harley Supercontinents have played a major role in the stabilisation of continental crust throughout the evolution of the Earth. With its diverse basement and complex amalgamation history, the East Antarctic Shield is key to understanding the formation of Gondwana, Rodinia and Nuna. The spectacular sedimentary sequences of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains bear witness to the long-term evolution of Gondwana, whilst the Ferrar large igneous province provides critical evidence relating plumes and supercontinent fragmentation. This session highlights the geological records of East Antarctica that further our understanding of the position and role of Antarctica in past supercontinents, and the processes influencing supercontinent evolution. PS3. Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Southern OceanEric Wolff The Antarctic ice sheet is controlled by the atmosphere and ocean above, below and around it. In turn it has a major influence on sea level, ocean processes and climate. In this session, there will be contributions on the stability of the ice sheet, including its interactions with the ocean, and its history as recorded in marine sediments. Features and properties of the Southern Ocean, including aspects that are influenced by both land ice and sea ice, will also be discussed. The session will range from the Pliocene through to modern observations and processes and the risk of future change. PS4. The Scotia Sea: volcanic and tectonic processes and their evolutionary consequences for marine biotaPhilip Leat, Katrin Linse and Jennifer Jackson Few parts of the World’s oceans provide as rich a mix of fascinating geological and biological phenomena in so small area as the Scotia Sea. Tectonic opening of the Drake Passage was important globally and controlled changes in ocean currents, climate and biological dispersal. Phylogentic research is providing new insights into the evolutionary history of this area. The continental margins and volcanic seamounts and islands of the Scotia Sea probably represent the highest geohazard risk in the Southern Ocean. The area has been volcanically active since Early Cenozoic times, and hydrothermal vents in the arc system indicate unique faunas. PS5. Role of Mesozoic and Cenozoic magmatism in the evolution of AntarcticaPhilip Kyle and John Smellie Magmatism and associated volcanic eruptions have played an important role in the development of Antarctica. Of special interest is the widespread tholeiitic magmatism during the Jurassic and its role in the initial fragmentation of Gondwana and Cenozoic volcanism associated with rifting in West Antarctica. There is also a rich record of volcanism preserved in ice cores as tephra and acid layers and volcanoes interacting with and preserving physical parameters of Cenozoic ice sheets. PS6. Circum-Antarctic Stratigraphic and Paleobathymetric ReconstructionsKarsten Gohl, German Leitchenkov and Stuart Henrys Antarctica and its margins hold a remarkably wide range of archives recording past climate and tectonic events. To understand the feedbacks in this system the community needs to close the gap between regional seismic mapping, paleoenvironmental studies, and tectonic and sedimentary evolution. Existing and new regional stratigraphic projects are to be integrated into a unified circum-Antarctic stratigraphic and paleobathymetric grid series. Such a grid series sets boundary conditions for ocean circulation models, opening of ocean gateways, reconstruction of the Antarctic landscape, and global climate models using seismic reflection data and rock sample information as well as up-to-date plate-tectonic reconstructions. PS7. Antarctic Climate Variability during the HoloceneRaja Ganeshram, Hans Renssen, Xavier Crosta, Barbara Stenni Current Antarctic climate change trends show strong regional variability. Investigations of atmospheric temperature and circulation have revealed large warming over the Antarctic Peninsula over the last 50 years, while no clear trends were observed for the other Antarctic regions. It is suspected that they are responses to anthropogenic global change involving changes in large-scale coupled ocean-atmospheric circulation. The proposed session will gather together the scientific communities working with ice cores, marine sediment cores, lake sediment cores and climate/ice sheet models to understand the processes linking different components of the climate system and the external climate forcings over the Holocene. PS8. Antarctic permafrost, periglacial and ice-free areasMike Hambrey, David Sugden, Mauro Guglielmin and Gonalo Vieira This session focuses on the frost-related processes that are taking place in the ice-free areas of Antarctica. Despite representing only 2% of the land surface of the continent, these ice-free areas provide insight into the conditions that prevailed in the past adjacent to the great northern hemisphere ice sheets. These environments are commonly very old, and are represented typically by arid deserts, where wind is a major agent of erosion and deposition, and where saline lakes form. The papers in this session report on the processes occurring in several cold arid areas of Antarctica, such as Schirmacher Oasis and the Dry Valleys, as well as more temperate regions in lower latitude maritime areas in the Antarctic peninsula region. PS9. Antarctic subglacial lakes and continental-scale basal hydrologyNeil Ross, Mike Bentley and Slawek Tulaczyk Antarctic subglacial lakes are believed to be: (i) important biological habitats; (ii) recorders of ice sheet history; and (iii) important influences on ice sheet dynamics. Three major programmes (Lakes Vostok, Whillans and Ellsworth) anticipate direct lake exploration within the next 2-3 years. Parallel to this phase of planning, remote sensing and geophysical studies have characterised the complexity, interconnectedness and potential impacts on ice sheet dynamics of subglacial hydrological systems. This session will cover: (i) geological controls on subglacial lakes; (ii) plans and preparations for subglacial lake exploration; and (iii) interactions between Antarctic subglacial hydrological systems and the overlying ice sheet. PS10. Antarctic data, collections and mapsAlex Tate Geoscientific knowledge is underpinned by environmental observations and measurements and Antarctic’s logistically challenging setting makes these data all the more valuable. This diverse session will explore how different nations are collecting, archiving and distributing large and increasingly complex digital datasets. We will highlight how wider access to data has produced new scientific results and we will promote the re-use of physical collections held around the world. Finally, the session will unveil a number of new bathymetric compilations and geological maps while looking to the future of digital mapping techniques. PS11. Tectonic evolution of Antarctic seaways and margins during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic and its influence on biota and climateMichael Curtis and Ian Dalziel The Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of circum Antarctic seaways, as well as its margins, are linked to global and local climate changes as well as the generation of biodiversity hotspots. Session one will concentrate on the tectonic evolution of the Scotia Sea, it's peripheral islands and the Weddell Sea, with session two examining the tectonic evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula and geological links with South America. PS12. Glacial geology: processes and products, with particular emphasis on cold-based glaciersCliff Atkins and Warren Dickinson This session focuses on glacial processes and products in polar regions. It includes new insights into subglacial processes, including erosion, deformation of basal ice, sediment transfer, deposition and resultant sediments and landforms. Examples from both marine and terrestrial environments on a wide range of scales are offered and include discussion on glacier thermal regime. Particular attention is given to processes and products associated with cold based glaciers (including a key note presentation by Sean Fitzsimons, University of Otago) and the important implications for interpreting buried ice and permafrost, cosmogenic exposure ages, landscape development and glacial history. PS13. New Insights into the Cenozoic History of the Wilkes Land Antarctic Margin - Consequences for Biotic, Oceanographic and Climatic EvolutionCarlota Escutia, Henk Brinkhuis, Robert Dunbar and Adam Klaus Antarctica has been glaciated since the early Oligocene. Over the past 34 Ma its ice sheets have fluctuated in size, responding to, and influencing global climatic conditions. Antarctic glacial variability has contributed to changing sea levels, paleoceanographic conditions, and biological evolution, among other processes. The extent and timing of fluctuations in Antarctic ice volume are still poorly known. In 2010 an Integrated Ocean Drilling (IODP) Expedition to the Antarctic Wilkes land margin drilled long sedimentary sequences that cover critical periods in the development of Earth’s climate extending from the Greenhouse to Icehouse transition to the Holocene following the last deglaciation. PS14. New frontiers and interdisciplinary advances in Antarctic ScienceColm O Cofaigh Technological developments over the last decade have driven major advances in our understanding of the Antarctic continent and surrounding oceans. These have included the use of improved satellite remote sensing to obtain information on ice sheet flow and geodynamics over short temporal scales and the use of remotely operated vehicles to investigate seabed properties and oceanographic processes. Much of this research is inter-disciplinary in its very nature and this has led to significant advances across a range of disciplines. This session focuses on such interdisciplinary research and includes new and emerging research frontiers and technologies in Antarctic science. PS15. Observation and modelling of Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET) dataMatt King This session focuses on observing and modelling 1) the solid Earth response to Antarctic deglaciation since Last Glacial Maximum and 2) Earth structure beneath the continent. Inspired by the International Polar Year (2007-9), dozens of new continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) and seismic stations have been deployed across Antarctica and Greenland. This session will include first results from the Antarctic POLENET deployments, including the most detailed maps ever of Antarctica’s crustal uplift and seismic imaging of Earth’s interior beneath Antarctica. PS16. Geological controls on modern and past Antarctic bottom water and marine environmentLaura De Santis and Philip O’Brien The continental shelf-to-slope processes and boundary conditions relating to Antarctic Bottom Water production are still poorly known.Our current understanding is inferred from limited observations and simplified theoretical modelling. This session seeks to combine geomorphology, physical oceanography, biological data collected in areas of dense water formation and downslope flow in canyoned margins around Antarctica to better constrain global Southern Ocean circulation in modern and past times, off-shelf sediment and carbon export and the full extent of downslope water current impacts on the deep ecosystem. Examples from the Ross Sea, Weddell Sea and Amundsen Sea and the Wilkes Land margin are presented. PS17. Unravelling the geologic, climatic and topographic evolution of AntarcticaStewart Jamieson and Kathy Licht This session will discuss how evidence of landscape evolution processes ranging from glacial erosion and deposition processes to plate tectonics is used to unravel the past geologic and climatic history of Antarctica. Techniques discussed will include computer modelling, geochemistry of offshore sediments and geomorphological mapping and surveying and how these are used to link evidence from the interior, coast and offshore regions of Antarctica. Highlights include new reconstructions and visualisations of past topography and evidence establishing the crucial link between material deposited on the sea floor and the geological history of its original source region hidden under the ice. PS18. Uncovering and Unveiling AntarcticaFausto Ferraccioli, Carol Finn and Alan Vaughan Although Antarctica is 1/9 of the Earth's continental area, the age, structure and history of much of its lithosphere are unknown. However, new and fundamental insights are coming from scientific methodologies that peer beneath the ice, including satellite and airborne geophysics, seismology and altimetry, and detrital mineral studies. These are unveiling geophysical provinces and their ties to geology at a variety of scales, and crustal and lithospheric thickness that help constrain the tectonic history of East Antarctica. They are also answering questions of the topographic and geological control on the evolution and earliest history of the Antarctic ice sheets. PS19. Ice Sheet Quaternary HistoryJames Smith, Jo Johnson, Eugene Domack, Chris Fogwill, Claus‐Dieter Hillenbrand, Dominic Hodgson and Andrew Mackintosh Recent satellite measurements of Antarctic ice sheets highlight a variety of processes operating at rates far higher than expected. The challenge for palaeoclimate research is to place these observations into a longer-term context and produce models that reliably predict the future stability of ice sheets and the magnitude of associated sea-level change. The Quaternary period provides the most detailed records for testing the quality of such models, but the wide range of records and chronological techniques are not always well-integrated. This session draws together marine and terrestrial archives of extent, thickness and retreat of the Antarctic ice sheets during the Quaternary. PS20. Origin and evolution of Antarctic biotaPete Convey, Alistair Crame, Claus‐Dieter Hillenbrand and Dominic Hodgson The evolutionary origin and dispersal of the modern Antarctic flora and fauna and their survival strategies during ice ages hold important clues for deciphering the environmental changes that affected Antarctica and the Southern Ocean over the last 100 Ma. Conversely, reconstructions of ice sheet dynamics from geoscientific data and numerical models help to understand how the present community structure of Antarctica’s marine and terrestrial life has evolved. In this interdisciplinary session, earth and life scientists, including keynote speakers Allan Ashworth (palaeontology), Robert DeConto (ice-sheet modelling) and Andrew Clarke (marine biology), will address open questions in Antarctica’s climatic and biological history. PS21. Austral PortalsRoss MacPhee and David Barbeau This session examines the multiple geological and biological ramifications of the disruption of Gondwana, with emphasis on events centered in the later Mesozoic and early Cenozoic history of Antarctica (e.g., final disruption of land connections with Australia, South America, and India; opening of Drake Passage & Tasman Gateway). By thus bringing together a variety of specialists—geologists, biogeographers, paleontologists, neontologists, and others—with an interest in unraveling breakup history and its influence on Antarctic landscape, climate, and biota, we intend to go beyond the limitations of individual disciplines and overcome the isolation produced by hyperspecialization. PS22. Evolution of life, environments and climates in Antarctica from deep time to the presentJane Francis This session will help paint a picture of Antarctica's evolving life, climates and landscapes over time. Talks and posters will cover the evolution of Antarctic environments and climates from the Precambrian to Holocene, ranging from Antarctica's role in snowball Earth, Devonian deserts, Triassic vertebrates, Cretaceous seaways, Paleogene plants, Pliocene interglacials and fossil penguins. Many more interesting creatures and rocks reveal the signals they contain about the climates and landscapes in which they once lived. |