[{"awards": "1543367 Shubin, Neil", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((158.3 -77.5,158.54000000000002 -77.5,158.78 -77.5,159.02 -77.5,159.26 -77.5,159.5 -77.5,159.74 -77.5,159.98 -77.5,160.22 -77.5,160.45999999999998 -77.5,160.7 -77.5,160.7 -77.605,160.7 -77.71,160.7 -77.815,160.7 -77.92,160.7 -78.025,160.7 -78.13,160.7 -78.235,160.7 -78.34,160.7 -78.445,160.7 -78.55,160.45999999999998 -78.55,160.22 -78.55,159.98 -78.55,159.74 -78.55,159.5 -78.55,159.26 -78.55,159.02 -78.55,158.78 -78.55,158.54000000000002 -78.55,158.3 -78.55,158.3 -78.445,158.3 -78.34,158.3 -78.235,158.3 -78.13,158.3 -78.025,158.3 -77.92,158.3 -77.815,158.3 -77.71,158.3 -77.605,158.3 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": "Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian); Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian) 2 (2018-2019)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601580", "doi": "10.15784/601580", "keywords": "Acanthodii; Antarctica; Chondrichthyes; Early Vertebrates; Osteolepiformes; Paleontology; Placodermi; Transantarctic Mountains; Vertebrate Evolution", "people": "Daeschler, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601580"}, {"dataset_uid": "601584", "doi": "10.15784/601584", "keywords": "Acanthodii; Antarctica; Chondrichthyes; Early Vertebrates; Osteolepiformes; Paleontology; Placodermi; Transantarctic Mountains; Vertebrate Evolution", "people": "Daeschler, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian) 2 (2018-2019)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601584"}], "date_created": "Fri, 17 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This research will provide new insights into the relationships and history of sharks, fish and limbed animals. Understanding these relationships forms the backbone for both basic and applied science because fish often serve as models of human traits and diseases. Some of the main lines of evidence for these relationships come from fossils in rocks over 380 million years old that were originally deposited as ancient rivers and streams. Because rocks of this type and age are abundantly exposed along a number of the dry valleys and mountains of Antarctica, the investigation of these areas holds exceptional promise for discoveries that can have a broad impact. The fieldwork will involve geological mapping and assessment of the rocks with detailed reconnaissance for the fossils that they may hold. Fossil discoveries form the backbone for public communication of the methods and results of scientific research-- these studies will be used as vehicles for training of students at multiple levels as well as communication of science to the broader non-science citizen base. The discovery, description, and analysis of Middle to Late Devonian (390-355 Million years ago) vertebrates and depositional environments provide important data on the emergence of novel anatomical structures, faunas, and habitats during a critical interval in the history of life and earth. Biological innovation during this time includes the early evolution of freshwater fish, the origins of major groups of vertebrates (e.g., sharks, lobe and ray-finned fish, tetrapods), and the expansion and elaboration of non-marine ecosystems. Accordingly, expanding our knowledge of vertebrate diversity during the Middle and Late Devonian will provide new evidence on the relationships of the major groups of vertebrates, the assembly of novelties that ultimately enabled tetrapods to invade land, the origin and early evolution of sharks and their relatives, and the assembly and expansion of non-marine ecosystems generally. The Aztec Siltstone of Antarctica Middle-Late Devonian; Givetian-Frasnian Stages) has exceptional potential to produce new paleontological evidence of these events and to illuminate the temporal, ecological, and geographic context in which they occurred. It is essentially fossiliferous throughout its known exposure range, something that is rare for Middle-Late Devonian non-marine rocks anywhere in the world. In addition, fine-grained meandering stream deposits are abundantly exposed in the Aztec Siltstone and are recognized as an important locus for the discovery of well-preserved Devonian fish, including stem tetrapods and their relatives. Given the exceedingly fossiliferous nature of the Aztec Siltstone, the large number of taxa known only from partial material, and the amount of promising exposure yet to be worked, a dedicated reconnaissance, collection, and research effort is designed to recover important new fossil material and embed it in a stratigraphic and sedimentological context. The first major objective of this study is the recovery, preparation, and description of Middle-Late Devonian fossil taxa. Ensuing investigation of the phylogenetic affinities, taphonomic occurrence, and stratigraphic position of fossil assemblages will allow both local and global comparisons of biotic diversity. These analyses will inform: 1) higher level phylogenetic hypotheses of jawed vertebrates, 2) biostratigraphic and biogeographic analysis of the distribution of the Middle-Late Devonian fish, and 3) paleobiological investigation of the elaboration of terrestrial and freshwater habitats. The broader impacts are derived from the utility of paleontology and Antarctic expeditionary science as educational tools with powerful narratives. Specific goals include affiliations with local urban secondary schools (using established relationships for broadening participation) and collegiate and graduate training. Wider dissemination of knowledge to the general public is a direct product of ongoing interactions with national and international media (print, television, internet).", "east": 160.7, "geometry": "POINT(159.5 -78.025)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Transantarctic Mountains; USA/NSF; MACROFOSSILS; Fossils; USAP-DC", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e DEVONIAN", "persons": "Shubin, Neil; Daeschler, Edward B", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.55, "title": "Middle-Late Devonian Vertebrates of Antarctica", "uid": "p0010340", "west": 158.3}, {"awards": "1443557 Isbell, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -85,-177.1 -85,-174.2 -85,-171.3 -85,-168.4 -85,-165.5 -85,-162.6 -85,-159.7 -85,-156.8 -85,-153.9 -85,-151 -85,-151 -85.2,-151 -85.4,-151 -85.6,-151 -85.8,-151 -86,-151 -86.2,-151 -86.4,-151 -86.6,-151 -86.8,-151 -87,-153.9 -87,-156.8 -87,-159.7 -87,-162.6 -87,-165.5 -87,-168.4 -87,-171.3 -87,-174.2 -87,-177.1 -87,180 -87,179 -87,178 -87,177 -87,176 -87,175 -87,174 -87,173 -87,172 -87,171 -87,170 -87,170 -86.8,170 -86.6,170 -86.4,170 -86.2,170 -86,170 -85.8,170 -85.6,170 -85.4,170 -85.2,170 -85,171 -85,172 -85,173 -85,174 -85,175 -85,176 -85,177 -85,178 -85,179 -85,-180 -85))", "dataset_titles": "A LITHOFACIES ANALYSIS OF A SOUTH POLAR GLACIATION IN THE EARLY PERMIAN: PAGODA FORMATION, SHACKLETON GLACIER REGION, ANTARCTICA; A new stratigraphic framework built on U-Pb single-zircon TIMS agesand implications for the timing ofthe penultimate icehouse (Paran\u00e1 Basin, Brazil); Constraining late Paleozoic ice extent in the Paganzo Basin of western Argentina utilizing U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology for the lower Paganzo Group strata; Coupled stratigraphic and U-Pb zircon age constraints on the late Paleozoic icehouse-to-greenhouse turnover in south-central Gondwana; Isotopes to ice: Constraining provenance of glacial deposits and ice centers in west-central Gondwana; Late Permian soil-forming paleoenvironments on Gondwana: A review; Provenance of late Paleozoic glacial/post-glacial deposits in the eastern Chaco-Paran\u00e1 Basin, Uruguay and southernmost Paran\u00e1 Basin, Brazil; Supplemental material: Nitrogen-fixing symbiosis inferred from stable isotope analysis of fossil tree rings from the Oligocene of Ethiopia; When does large woody debris influence ancient rivers? Dendrochronology\r\napplications in the Permian and Triassic, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200273", "doi": "10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.04.020", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Isotopes to ice: Constraining provenance of glacial deposits and ice centers in west-central Gondwana", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018217309008?via%3Dihub"}, {"dataset_uid": "200272", "doi": "10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102899", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Constraining late Paleozoic ice extent in the Paganzo Basin of western Argentina utilizing U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology for the lower Paganzo Group strata", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981120304429?via%3Dihub#mmc1"}, {"dataset_uid": "200271", "doi": "10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109544", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "When does large woody debris influence ancient rivers? Dendrochronology\r\napplications in the Permian and Triassic, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018219304006?via%3Dihub"}, {"dataset_uid": "200269", "doi": "10.1130/G46740.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Coupled stratigraphic and U-Pb zircon age constraints on the late Paleozoic icehouse-to-greenhouse turnover in south-central Gondwana", "url": "https://gsapubs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Supplemental_material_Coupled_stratigraphic_and_U-Pb_zircon_age_constraints_on_the_late_Paleozoic_icehouse-to-greenhouse_turnover_in_south-central_Gondwana/12542069"}, {"dataset_uid": "200274", "doi": "10.1130/G39213.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Supplemental material: Nitrogen-fixing symbiosis inferred from stable isotope analysis of fossil tree rings from the Oligocene of Ethiopia", "url": "https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-standard/45/8/687/207623/Nitrogen-fixing-symbiosis-inferred-from-stable"}, {"dataset_uid": "200266", "doi": "10.2110/jsr.2021.004", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "A LITHOFACIES ANALYSIS OF A SOUTH POLAR GLACIATION IN THE EARLY PERMIAN: PAGODA FORMATION, SHACKLETON GLACIER REGION, ANTARCTICA", "url": "https://www.sepm.org/publications"}, {"dataset_uid": "200270", "doi": "10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102989", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Provenance of late Paleozoic glacial/post-glacial deposits in the eastern Chaco-Paran\u00e1 Basin, Uruguay and southernmost Paran\u00e1 Basin, Brazil", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981120305320#mmc1"}, {"dataset_uid": "200268", "doi": "10.1130/B31775.1.", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "A new stratigraphic framework built on U-Pb single-zircon TIMS agesand implications for the timing ofthe penultimate icehouse (Paran\u00e1 Basin, Brazil)", "url": "https://gsapubs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Supplemental_material_A_new_stratigraphic_framework_built_on_U-Pb_single-zircon_TIMS_ages_and_implications_for_the_timing_of_the_penultimate_icehouse_Paran_Basin_Brazil_/12535916"}, {"dataset_uid": "200267", "doi": "10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110762", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Late Permian soil-forming paleoenvironments on Gondwana: A review", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018221005472?via%3Dihub"}], "date_created": "Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The focus of this collaborative project is to collect fossil plants, wood, and sedimentary and chemical information from rocks in the Shackleton Glacier (SHK) area of Antarctica. This information will be used to reconstruct plant life and environments during the Permian and Triassic (~295-205 million years ago) in Antarctica. This time interval is important to study as Antarctica experienced a large glaciation in the Permian followed by deglaciation and recovery of plant and animal life, only to be subjected to the largest extinction in Earth history at the end of the Permian. After the extinction events, the climate in Antarctica continued to warm extensively and there were forests growing close to the paleo-South Pole. These ancient environments provide a natural laboratory in which to study the effects of climate change on plant life. The results of this project will advance the field in the areas of changing sedimentary patterns during global cooling and warming, as well as plant evolution during times following glaciation and during global warmth. This project will study the extent of the Gondwana glaciation in the SHK area, the invasion and subsequent flourishing of life following glacial retreat, and the eventual recovery of plant life after Late Permian extinction events. Only in Antarctica does a complete polar-to-near-polar succession occur across this climatic and biologic transition. The SHK area is an important one as it is one of the few regions in the world where the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) is exposed within terrestrial rocks. The field and lab work for this project is organized around three hypotheses that address fundamental issues in Earth history, including changes in the extent and diversity of flora during the Permian build up to the Late Paleozoic Ice Age, the possible diachronous nature of the PTB, and that poor fossil preservation during the Early Triassic has given a false impression that Antarctica was devoid of plants during this time. The hypotheses will be tested by integrating various types of paleobotanical approaches with detailed sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochemistry. Compression floras and petrified wood will be collected (constrained by stratigraphy) both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to obtain biodiversity and abundance data, and as a data source for paleoecological analysis. Standard sedimentologic and stratigraphic analyses will be performed, as well as paleosol analyses, including mineralogic and major- and trace-element geochemistry. Collections will also be made for U-Pb zircon geochronology to better constrain geologic and biotic events through time. Results of the project will be incorporated into educational and outreach activities that are designed to include women and under-represented groups in the excitement of Antarctic earth sciences and paleontology, including workshops in Kansas and Wisconsin, as well as links to science classes during fieldwork.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(-170.5 -86)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Shackleton Glacier; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS; GLACIATION", "locations": "Shackleton Glacier", "north": -85.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Isbell, John", "platforms": null, "repo": "Publication", "repositories": "Publication", "science_programs": null, "south": -87.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Permian and Triassic Icehouse to Greenhouse Paleoenvironments and Paleobotany in the Shackleton Glacier Area, Antarctica", "uid": "p0010287", "west": -151.0}, {"awards": "1847067 Levy, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -76,161.35 -76,161.7 -76,162.05 -76,162.4 -76,162.75 -76,163.1 -76,163.45 -76,163.8 -76,164.15 -76,164.5 -76,164.5 -76.2,164.5 -76.4,164.5 -76.6,164.5 -76.8,164.5 -77,164.5 -77.2,164.5 -77.4,164.5 -77.6,164.5 -77.8,164.5 -78,164.15 -78,163.8 -78,163.45 -78,163.1 -78,162.75 -78,162.4 -78,162.05 -78,161.7 -78,161.35 -78,161 -78,161 -77.8,161 -77.6,161 -77.4,161 -77.2,161 -77,161 -76.8,161 -76.6,161 -76.4,161 -76.2,161 -76))", "dataset_titles": "Biogeochemical measurements of water tracks and adjacent dry soils from the McMurdo Dry Valleys; Surface Water Geochemistry from the McMurdo Dry Valleys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601684", "doi": "10.15784/601684", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cation Exchange; Chemistry:soil; Chemistry:Soil; Dry Valleys; Organic Matter; Salt; Soil", "people": "Levy, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogeochemical measurements of water tracks and adjacent dry soils from the McMurdo Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601684"}, {"dataset_uid": "601703", "doi": "10.15784/601703", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys", "people": "Levy, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface Water Geochemistry from the McMurdo Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601703"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic groundwater drives the regional carbon cycle and can accelerate permafrost thaw shaping Antarctic surface features. However, groundwater extent, flow, and processes on a continent virtually locked in ice are poorly understood. The proposed work investigates the interplay between groundwater, sediment, and ice in Antarctica\u0027s cold desert landscape to determine when, where, and why Antarctic groundwater is flowing, and how it may evolve Antarctic frozen deserts from dry and stable to wet and dynamic. Mapping the changing extent of Antarctic near-surface groundwater requires the ability to measure soil moisture rapidly and repeatedly over large areas. The research will capture changes in near-surface groundwater distribution through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mapping approach. The project integrates a diverse range of sensors with new UAV technologies to provide a higher-resolution and more frequent assessment of Antarctic groundwater extent and composition than can be accomplished using satellite observations alone. To complement the research objectives, the PI will develop a new UAV summer field school, the Geosciences UAV Academy, focused on training undergraduate-level UAV pilots in conducting novel earth sciences research using cutting edge imaging tools. The integration of research and technology will prepare students for careers in UAV-related industries and research. The project will deliver new UAV tools and workflows for soil moisture mapping relevant to arid regions including Antarctica as well as temperate desert and dryland systems and will train student research pilots to tackle next generation airborne challenges. Water tracks are the basic hydrological unit that currently feeds the rapidly-changing permafrost and wetlands in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV). Despite the importance of water tracks in the MDV hydrologic cycle and their influence on biogeochemistry, little is known about how these water tracks control the unique brine processes operating in Antarctic ice-free areas. Both groundwater availability and geochemistry shape Antarctic microbial communities, connecting soil geology and hydrology to carbon cycling and ecosystem functioning. The objectives of this CAREER proposal are to 1) map water tracks to determine the spatial distribution and seasonal magnitude of groundwater impacts on the MDV near-surface environment to determine how near-surface groundwater drives permafrost thaw and enhances chemical weathering and biogeochemical cycling; 2) establish a UAV academy training earth sciences students to answer geoscience questions using drone-based platforms and remote sensing techniques; and 3) provide a formative step in the development of the PI as a teacher-scholar. UAV-borne hyperspectral imaging complemented with field soil sampling will determine the aerial extent and timing of inundation, water level, and water budget of representative water tracks in the MDV. Soil moisture will be measured via near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy while bulk chemistry of soils and groundwater will be analyzed via ion chromatography and soil x-ray fluorescence. Sedimentological and hydrological properties will be determined via analysis of intact core samples. These data will be used to test competing hypotheses regarding the origin of water track solutions and water movement through seasonal wetlands. The work will provide a regional understanding of groundwater sources, shallow groundwater flux, and the influence of regional hydrogeology on solute export to the Southern Ocean and on soil/atmosphere linkages in earth\u0027s carbon budget. The UAV school will 1) provide comprehensive instruction at the undergraduate level in both how and why UAVs can advance geoscience research and learning; and 2) provide educational infrastructure for an eventual self-sustaining summer program for undergraduate UAV education. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 164.5, "geometry": "POINT(162.75 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; AMD; USAP-DC; FROZEN GROUND; Taylor Valley", "locations": "Taylor Valley", "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Levy, Joseph", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Linking Antarctic Cold Desert Groundwater to Thermokarst \u0026 Chemical Weathering in Partnership with the Geoscience UAV Academy", "uid": "p0010286", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "2000992 Romans, Brian", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-172.873074 -74.274008)", "dataset_titles": "Grain size of Plio-Pleistocene continental slope and rise sediments, Hillary Canyon, Ross Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601807", "doi": "10.15784/601807", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Grain Size; Ross Sea", "people": "Romans, Brian W.; Varela, Natalia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Grain size of Plio-Pleistocene continental slope and rise sediments, Hillary Canyon, Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601807"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical description: Predicting how polar ice sheets will respond to future global warming is difficult because all the processes that contribute to their melting are not well understood. This is important because the more ice on land that melts, the higher sea levels will rise. The most significant uncertainty in current estimates of sea-level rise in the coming decades is the potential contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. One way to increase our knowledge about how large ice sheets respond to climate change in response to natural factors is to examine the geologic past. Natural global warming (and cooling) events in Earth\u2019s history provide examples that we can use to better understand processes, interactions, and responses we can\u2019t directly observe today. One such time period, approximately three million years ago (known as the Pliocene), was the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were as high as they are today and, therefore, represents a time period to study to better understand the ice sheet response to a warming climate. Specifically, this project is interested in understanding how ocean currents near Antarctica, which transport heat and store carbon, behaved during these past climate events. The history of past ice sheet-ocean interactions are recorded in sediments that were deposited, layer upon layer, in the deep sea offshore Antarctica. In January-February 2018, a team of scientists and crew set sail to the Ross Sea, offshore west Antarctica, on the scientific ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution to recover such sediment archives. This project focuses on a sediment core from that expedition, which captures the relatively warm Pliocene time interval, as well as the subsequent transition into cooler climates typical of the past two million years. The researchers will analyze the sediment with multiple complementary measurements, including: grain size, composition, chemistry of organic matter, physical structures, microfossil type and abundance, and more. These analyses will be done by the research team, including several students, at their respective laboratories and will then integrated into a unified record of ice sheet-ocean interactions. Ultimately, the results will be used to improve modeled projections of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet could respond to future climate change. Part II: Technical description: Geological records from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) margin demonstrate that the ice sheet oscillated in response to orbital variations in insolation (i.e., ~400, 100, 41, and 20 kyr), and it appears to be more sensitive to specific frequencies that regulate mean annual insolation (i.e., 41-kyr obliquity), particularly when the ice sheet extends into marine environments and is impacted by ocean circulation. However, the relationship between orbital forcing and the production of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is unconstrained. Thus, a knowledge gap exists in understanding how changing insolation impacts ice marginal and Southern Ocean conditions that directly influence ventilation of the global ocean. The researchers hypothesize that insolation-driven changes directly affected the production and export of AABW to the Southern Ocean from the Pliocene through the Pleistocene. For example, obliquity amplification during the warmer Pliocene may have led to enhanced production and export of dense waters from the shelf due to reduced AIS extent, which, in turn, led to greater AABW outflow. To determine the relationship of AABW production to orbital regime, they plan to reconstruct both from a single, continuous record from the levee of Hillary Canyon, a major conduit of AABW outflow, on the Ross Sea continental rise. To test their hypothesis, they will analyze sediment from IODP Site U1524 (recovered in 2018 during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 374) and focus on three data sets. (1) They will use the occurrence, frequency, and character of mm-scale turbidite beds as a proxy of dense-shelf-water cascading outflow and AABW production. They will estimate the down-slope flux via numerical modeling of turbidity current properties using morphology, grain size, and bed thickness as input parameters. (2) They will use grain-size data, physical properties, XRF core scanning, CT imaging, and hyperspectral imaging to guide lithofacies analysis to infer processes occurring during glacial, deglacial, and interglacial periods. Statistical techniques and optimization methods will be applied to test for astronomical forcing of sedimentary packages in order to provide a cyclostratigraphic framework and interpret the orbital-forcing regime. (3) They will use bulk sedimentary carbon and nitrogen abundance and isotope data to determine how relative contributions of terrigenous and marine organic matter change in response to orbital forcing. All of these data will be integrated with sedimentological records to deconvolve organic matter production from its deposition or remobilization due to AABW outflow as a function of the oscillating extent of the AIS. These data sets will be integrated into a unified chronostratigraphy to determine the relationship between AABW outflow and orbital-forcing scenarios under the varying climate regimes of the Plio-Pleistocene. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -172.873074, "geometry": "POINT(-172.873074 -74.274008)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; LABORATORY; AMD; USA/NSF; SEDIMENTS; Amd/Us; Ross Sea", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -74.274008, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Patterson, Molly; Ash, Jeanine; Kulhanek, Denise; Ash, Jeannie", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -74.274008, "title": "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Orbital-scale Variability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Formation of Bottom Water in the Ross Sea during the Pliocene-Pleistocene", "uid": "p0010227", "west": -172.873074}, {"awards": "1543344 Soreghan, Gerilyn", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Data and metadata for \"Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems\"", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601599", "doi": "10.15784/601599", "keywords": "Antarctica; Anza Borrego; Iceland; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Norway; Peru; Puerto Rico; Taylor Valley; Washington; Wright Valley", "people": "Demirel-Floyd, Cansu", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Data and metadata for \"Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems\"", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601599"}], "date_created": "Tue, 18 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "As glaciers creep across the landscape, they can act as earthmovers, plucking up rocks and grinding them into fine sediments. Glaciers have moved across the Antarctic landscape over thousands to millions of years, leaving these ground-up sediments in their wake. This study builds on pilot discoveries by the investigators that revealed remarkably large and variable measurements of surface area in glacially-derived fine-grained sediments found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), one of the few landscapes on the Antarctic continent not currently covered by ice. Surface area is key to chemical weathering, the process by which rock is converted to soils as ions are carried away in streams and groundwater. These chemical weathering processes are also one of the primary means by which the Earth system naturally removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Hence, high surface areas observed in sediments implies high \"weatherability\" which in turn translates to more potential carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. Therefore, chemical weathering in high surface area glacial sediments may have significant impacts on Earth\u0027s carbon cycle. The researchers will measure the chemical and physical properties of sediments previously collected from the Dry Valleys to understand what factors lead to production of sediment with high-surface area and potential \"weather ability\" and investigate how sediment produced in these glacial systems could ultimately impact Earth\u0027s carbon budget. Results from this research will help scientists (including modelers) refine predictions of the effects of melting glaciers- and attendant exposure of glacial sediment? on atmospheric carbon levels. These results may also contribute to applied research efforts on development of carbon-dioxide removal technologies utilizing principles of rock weathering. In addition to the scientific benefits, this research will involve several students at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels, including science education undergraduates, thus contributing to training of the next-generation STEM workforce. Physical weathering produces fresh surfaces, greatly enhancing specific surface area (SSA) and reactive surface area (RSA) of primary minerals. Quantifying SSA and RSA of sediments is key to determining dissolution and leaching rates during natural weathering, but few data exist on distribution of sediment SA, particularly in glacial and fluvial systems. Pilot data from glacial stream systems in Taylor Valley and Wright Valley (located in the MDV) exhibit remarkably high and variable values in both SSA and RSA, values that in some cases greatly exceed values from muds in temperate glacial systems. This discovery motivates the current research, which aims to investigate the hypothesis that high and variable SAs of muds within Wright and Taylor Valleys reflect textural and/or compositional inheritance from the differing depositional settings within the MDV, biologic controls, dust additions, and/or pedogenic processes. These hypotheses will be tested by sedimentologically, mineralogically, and geochemically characterizing muds from glacially derived sediment deposited in various environments (cold vs. wet based glaciation; fluvial, lacustrine, dust, and drift deposits) and of varying age (Miocene to Modern) from the MDV and quantifying variation of SA and reactivity. Comparisons with analyzed muds from temperate glacial systems will enable polar-temperate comparisons. Analyses will focus on muds of previously collected sediment from the MDVs. Grain size and SSA will be measured by Laser Analysis and N2 adsorption BET, respectively. After carbonate removal, samples will be re-analyzed for SSA, and muds characterized geochemically. Mineralogy and bulk chemistry will also be assessed on co-occurring sand fractions, and textural attributes documented. SSA-normalized dissolution experiments will be used to compare solutes released from sediments to determine RSAs. Results will be integrated with the various sedimentologic and geochemical analyses to test the posed hypotheses. Ultimately, this research should shed light on how weathering in Antarctic systems contributes to global carbon cycling.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USA/NSF; Dry Valleys; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; Amd/Us; Antarctica; Weathering", "locations": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Soreghan, Gerilyn; Elwood Madden, Megan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems", "uid": "p0010181", "west": null}, {"awards": "1743643 Passchier, Sandra", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Major and trace element analyses of Eocene-Oligocene marine sediments from ODP Site 696, South Orkney Microcontinent; Particle-size distributions of Eocene-Oligocene sediment from ODP Site 696, South Orkney Microcontinent", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601582", "doi": "10.15784/601582", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciation; IODP 650; IODP 696; Paleoceanography; Provenance; Sediment Core Data; Weathering; Weddell Sea", "people": "Passchier, Sandra; Lepp, Allison; States, Abbey; Li, Xiaona; Hojnacki, Victoria", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Major and trace element analyses of Eocene-Oligocene marine sediments from ODP Site 696, South Orkney Microcontinent", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601582"}, {"dataset_uid": "601581", "doi": "10.15784/601581", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciation; IODP 696; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; Paleoceanography; Sediment Core Data; Weddell Sea", "people": "Horowitz Castaldo, Josie; Passchier, Sandra; Lepp, Allison; Light, Jennifer", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Particle-size distributions of Eocene-Oligocene sediment from ODP Site 696, South Orkney Microcontinent", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601581"}], "date_created": "Tue, 26 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract (non-technical) Sea level rise is a problem of global importance and it is increasingly affecting the tens of millions of Americans living along coastlines. The melting of glaciers in mountain areas worldwide in response to global warming is a major cause of sea level rise and increases in nuisance coastal flooding. However, the world\u0027s largest land-based ice sheets are situated in the Polar Regions and their response under continued warming is very difficult to predict. One reason for this uncertainty is a lack of observations of ice behavior and melt under conditions of warming, as it is a relatively new global climate state lasting only a few generations so far. Researchers will investigate ice growth on Antarctica under past warm conditions using geological archives embedded in the layers of sand and mud under the sea floor near Antarctica. By peeling back at the layers beneath the seafloor investigators can read the history book of past events affecting the ice sheet. The Antarctic continent on the South Pole, carries the largest ice mass in the world. The investigator\u0027s findings will substantially improve scientists understanding of the response of ice sheets to global warming and its effect on sea level rise. Abstract (technical) The melt of land based ice is raising global sea levels with at present only minor contributions from polar ice sheets. However, the future role of polar ice sheets in climate change is one of the most critical uncertainties in predictions of sea level rise around the globe. The respective roles of oceanic and atmospheric greenhouse forcing on ice sheets are poorly addressed with recent measurements of polar climatology, because of the extreme rise in greenhouse forcing the earth is experiencing at this time. Data on the evolution of the West Antarctic ice sheet is particularly sparse. To address the data gap, researchers will reconstruct the timing and spatial distribution of Antarctic ice growth through the last greenhouse to icehouse climate transition around 37 to 33 Ma. They will collect sedimentological and geochemical data on core samples from a high-latitude paleoarchive to trace the shutdown of the chemical weathering system, the onset of glacial erosion, ice rafting, and sea ice development, as East and West Antarctic ice sheets coalesced in the Weddell Sea sector. Their findings will lead to profound increases in the understanding of the role of greenhouse forcing in ice sheet development and its effect on the global climate system. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; SEDIMENTS; LABORATORY; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; Weddell Sea", "locations": "Weddell Sea", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Passchier, Sandra", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Timing and Spatial Distribution of Antarctic Ice Sheet Growth and Sea-ice Formation across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition", "uid": "p0010101", "west": null}, {"awards": "0839142 Tulaczyk, Slawek; 0839059 Powell, Ross; 0838764 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; 0838947 Tulaczyk, Slawek; 0838855 Jacobel, Robert; 0838763 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; 0839107 Powell, Ross", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Basal melt rates of the Ross Ice Shelf near the Whillans Ice Stream grounding line; Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (LISSARD); Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats - Robotic Access to Grounding-zones for Exploration and Science (RAGES); IRIS ID#s 201035, 201162, 201205; IRIS offers free and open access to a comprehensive data store of raw geophysical time-series data collected from a large variety of sensors, courtesy of a vast array of US and International scientific networks, including seismometers (permanent and temporary), tilt and strain meters, infrasound, temperature, atmospheric pressure and gravimeters, to support basic research aimed at imaging the Earth\u0027s interior.; Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Biomarker Data Set; Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Palynomorph Data Set; Radar Studies of Subglacial Lake Whillans and the Whillans Ice Stream Grounding Zone; The IRIS DMC archives and distributes data to support the seismological research community.; UNAVCO ID#s WHL1, WHL2, LA02, LA09 (full data link not provided)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609594", "doi": "10.7265/N54J0C2W", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPR; GPS; Radar; Whillans Ice Stream", "people": "Jacobel, Robert", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radar Studies of Subglacial Lake Whillans and the Whillans Ice Stream Grounding Zone", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609594"}, {"dataset_uid": "001406", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "The IRIS DMC archives and distributes data to support the seismological research community.", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/"}, {"dataset_uid": "001405", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "IRIS offers free and open access to a comprehensive data store of raw geophysical time-series data collected from a large variety of sensors, courtesy of a vast array of US and International scientific networks, including seismometers (permanent and temporary), tilt and strain meters, infrasound, temperature, atmospheric pressure and gravimeters, to support basic research aimed at imaging the Earth\u0027s interior.", "url": "http://www.iris.edu/hq/data_and_software"}, {"dataset_uid": "601234", "doi": "10.15784/601234", "keywords": "ACL; Antarctica; Biomarker; BIT Index; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Stream; Whillans Ice Stream; WISSARD", "people": "Scherer, Reed Paul; Baudoin, Patrick; Warny, Sophie; Coenen, Jason; Askin, Rosemary; Casta\u00f1eda, Isla", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Biomarker Data Set", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601234"}, {"dataset_uid": "601245", "doi": "10.15784/601245", "keywords": "Antarctica; Pollen; West Antarctica; WISSARD", "people": "Baudoin, Patrick; Coenen, Jason; Warny, Sophie; Askin, Rosemary; Scherer, Reed Paul; Casta\u00f1eda, Isla", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Palynomorph Data Set", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601245"}, {"dataset_uid": "601122", "doi": "10.15784/601122", "keywords": "Antarctica; Flexure Zone; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Ice-Shelf Basal Melting; Ice-Shelf Strain Rate", "people": "Begeman, Carolyn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Basal melt rates of the Ross Ice Shelf near the Whillans Ice Stream grounding line", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601122"}, {"dataset_uid": "600155", "doi": "10.15784/600155", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Oceans; Southern Ocean; WISSARD", "people": "Powell, Ross", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats - Robotic Access to Grounding-zones for Exploration and Science (RAGES)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600155"}, {"dataset_uid": "600154", "doi": "10.15784/600154", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Lake Whillans; Paleoclimate; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean; Subglacial Lake; WISSARD", "people": "Powell, Ross", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (LISSARD)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600154"}, {"dataset_uid": "000150", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "UNAVCO ID#s WHL1, WHL2, LA02, LA09 (full data link not provided)", "url": "http://www.unavco.org/"}, {"dataset_uid": "000148", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "IRIS ID#s 201035, 201162, 201205", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The LISSARD project (Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) is one of three research components of the WISSARD integrative initiative (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) that is being funded by the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program of NSF\u0027s Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. The overarching scientific objective of WISSARD is to assess the role of water beneath a West Antarctic ice stream in interlinked glaciological, geological, microbiological, geochemical, and oceanographic systems. The LISSARD component of WISSARD focuses on the role of active subglacial lakes in determining how fast the West Antarctic ice sheet loses mass to the global ocean and influences global sea level changes. The importance of Antarctic subglacial lakes has only been recently recognized, and the lakes have been identified as high priority targets for scientific investigations because of their unknown contributions to ice sheet stability under future global warming scenarios. LISSARD has several primary science goals: A) To provide an observational basis for improving treatments of subglacial hydrological and mechanical processes in models of ice sheet mass balance and stability; B) To reconstruct the past history of ice stream stability by analyzing archives of past basal water and ice flow variability contained in subglacial sediments, porewater, lake water, and basal accreted ice; C) To provide background understanding of subglacial lake environments to benefit RAGES and GBASE (the other two components of the WISSARD project); and D) To synthesize data and concepts developed as part of this project to determine whether subglacial lakes play an important role in (de)stabilizing Antarctic ice sheets. We propose an unprecedented synthesis of approaches to studying ice sheet processes, including: (1) satellite remote sensing, (2) surface geophysics, (3) borehole observations and measurements and, (4) basal and subglacial sampling. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eINTELLECTUAL MERIT: The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognized that the greatest uncertainties in assessing future global sea-level change stem from a poor understanding of ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet vulnerability to oceanic and atmospheric warming. Disintegration of the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) alone would contribute 3-5 m to global sea-level rise, making WAIS a focus of scientific concern due to its potential susceptibility to internal or ocean-driven instability. The overall WISSARD project will test the overarching hypothesis that active water drainage connects various subglacial environments and exerts major control on ice sheet flow, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: Global warming, melting of ice sheets and consequential sea-level rise are of high societal relevance. Science Resource Development: After a 9-year hiatus WISSARD will provide the US-science community with a renewed capability to access and study sub-ice sheet environments. Developing this technological infrastructure will benefit the broader science community and assets will be accessible for future use through the NSF-OPP drilling contractor. Furthermore, these projects will pioneer an approach implementing recommendations from the National Research Council committee on Principles of Environmental Stewardship for the Exploration and Study of Subglacial Environments (2007). Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating them in our research programs; ii) introducing new investigators to the polar sciences by incorporating promising young investigators in our programs, iii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by incorporating various teachers and NSTA programs, and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as popular science magazines, museum based activities and videography and documentary films. In summary, WISSARD will promote scientific exploration of Antarctica by conveying to the public the excitement of accessing and studying what may be some of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth, and which represent a potential analogue for extraterrestrial life habitats on Europa and Mars.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e SEISMOMETERS \u003e SEISMOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e SEISMOMETERS \u003e SEISMOMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Ice Penetrating Radar; Antarctic; Subglacial Lake; Subglacial Hydrology; Grounding Line; Sea Level Rise; Bed Reflectivity; Ice Sheet Stability; Stability; Radar; Sub-Ice-Shelf; Geophysics; Biogeochemical; LABORATORY; Sediment; Sea Floor Sediment; Ice Thickness; Model; Ice Stream Stability; Basal Ice; SATELLITES; Ice Sheet Thickness; Subglacial; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Ice Sheet; FIELD SURVEYS; Surface Elevation; Geochemistry; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Not provided", "locations": "Antarctic; Antarctica; Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tulaczyk, Slawek; Fisher, Andrew; Powell, Ross; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Jacobel, Robert; Scherer, Reed Paul", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; SPACE-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES \u003e SATELLITES", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "IRIS; UNAVCO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WISSARD", "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability \u0026 Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake \u0026 Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (LISSARD)", "uid": "p0000105", "west": null}, {"awards": "1246353 Anderson, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -74,-144.9 -74,-109.8 -74,-74.7 -74,-39.6 -74,-4.5 -74,30.6 -74,65.7 -74,100.8 -74,135.9 -74,171 -74,171 -74.3,171 -74.6,171 -74.9,171 -75.2,171 -75.5,171 -75.8,171 -76.1,171 -76.4,171 -76.7,171 -77,135.9 -77,100.8 -77,65.7 -77,30.6 -77,-4.5 -77,-39.6 -77,-74.7 -77,-109.8 -77,-144.9 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -76.7,180 -76.4,180 -76.1,180 -75.8,180 -75.5,180 -75.2,180 -74.9,180 -74.6,180 -74.3,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,-180 -74))", "dataset_titles": "Circum-Antarctic grounding-line sinuosity; NBP1502A Cruise Core Data; NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data; Pennell Trough, Ross Sea bathymetry and glacial landforms", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601484", "doi": "10.15784/601484", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bed Roughness; Bed Slope; Elevation; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Pinning Points", "people": "Riverman, Kiya; Stearns, Leigh; Simkins, Lauren", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Circum-Antarctic grounding-line sinuosity", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601484"}, {"dataset_uid": "601474", "doi": "10.15784/601474", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bathymetry; Elevation; Geomorphology; Glacial History; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marine Geoscience; NBP1502; Pennell Trough; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Simkins, Lauren; Prothro, Lindsay; Anderson, John; Greenwood, Sarah; Eareckson, Elizabeth; Munevar Garcia, Santiago", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Pennell Trough, Ross Sea bathymetry and glacial landforms", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601474"}, {"dataset_uid": "000245", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1502"}, {"dataset_uid": "601083", "doi": "10.15784/601083", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Geochronology; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; NBP1502; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Core", "people": "Prothro, Lindsay; Simkins, Lauren; Anderson, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502A Cruise Core Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601083"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PI hypothesizes that bedforms found in the Central and Joides troughs can be interpreted as having been formed by rapid retreat, and possible collapse of an ice stream that occupied this area. To test this hypothesis, the PI proposes to conduct a detailed marine geological and geophysical survey of Central and Joides Troughs in the western Ross Sea. This project will bridge gaps between the small and isolated areas previously surveyed and will acquire a detailed sedimentological record of the retreating grounding line. The PI will reconstruct the retreat history of the Central and Joides troughs to century-scale resolution using radiocarbon dating methods and by looking at geomorphic features that are formed at regular time intervals. Existing multibeam, deep tow side-scan sonar, and core data will provide a framework for this research. The western Ross Sea is an ideal study area to investigate a single ice stream and the dynamics controlling its stability, including interactions between both East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. Broader impacts: This proposal includes a post-doc, a graduate and two undergraduate students. The post-doc is involved with teaching an in-service K-12 teacher development and training course at Rice University for high-need teachers with a focus on curriculum enhancement. The project fosters collaboration for the PI and students with researchers at Louisiana State University and international colleagues at the Institute for Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The results from this project could lead to a better understanding of ice sheet and ice stream stability. This project will yield implications for society\u0027s understanding of climate change, as this work improves understanding of the behavior of ice sheets and their links to global climate.", "east": 179.99, "geometry": "POINT(175.495 -75.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e CARBON ANALYZERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; R/V NBP; NBP1502", "locations": null, "north": -74.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, John", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.0, "title": "Evidence for Paleo Ice Stream Collapse in the Western Ross Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum.", "uid": "p0000395", "west": 171.0}, {"awards": "1246378 Shevenell, Amelia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((70 -68,70.5 -68,71 -68,71.5 -68,72 -68,72.5 -68,73 -68,73.5 -68,74 -68,74.5 -68,75 -68,75 -68.2,75 -68.4,75 -68.6,75 -68.8,75 -69,75 -69.2,75 -69.4,75 -69.6,75 -69.8,75 -70,74.5 -70,74 -70,73.5 -70,73 -70,72.5 -70,72 -70,71.5 -70,71 -70,70.5 -70,70 -70,70 -69.8,70 -69.6,70 -69.4,70 -69.2,70 -69,70 -68.8,70 -68.6,70 -68.4,70 -68.2,70 -68))", "dataset_titles": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data; Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601064", "doi": "10.15784/601064", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Trough; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Foraminifera; Geochemistry; Isotope; LMG1211; LMG1311; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601064"}, {"dataset_uid": "601180", "doi": "10.15784/601180", "keywords": "Antarctica; Be-10; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Grain Size; Late Quaternary; Magnetic Susceptibility; Mass Spectrometry; NBP0101; Paleoenvironment; Prydz Bay; Radiocarbon; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment; Sediment Core; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601180"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.", "east": 75.0, "geometry": "POINT(72.5 -69)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -68.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shevenell, Amelia", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "Late Quaternary Evolution of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf System, Prydz Bay, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000381", "west": 70.0}, {"awards": "1246378 Shevenell, Amelia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65.32 -64.15,-65.309 -64.15,-65.298 -64.15,-65.287 -64.15,-65.276 -64.15,-65.265 -64.15,-65.254 -64.15,-65.243 -64.15,-65.232 -64.15,-65.221 -64.15,-65.21 -64.15,-65.21 -64.186,-65.21 -64.222,-65.21 -64.258,-65.21 -64.294,-65.21 -64.33,-65.21 -64.366,-65.21 -64.402,-65.21 -64.438,-65.21 -64.474,-65.21 -64.51,-65.221 -64.51,-65.232 -64.51,-65.243 -64.51,-65.254 -64.51,-65.265 -64.51,-65.276 -64.51,-65.287 -64.51,-65.298 -64.51,-65.309 -64.51,-65.32 -64.51,-65.32 -64.474,-65.32 -64.438,-65.32 -64.402,-65.32 -64.366,-65.32 -64.33,-65.32 -64.294,-65.32 -64.258,-65.32 -64.222,-65.32 -64.186,-65.32 -64.15))", "dataset_titles": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data; Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601064", "doi": "10.15784/601064", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Trough; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Foraminifera; Geochemistry; Isotope; LMG1211; LMG1311; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601064"}, {"dataset_uid": "601180", "doi": "10.15784/601180", "keywords": "Antarctica; Be-10; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Grain Size; Late Quaternary; Magnetic Susceptibility; Mass Spectrometry; NBP0101; Paleoenvironment; Prydz Bay; Radiocarbon; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment; Sediment Core; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601180"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.", "east": -65.21, "geometry": "POINT(-65.265 -64.33)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -64.15, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shevenell, Amelia", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.51, "title": "Late Quaternary Evolution of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf System, Prydz Bay, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000381", "west": -65.32}, {"awards": "0943934 Taylor, Edith; 0943935 Isbell, John", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Portal to search geologic sample collections, Polar Rock Repository, Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University; Portal to search paleobotanical collections, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001402", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Portal to search paleobotanical collections, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas", "url": "http://biodiversity.ku.edu/paleobotany/collections/collections-search"}, {"dataset_uid": "002567", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Portal to search paleobotanical collections, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas", "url": "http://biodiversity.ku.edu/paleobotany/collections/collections-search"}, {"dataset_uid": "001377", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PRR", "science_program": null, "title": "Portal to search geologic sample collections, Polar Rock Repository, Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University", "url": "http://research.bpcrc.osu.edu/rr/"}], "date_created": "Tue, 23 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit:\u003cbr/\u003eThe focus of this proposal is to collect fossil plants and palynomorphs from Permian-Triassic (P-T) rocks of the central Transantarctic Mountains (CTM), together with detailed data on sedimentologic and paleoecologic depositional environments. Fossil plants are important climate proxies that offer a unique window into the past, and the CTM fossils are an important source of data on the ways that plants responded to a strongly seasonal, polar light regime during a time of global change. The proposed project uses paleobotanical expertise, integrated with detailed sedimentology and stratigraphy, to reconstruct Permian-Triassic plant communities and their paleoenvironments. This interdisciplinary approach could uncover details of Antarctica?s complex late Paleozoic and Mesozoic environmental and climatic history which included: 1) deglaciation, 2) development and evolution of a post-glacial landscape and biota, 3) environmental and biotic change associated with the end-Permian mass extinction, 4) environmental recovery in the earliest Triassic, 5) strong, possible runaway Triassic greenhouse, and 6) widespread orogenesis and development of a foreland basin system. The PIs will collect compression floras both quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain biodiversity and abundance data. Since silicified wood is also present, the PIs will analyze tree rings and growth in a warm, high-latitude environment for which there is no modern analogue. Fossil plants from the CTM can provide biological and environmental information to: 1) interpret paleoclimate when Gondwana moved from icehouse to greenhouse conditions; 2) trace floral evolution across the P-T boundary; 3) reconstruct Antarctic plant life; 4) further understanding of plant adaptations to high latitudes. The Intellectual Merit of the research includes: 1) tracing floral evolution after the retreat of glaciers; 2) examining floral composition and diversity across the PTB; and 3) obtaining data on the recovery of these ecosystems in the Early Triassic, as well as changes in floral cover and diversity in the Early-Middle Triassic. Antarctica is the only place on Earth that includes extensive outcrops of terrestrial rocks, combined with widespread and well-preserved plant fossils, which spans this crucial time period.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts:\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts include public outreach; teaching, and mentoring of women and underrepresented students; mentoring graduate student, postdoctoral, and new faculty women; development of an inquiry-based workshop on Antarctic paleoclimate with the Division of Education, KU Natural History Museum; continuing support of workshops for middle school girls in science via the Expanding Your Horizons Program, Emporia State University, and the TRIO program, KU; exploring Antarctic geosciences through video/computer links from McMurdo Station and satellite phone conferences from the field with K-12 science classes in Wisconsin and Kansas, and through participation in the NSF Research Experiences for Teachers program at the University of Wisconsin.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; LABORATORY; Transanatarctic Basin; Paleobotany; Fossil Plants; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Sedimentology; Late Paleozoic Ice Age; Not provided; Central Transantarctic Mountains; Beardmore Glacier", "locations": "Transanatarctic Basin; Central Transantarctic Mountains; Beardmore Glacier", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e PERMIAN; PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e TRIASSIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e PERMIAN; PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e TRIASSIC", "persons": "Isbell, John", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website; PRR", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Ecosystems across the Permian-Triassic Boundary: Integrating Paleobotany, Sedimentology, and Paleoecology", "uid": "p0000372", "west": null}, {"awards": "0944532 Isbell, John; 0944662 Elliot, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((158.9 -83,159.583 -83,160.266 -83,160.949 -83,161.632 -83,162.315 -83,162.998 -83,163.681 -83,164.364 -83,165.047 -83,165.73 -83,165.73 -83.21,165.73 -83.42,165.73 -83.63,165.73 -83.84,165.73 -84.05,165.73 -84.26,165.73 -84.47,165.73 -84.68,165.73 -84.89,165.73 -85.1,165.047 -85.1,164.364 -85.1,163.681 -85.1,162.998 -85.1,162.315 -85.1,161.632 -85.1,160.949 -85.1,160.266 -85.1,159.583 -85.1,158.9 -85.1,158.9 -84.89,158.9 -84.68,158.9 -84.47,158.9 -84.26,158.9 -84.05,158.9 -83.84,158.9 -83.63,158.9 -83.42,158.9 -83.21,158.9 -83))", "dataset_titles": "Rock Samples (full data link not provided)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000171", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PRR", "science_program": null, "title": "Rock Samples (full data link not provided)", "url": "http://bprc.osu.edu/rr/"}], "date_created": "Thu, 05 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: \u003cbr/\u003eThe goal of this project is to address relationships between foreland basins and their tectonic settings by combining detrital zircon isotope characteristics and sedimentological data. To accomplish this goal the PIs will develop a detailed geochronology and analyze Hf- and O-isotopes of detrital zircons in sandstones of the Devonian Taylor Group and the Permian-Triassic Victoria Group. These data will allow them to better determine provenance and basin fill, and to understand the nature of the now ice covered source regions in East and West Antarctica. The PIs will document possible unexposed/unknown crustal terrains in West Antarctica, investigate sub-glacial terrains of East Antarctica that were exposed to erosion during Devonian to Triassic time, and determine the evolving provenance and tectonic history of the Devonian to Triassic Gondwana basins in the central Transantarctic Mountains. Detrital zircon data will be interpreted in the context of fluvial dispersal/drainage patterns, sandstone petrology, and sequence stratigraphy. This interpretation will identify source terrains and evolving sediment provenances. Paleocurrent analysis and sequence stratigraphy will determine the timing and nature of changing tectonic conditions associated with development of the depositional basins and document the tectonic history of the Antarctic sector of Gondwana. Results from this study will answer questions about the Panthalassan margin of Gondwana, the Antarctic craton, and the Beacon depositional basin and their respective roles in global tectonics and the geologic and biotic history of Antarctica. The Beacon basin and adjacent uplands played an important role in the development and demise of Gondwanan glaciation through modification of polar climates, development of peat-forming mires, colonization of the landscape by plants, and were a migration route for Mesozoic vertebrates into Antarctica. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts: \u003cbr/\u003eThis proposal includes support for two graduate students who will participate in the fieldwork, and also support for other students to participate in laboratory studies. Results of the research will be incorporated in classroom teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels and will help train the next generation of field geologists. Interactions with K-12 science classes will be achieved by video/computer conferencing and satellite phone connections from Antarctica. Another outreach effort is the developing cooperation between the Byrd Polar Research Center and the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus.", "east": 165.73, "geometry": "POINT(162.315 -84.05)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e XRF", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided; LABORATORY", "locations": null, "north": -83.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Elliot, David; Isbell, John", "platforms": "Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "PRR", "repositories": "PRR", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.1, "title": "Collaborative Research:Application of Detrital Zircon Isotope Characteristics and Sandstone Analysis of Beacon Strata to the Tectonic Evolution of the Antarctic Sector of Gondwana", "uid": "p0000312", "west": 158.9}, {"awards": "9615420 Kamb, Barclay", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-136.404633 -82.39955)", "dataset_titles": "Temperature of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Videos of Basal Ice in Boreholes on the Kamb Ice Stream in West Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609528", "doi": "10.7265/N5028PFH", "keywords": "Antarctica; Borehole Video; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Kamb Ice Stream; Photo/video; Photo/Video", "people": "Engelhardt, Hermann", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Videos of Basal Ice in Boreholes on the Kamb Ice Stream in West Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609528"}, {"dataset_uid": "609537", "doi": "10.7265/N5PN93J8", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Temperature", "people": "Engelhardt, Hermann", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Temperature of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609537"}], "date_created": "Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is for support for a four year program to study the basal conditions of ice stream D using techniques previously applied to ice stream B. The objective is to determine whether the physical conditions and processes to be observed by borehole geophysics at the base of this large ice stream are consistent with what has been observed at ice stream B and to point to a common basal mechanism of ice streaming. This project includes a comparison between two parts of ice stream D, an upstream reach where flow velocities are modest (about 80 meters/year) and a downstream reach of high velocity (about 400 meters/year). The comparison will help to reveal what physical variable or combination of variables is mainly responsible for the streaming flow. The variables to be monitmred by borehole observation include basal water pressure, basal sliding velocity, flow properties and sedimentological characteristics of subglacial till if present, ice temperature profile including basal water transport velocity, connection time to the basal water system, basal melting rate and others.", "east": -136.404633, "geometry": "POINT(-136.404633 -82.39955)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e TEMPERATURE/HUMIDITY SENSORS \u003e THERMISTORS \u003e THERMISTORS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Raymond Ridge; Kamb Ice Stream; Engelhardt Ridge; Basal Ice; Unicorn; Alley Ice Stream; Borehole Video; Basal Freeze-on; Ice Stream Flow; Basal Freezing; West Antarctic Ice Sheet Instability; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Whillans Ice Stream; Basal Debris; Simple Dome; Basal Water; Bindschadler Ice Stream; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "locations": "Kamb Ice Stream; Alley Ice Stream; Bindschadler Ice Stream; Engelhardt Ridge; Raymond Ridge; Simple Dome; Unicorn; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Whillans Ice Stream", "north": -82.39955, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kamb, Barclay; Engelhardt, Hermann", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -82.39955, "title": "Basal Conditions of Ice Stream D and Related Borehole Studies of Antarctic Ice Stream Mechanics", "uid": "p0000181", "west": -136.404633}, {"awards": "9909367 Leventer, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((26.27227 -42.81742,38.414467 -42.81742,50.556664 -42.81742,62.698861 -42.81742,74.841058 -42.81742,86.983255 -42.81742,99.125452 -42.81742,111.267649 -42.81742,123.409846 -42.81742,135.552043 -42.81742,147.69424 -42.81742,147.69424 -45.454494,147.69424 -48.091568,147.69424 -50.728642,147.69424 -53.365716,147.69424 -56.00279,147.69424 -58.639864,147.69424 -61.276938,147.69424 -63.914012,147.69424 -66.551086,147.69424 -69.18816,135.552043 -69.18816,123.409846 -69.18816,111.267649 -69.18816,99.125452 -69.18816,86.983255 -69.18816,74.841058 -69.18816,62.698861 -69.18816,50.556664 -69.18816,38.414467 -69.18816,26.27227 -69.18816,26.27227 -66.551086,26.27227 -63.914012,26.27227 -61.276938,26.27227 -58.639864,26.27227 -56.00279,26.27227 -53.365716,26.27227 -50.728642,26.27227 -48.091568,26.27227 -45.454494,26.27227 -42.81742))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom assemblages from Edward VIII Gulf, Kemp Coast, East Antarctica; NB0101 Expedition Data; Quantitative Diatom Assemblage Data from Iceberg Alley, Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica acquired during expedition NBP0101", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601177", "doi": "10.15784/601177", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; East Antarctica; Microscopy; NBP0101; Oceans; Paleoceanography; Paleoclimate; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Corer", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom assemblages from Edward VIII Gulf, Kemp Coast, East Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601177"}, {"dataset_uid": "001879", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NB0101 Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0101"}, {"dataset_uid": "601307", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; East Antarctica; Mac. Robertson Shelf; Marine Geoscience; Microscope; NBP0101; Paleoclimate; Piston Corer; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Core; Species Abundance", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Quantitative Diatom Assemblage Data from Iceberg Alley, Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica acquired during expedition NBP0101", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601307"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9909367 Leventer This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a multi-institutional, international (US - Australia) marine geologic and geophysical investigation of Prydz Bay and the MacRobertson Shelf, to be completed during an approximately 60-day cruise aboard the RVIB N.B. Palmer. The primary objective is to develop a record of climate and oceanographic change during the Quaternary, using sediment cores collected via kasten and jumbo piston coring. Core sites will be selected based on seismic profiling (Seabeam 2112 and Bathy2000). Recognition of the central role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global oceanic and atmospheric systems is based primarily on data collected along the West Antarctic margin, while similar extensive and high resolution data sets from the much more extensive East Antarctic margin are sparse. Goals of this project include (1) development of a century- to millennial-scale record of Holocene paleoenvironments, and (2) testing of hypotheses concerning the sedimentary record of previous glacial and interglacial events on the shelf, and evaluation of the timing and extent of maximum glaciation along this 500 km stretch of the East Antarctic margin. High-resolution seismic mapping and coring of sediments deposited in inner shelf depressions will be used to reconstruct Holocene paleoenvironments. In similar depositional settings in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea, sedimentary records demonstrate millennial- and century- scale variability in primary production and sea-ice extent during the Holocene, which have been linked to chronological periodicities in radiocarbon distribution, suggesting the possible role of solar variability in driving some changes in Holocene climate. Similar high-resolution Holocene records from the East Antarctic margin will be used to develop a circum-Antarctic suite of data regarding the response of southern glacial and oceanographic systems to late Quaternary climate change. In addition, these data will help us to evaluate the response of the East Antarctic margin to global warming. Initial surveys of the Prydz Channel - Amery Depression region reveal sequences deposited during previous Pleistocene interglacials. The upper Holocene and lower (undated) siliceous units can be traced over 15,000 km2 of the Prydz Channel, but more sub-bottom seismic reflection profiling in conjunction with dense coring over this region is needed to define the spatial distribution and extent of the units. Chronological work will determine the timing and duration of previous periods of glacial marine sedimentation on the East Antarctic margin during the late Pleistocene. Analyses will focus on detailed sedimentologic, geochemical, micropaleontological, and paleomagnetic techniques. This multi-parameter approach is the most effective way to extract a valuable paleoenvironmental signal in these glacial marine sediments. These results are expected to lead to a significant advance in understanding of the behavior of the Antarctic ice-sheet and ocean system in the recent geologic past. The combination of investigators, all with many years of experience working in high latitude marine settings, will provide an effective team to complete the project. University and College faculty (Principal Investigators on this project) will supervise a combination of undergraduate and post-graduate students involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in tandem with the research goals of the project.", "east": 147.69424, "geometry": "POINT(86.983255 -56.00279)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -42.81742, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Leventer, Amy", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.18816, "title": "Quaternary Glacial History and Paleoenvironments of the East Antarctic Margin", "uid": "p0000609", "west": 26.27227}, {"awards": "0838842 Passchier, Sandra", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -68,-177 -68,-174 -68,-171 -68,-168 -68,-165 -68,-162 -68,-159 -68,-156 -68,-153 -68,-150 -68,-150 -69,-150 -70,-150 -71,-150 -72,-150 -73,-150 -74,-150 -75,-150 -76,-150 -77,-150 -78,-153 -78,-156 -78,-159 -78,-162 -78,-165 -78,-168 -78,-171 -78,-174 -78,-177 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -77,160 -76,160 -75,160 -74,160 -73,160 -72,160 -71,160 -70,160 -69,160 -68,162 -68,164 -68,166 -68,168 -68,170 -68,172 -68,174 -68,176 -68,178 -68,-180 -68))", "dataset_titles": "Particle-size measurements for diamictites AND-2A sediment core, McMurdo Sound", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601452", "doi": "10.15784/601452", "keywords": "Antarctica; McMurdo Sound; Miocene; Particle Size; Pleistocene; Pliocene", "people": "Hansen, Melissa A.; Passchier, Sandra", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "ANDRILL", "title": "Particle-size measurements for diamictites AND-2A sediment core, McMurdo Sound", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601452"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The project aims on studying sediment cores collected from Prydz Bay and the Ross Sea to unravel the Neogene paleoclimatic history of the East Antarctic ice sheet. In the light of current measurements and predictions of a substantial rise in global temperature, investigations into the sensitivity of the East Antarctic ice sheet to climate change and its role in the climate system are essential. Geological records of former periods of climate change provide an opportunity to ground truth model predictions. The scientific objective of this project is to identify a previously proposed middle Miocene transition from a more dynamic wet-based East Antarctic ice sheet to the present semi-permanent ice sheet that is partially frozen to its bed. The timing and significance of this transition is controversial due to a lack of quantitative studies on well-dated ice-proximal sedimentary sequences. This project partially fills that gap using the composition and physical properties of diamictites and sandstones to establish shifts in ice-sheet drainage pathways, paleoenvironments and basal ice conditions. The results from the two key areas around the Antarctic continental margin will provide insight into the behavior of the East Antarctic ice sheet across the middle Miocene transition and through known times of warming in the late Miocene and Pliocene.", "east": -150.0, "geometry": "POINT(-175 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -68.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Passchier, Sandra", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Determining Middle Miocene through Pliocene Changes in Paleo Ice-flow and Basal Ice Conditions in East Antarctica through Sedimentological Analyses of Core Samples", "uid": "p0000147", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "0003060 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0107", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002656", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0107", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0107"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eQuaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - \"ka\" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eLimited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant \"cold-tongue\" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will collect detrital grains from a variety of \"zero-age\" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSystematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Palmer Deep; Hugo Island; R/V NBP", "locations": "Hugo Island", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Development of a Luminescence Dating Capability for Antarctic Glaciomarine Sediments: Tests of Signal Zeroing at the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000845", "west": null}, {"awards": "9615053 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG9802", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002718", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG9802", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9802"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Domack: OPP 9615053 Manley: OPP 9615670 Banerjee: OPP 9615695 Dunbar: OPP 9615668 Ishman: OPP 9615669 Leventer: OPP 9714371 Abstract This award supports a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional effort to elucidate the detailed climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch (the last 10,000 years). The Holocene is an important, but often overlooked, portion of the Antarctic paleoclimatic record because natural variability in Holocene climate on time scales of decades to millennia can be evaluated as a model for our present \"interglacial\" world. This project builds on over ten years of prior investigation into the depositional processes, productivity patterns and climate regime of the Antarctic Peninsula. This previous work identified key locations that contain ultra-high resolution records of past climatic variation. These data indicate that solar cycles operating on multi-century and millennial time scales are important regulators of meltwater production and paleoproductivity. These marine records can be correlated with ice core records in Greenland and Antarctica. This project will focus on sediment dispersal patterns across the Palmer Deep region. The objective is to understand the present links between the modern climatic and oceanographic systems and sediment distribution. In particular, additional information is needed regarding the influence of sea ice on the distribution of both biogenic and terrigenous sediment distribution. Sediment samples will be collected with a variety of grab sampling and coring devices. Analytical work will include carbon-14 dating of surface sediments using accellerator mass spectrometry and standard sedimentologic, micropaleontologic and magnetic granulometric analyses. This multiparameter approach is the most effective way to extract the paleoclimatic signals contained in the marine sediment cores. Two additional objectives are the deployment of sediment traps in front of the Muller Ice Shelf in Lallemand Fjord and seismic reflection work in conjunction with site augmentation funded through the Joint Oceanographic Institute. The goal of sediment trap work is to address whether sand transport and deposition adjacent to the ice shelf calving line results from meltwater or aeolian processes. In addition, the relationship between sea ice conditions and primary productivity will be investigated. The collection of a short series of seismic lines across the Palmer Deep basins will fully resolve the question of depth to acoustic basement. The combination of investigators on this project, all with many years of experience working in high latitude settings, provides an effective team to complete the project in a timely fashion. A combination of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in-tandem with research goals of the project.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Holocene Paleoenvironmental Change Along the Antarctic Peninsula: A Test of the Solar/Bi-Polar Signal", "uid": "p0000869", "west": null}, {"awards": "9119683 Anderson, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.999 -72.1543,-143.9991 -72.1543,-107.9992 -72.1543,-71.9993 -72.1543,-35.9994 -72.1543,0.000500000000017 -72.1543,36.0004 -72.1543,72.0003 -72.1543,108.0002 -72.1543,144.0001 -72.1543,180 -72.1543,180 -72.72384,180 -73.29338,180 -73.86292,180 -74.43246,180 -75.002,180 -75.57154,180 -76.14108,180 -76.71062,180 -77.28016,180 -77.8497,144.0001 -77.8497,108.0002 -77.8497,72.0003 -77.8497,36.0004 -77.8497,0.000499999999988 -77.8497,-35.9994 -77.8497,-71.9993 -77.8497,-107.9992 -77.8497,-143.9991 -77.8497,-179.999 -77.8497,-179.999 -77.28016,-179.999 -76.71062,-179.999 -76.14108,-179.999 -75.57154,-179.999 -75.002,-179.999 -74.43246,-179.999 -73.86292,-179.999 -73.29338,-179.999 -72.72384,-179.999 -72.1543))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002258", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9401"}, {"dataset_uid": "002241", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9501"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Marine geological and geophysical studies of the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea continental shelves provide evidence that the ice sheet grounded near the shelf edge in these areas during the late Wisconsinan, and that the retreat of the ice sheet to its present position was rapid and probably episodic. This Award supports a project which will establish the most recent (late Wisconsin- Holocene) history of ice sheet advance and retreat in Ross Sea. The objectives include: 1) reconstruction the late Wisconsin paleodrainage regime, including ice stream divides; 2) reconstruction of former grounding zone positions; 3) constraint of the timing of ice sheet retreat from the shelf; and 4) acquisition of geophysical, sedimentological, and paleontological data which may provide indicators the environmental factors that may have influenced to ice sheet retreat. This is a joint effort between Rice University, the University of Colorado, and Hamilton College. The project involves experts in a wide variety of fields, and will interface with glaciologists, physical oceanographers and climatologists who will address the problem of ice sheet stability and the record of climatic and glaciological change.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -72.1543, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, John", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8497, "title": "Geologic Record of Late Wisconsinan/Holocene Ice Sheet Advance and Retreat from Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000641", "west": -179.999}, {"awards": "9220848 Bartek, Louis", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9996 -52.35472,-143.99968 -52.35472,-107.99976 -52.35472,-71.99984 -52.35472,-35.99992 -52.35472,0 -52.35472,35.99992 -52.35472,71.99984 -52.35472,107.99976 -52.35472,143.99968 -52.35472,179.9996 -52.35472,179.9996 -54.916322,179.9996 -57.477924,179.9996 -60.039526,179.9996 -62.601128,179.9996 -65.16273,179.9996 -67.724332,179.9996 -70.285934,179.9996 -72.847536,179.9996 -75.409138,179.9996 -77.97074,143.99968 -77.97074,107.99976 -77.97074,71.99984 -77.97074,35.99992 -77.97074,0 -77.97074,-35.99992 -77.97074,-71.99984 -77.97074,-107.99976 -77.97074,-143.99968 -77.97074,-179.9996 -77.97074,-179.9996 -75.409138,-179.9996 -72.847536,-179.9996 -70.285934,-179.9996 -67.724332,-179.9996 -65.16273,-179.9996 -62.601128,-179.9996 -60.039526,-179.9996 -57.477924,-179.9996 -54.916322,-179.9996 -52.35472))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002245", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9407"}, {"dataset_uid": "002265", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9307"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports an integrated seismic, sedimentologic, and paleontologic investigation of glacio-marine stratigraphy of the Ross Sea continental shelf. The purpose of this work is to acquire seismic images and sediment cores of the glacial sediments toward a better understanding of the Cenozoic history of glaciation in the Ross Sea region. This investigation will utilize high resolution seismic profiling data to locate regions where the Pleistocene glacial till is thin or perhaps absent. Piston coring at these locations, if the till is penetrated, will provide sedimentary records of Cenozoic depositional environments and could provide important clues to fluctuations of the Antarctic Ice Sheets. The seismic profiling will provide a direct record of the grounding history of the Ross Ice Shelf during the Pleistocene and it will also allow first order correlations of Cenozoic sedimentary units that are represented by sediments recovered in the piston cores. This work will provide important proxy records of the history of both the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and this, in turn, will provide important constraints to climate models.", "east": 179.9996, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.35472, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bartek, Louis", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.97074, "title": "Integrated Biostratigraphy and High Resolution Seismic Stratigraphy of the Ross Sea: Implications for Cenozoic Eustatic and Climatic Change", "uid": "p0000643", "west": -179.9996}, {"awards": "9909665 Berger, Glenn", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-67.25 -62,-66.025 -62,-64.8 -62,-63.575 -62,-62.35 -62,-61.125 -62,-59.9 -62,-58.675 -62,-57.45 -62,-56.225 -62,-55 -62,-55 -62.525,-55 -63.05,-55 -63.575,-55 -64.1,-55 -64.625,-55 -65.15,-55 -65.675,-55 -66.2,-55 -66.725,-55 -67.25,-56.225 -67.25,-57.45 -67.25,-58.675 -67.25,-59.9 -67.25,-61.125 -67.25,-62.35 -67.25,-63.575 -67.25,-64.8 -67.25,-66.025 -67.25,-67.25 -67.25,-67.25 -66.725,-67.25 -66.2,-67.25 -65.675,-67.25 -65.15,-67.25 -64.625,-67.25 -64.1,-67.25 -63.575,-67.25 -63.05,-67.25 -62.525,-67.25 -62))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001818", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0107"}, {"dataset_uid": "001707", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0303"}], "date_created": "Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9909665 Berger This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. Quaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - \"ka\" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments. Limited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant \"cold-tongue\" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition). This project will collect detrital grains from a variety of \"zero-age\" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses. Systematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.", "east": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-61.125 -64.625)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG; Not provided; Luminescence; Hugo Island; Geochronology; R/V NBP; Palmer Deep", "locations": "Hugo Island", "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Berger, Glenn; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.25, "title": "Collaborative Research: Development of a Luminescence Dating Capability for Antarctic Glaciomarine Sediments: Tests of Signal Zeroing at the Antarctic Pennisula", "uid": "p0000592", "west": -67.25}, {"awards": "0126146 Miller, Molly", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(171 -83.75)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, provides funds for a study to investigate paleoenvironmental conditions during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic in central interior Antarctica. The 4 km thick sequence of sedimentary rocks, known as the Beacon Supergroup, in the Beardmore Glacier area records 90 million years of Permian through Jurassic history of this high-paleolatitude sector of Gondwana. It accumulated in a foreland basin with a rate of subsidence approximately equal to the rate of deposition. The deposits have yielded diverse vertebrate fossils, in situ fossil forests, and exceptionally well preserved plant fossils. They give a unique glimpse of glacial, lake, and stream/river environments and ecosystems and preserve an unparalleled record of the depositional, paleoclimatic, and tectonic history of the area. The excellent work done to date provides a solid base of information on which to build understanding of conditions and processes.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project is a collaborative study of this stratigraphic section that will integrate sedimentologic, paleontologic, and ichnologic observations to answer focused questions, including: (1) What are the stratigraphic architecture and alluvial facies of Upper Permian to Jurassic rocks in the Beardmore area?; (2) In what tectonostratigraphic setting were these rocks deposited?; (3) Did vertebrates inhabit the cold, near-polar, Permian floodplains, as indicated by vertebrate burrows, and can these burrows be used to identify, for the first time, the presence of small early mammals in Mesozoic deposits?; and (4) How did bottom-dwelling animals in lakes and streams use substrate ecospace, how did ecospace use at these high paleolatitudes differ from ecospace use in equivalent environments at low paleolatitudes, and what does burrow distribution reveal about seasonality of river flow and thus about paleoclimate? Answers to these questions will (1) clarify the paleoclimatic, basinal, and tectonic history of this part of Gondwana, (2) elucidate the colonization of near-polar ecosystems by vertebrates, (3) provide new information on the environmental and paleolatitudinal distributions of early mammals, and (4) allow semi-quantitative assessment of the activity and abundance of bottom-dwelling animals in different freshwater environments at high and low latitudes. In summary, this project will contribute significantly to an understanding of paleobiology and paleoecology at a high latitude floodplain setting during a time in Earth history when the climate was much different than today.", "east": 171.0, "geometry": "POINT(171 -83.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Beardmore Glacier; FIELD SURVEYS; Paleoclimate; Permian; Paleontology; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Sedimentologic; Ichnologic; Stratigraphic; Gondwana", "locations": "Beardmore Glacier", "north": -83.75, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e JURASSIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e PERMIAN; PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e TRIASSIC", "persons": "Miller, Molly", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -83.75, "title": "Collaborative Research: Late Paleozoic-Mesozoic Fauna, Environment, Climate and Basinal History: Beardmore Glacier Area, Transantarctic Mountains", "uid": "p0000736", "west": 171.0}]
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This research will provide new insights into the relationships and history of sharks, fish and limbed animals. Understanding these relationships forms the backbone for both basic and applied science because fish often serve as models of human traits and diseases. Some of the main lines of evidence for these relationships come from fossils in rocks over 380 million years old that were originally deposited as ancient rivers and streams. Because rocks of this type and age are abundantly exposed along a number of the dry valleys and mountains of Antarctica, the investigation of these areas holds exceptional promise for discoveries that can have a broad impact. The fieldwork will involve geological mapping and assessment of the rocks with detailed reconnaissance for the fossils that they may hold. Fossil discoveries form the backbone for public communication of the methods and results of scientific research-- these studies will be used as vehicles for training of students at multiple levels as well as communication of science to the broader non-science citizen base. The discovery, description, and analysis of Middle to Late Devonian (390-355 Million years ago) vertebrates and depositional environments provide important data on the emergence of novel anatomical structures, faunas, and habitats during a critical interval in the history of life and earth. Biological innovation during this time includes the early evolution of freshwater fish, the origins of major groups of vertebrates (e.g., sharks, lobe and ray-finned fish, tetrapods), and the expansion and elaboration of non-marine ecosystems. Accordingly, expanding our knowledge of vertebrate diversity during the Middle and Late Devonian will provide new evidence on the relationships of the major groups of vertebrates, the assembly of novelties that ultimately enabled tetrapods to invade land, the origin and early evolution of sharks and their relatives, and the assembly and expansion of non-marine ecosystems generally. The Aztec Siltstone of Antarctica Middle-Late Devonian; Givetian-Frasnian Stages) has exceptional potential to produce new paleontological evidence of these events and to illuminate the temporal, ecological, and geographic context in which they occurred. It is essentially fossiliferous throughout its known exposure range, something that is rare for Middle-Late Devonian non-marine rocks anywhere in the world. In addition, fine-grained meandering stream deposits are abundantly exposed in the Aztec Siltstone and are recognized as an important locus for the discovery of well-preserved Devonian fish, including stem tetrapods and their relatives. Given the exceedingly fossiliferous nature of the Aztec Siltstone, the large number of taxa known only from partial material, and the amount of promising exposure yet to be worked, a dedicated reconnaissance, collection, and research effort is designed to recover important new fossil material and embed it in a stratigraphic and sedimentological context. The first major objective of this study is the recovery, preparation, and description of Middle-Late Devonian fossil taxa. Ensuing investigation of the phylogenetic affinities, taphonomic occurrence, and stratigraphic position of fossil assemblages will allow both local and global comparisons of biotic diversity. These analyses will inform: 1) higher level phylogenetic hypotheses of jawed vertebrates, 2) biostratigraphic and biogeographic analysis of the distribution of the Middle-Late Devonian fish, and 3) paleobiological investigation of the elaboration of terrestrial and freshwater habitats. The broader impacts are derived from the utility of paleontology and Antarctic expeditionary science as educational tools with powerful narratives. Specific goals include affiliations with local urban secondary schools (using established relationships for broadening participation) and collegiate and graduate training. Wider dissemination of knowledge to the general public is a direct product of ongoing interactions with national and international media (print, television, internet).
The focus of this collaborative project is to collect fossil plants, wood, and sedimentary and chemical information from rocks in the Shackleton Glacier (SHK) area of Antarctica. This information will be used to reconstruct plant life and environments during the Permian and Triassic (~295-205 million years ago) in Antarctica. This time interval is important to study as Antarctica experienced a large glaciation in the Permian followed by deglaciation and recovery of plant and animal life, only to be subjected to the largest extinction in Earth history at the end of the Permian. After the extinction events, the climate in Antarctica continued to warm extensively and there were forests growing close to the paleo-South Pole. These ancient environments provide a natural laboratory in which to study the effects of climate change on plant life. The results of this project will advance the field in the areas of changing sedimentary patterns during global cooling and warming, as well as plant evolution during times following glaciation and during global warmth. This project will study the extent of the Gondwana glaciation in the SHK area, the invasion and subsequent flourishing of life following glacial retreat, and the eventual recovery of plant life after Late Permian extinction events. Only in Antarctica does a complete polar-to-near-polar succession occur across this climatic and biologic transition. The SHK area is an important one as it is one of the few regions in the world where the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) is exposed within terrestrial rocks. The field and lab work for this project is organized around three hypotheses that address fundamental issues in Earth history, including changes in the extent and diversity of flora during the Permian build up to the Late Paleozoic Ice Age, the possible diachronous nature of the PTB, and that poor fossil preservation during the Early Triassic has given a false impression that Antarctica was devoid of plants during this time. The hypotheses will be tested by integrating various types of paleobotanical approaches with detailed sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochemistry. Compression floras and petrified wood will be collected (constrained by stratigraphy) both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to obtain biodiversity and abundance data, and as a data source for paleoecological analysis. Standard sedimentologic and stratigraphic analyses will be performed, as well as paleosol analyses, including mineralogic and major- and trace-element geochemistry. Collections will also be made for U-Pb zircon geochronology to better constrain geologic and biotic events through time. Results of the project will be incorporated into educational and outreach activities that are designed to include women and under-represented groups in the excitement of Antarctic earth sciences and paleontology, including workshops in Kansas and Wisconsin, as well as links to science classes during fieldwork.
Antarctic groundwater drives the regional carbon cycle and can accelerate permafrost thaw shaping Antarctic surface features. However, groundwater extent, flow, and processes on a continent virtually locked in ice are poorly understood. The proposed work investigates the interplay between groundwater, sediment, and ice in Antarctica's cold desert landscape to determine when, where, and why Antarctic groundwater is flowing, and how it may evolve Antarctic frozen deserts from dry and stable to wet and dynamic. Mapping the changing extent of Antarctic near-surface groundwater requires the ability to measure soil moisture rapidly and repeatedly over large areas. The research will capture changes in near-surface groundwater distribution through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mapping approach. The project integrates a diverse range of sensors with new UAV technologies to provide a higher-resolution and more frequent assessment of Antarctic groundwater extent and composition than can be accomplished using satellite observations alone. To complement the research objectives, the PI will develop a new UAV summer field school, the Geosciences UAV Academy, focused on training undergraduate-level UAV pilots in conducting novel earth sciences research using cutting edge imaging tools. The integration of research and technology will prepare students for careers in UAV-related industries and research. The project will deliver new UAV tools and workflows for soil moisture mapping relevant to arid regions including Antarctica as well as temperate desert and dryland systems and will train student research pilots to tackle next generation airborne challenges. Water tracks are the basic hydrological unit that currently feeds the rapidly-changing permafrost and wetlands in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV). Despite the importance of water tracks in the MDV hydrologic cycle and their influence on biogeochemistry, little is known about how these water tracks control the unique brine processes operating in Antarctic ice-free areas. Both groundwater availability and geochemistry shape Antarctic microbial communities, connecting soil geology and hydrology to carbon cycling and ecosystem functioning. The objectives of this CAREER proposal are to 1) map water tracks to determine the spatial distribution and seasonal magnitude of groundwater impacts on the MDV near-surface environment to determine how near-surface groundwater drives permafrost thaw and enhances chemical weathering and biogeochemical cycling; 2) establish a UAV academy training earth sciences students to answer geoscience questions using drone-based platforms and remote sensing techniques; and 3) provide a formative step in the development of the PI as a teacher-scholar. UAV-borne hyperspectral imaging complemented with field soil sampling will determine the aerial extent and timing of inundation, water level, and water budget of representative water tracks in the MDV. Soil moisture will be measured via near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy while bulk chemistry of soils and groundwater will be analyzed via ion chromatography and soil x-ray fluorescence. Sedimentological and hydrological properties will be determined via analysis of intact core samples. These data will be used to test competing hypotheses regarding the origin of water track solutions and water movement through seasonal wetlands. The work will provide a regional understanding of groundwater sources, shallow groundwater flux, and the influence of regional hydrogeology on solute export to the Southern Ocean and on soil/atmosphere linkages in earth's carbon budget. The UAV school will 1) provide comprehensive instruction at the undergraduate level in both how and why UAVs can advance geoscience research and learning; and 2) provide educational infrastructure for an eventual self-sustaining summer program for undergraduate UAV education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I: Non-technical description: Predicting how polar ice sheets will respond to future global warming is difficult because all the processes that contribute to their melting are not well understood. This is important because the more ice on land that melts, the higher sea levels will rise. The most significant uncertainty in current estimates of sea-level rise in the coming decades is the potential contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. One way to increase our knowledge about how large ice sheets respond to climate change in response to natural factors is to examine the geologic past. Natural global warming (and cooling) events in Earth’s history provide examples that we can use to better understand processes, interactions, and responses we can’t directly observe today. One such time period, approximately three million years ago (known as the Pliocene), was the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were as high as they are today and, therefore, represents a time period to study to better understand the ice sheet response to a warming climate. Specifically, this project is interested in understanding how ocean currents near Antarctica, which transport heat and store carbon, behaved during these past climate events. The history of past ice sheet-ocean interactions are recorded in sediments that were deposited, layer upon layer, in the deep sea offshore Antarctica. In January-February 2018, a team of scientists and crew set sail to the Ross Sea, offshore west Antarctica, on the scientific ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution to recover such sediment archives. This project focuses on a sediment core from that expedition, which captures the relatively warm Pliocene time interval, as well as the subsequent transition into cooler climates typical of the past two million years. The researchers will analyze the sediment with multiple complementary measurements, including: grain size, composition, chemistry of organic matter, physical structures, microfossil type and abundance, and more. These analyses will be done by the research team, including several students, at their respective laboratories and will then integrated into a unified record of ice sheet-ocean interactions. Ultimately, the results will be used to improve modeled projections of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet could respond to future climate change. Part II: Technical description: Geological records from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) margin demonstrate that the ice sheet oscillated in response to orbital variations in insolation (i.e., ~400, 100, 41, and 20 kyr), and it appears to be more sensitive to specific frequencies that regulate mean annual insolation (i.e., 41-kyr obliquity), particularly when the ice sheet extends into marine environments and is impacted by ocean circulation. However, the relationship between orbital forcing and the production of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is unconstrained. Thus, a knowledge gap exists in understanding how changing insolation impacts ice marginal and Southern Ocean conditions that directly influence ventilation of the global ocean. The researchers hypothesize that insolation-driven changes directly affected the production and export of AABW to the Southern Ocean from the Pliocene through the Pleistocene. For example, obliquity amplification during the warmer Pliocene may have led to enhanced production and export of dense waters from the shelf due to reduced AIS extent, which, in turn, led to greater AABW outflow. To determine the relationship of AABW production to orbital regime, they plan to reconstruct both from a single, continuous record from the levee of Hillary Canyon, a major conduit of AABW outflow, on the Ross Sea continental rise. To test their hypothesis, they will analyze sediment from IODP Site U1524 (recovered in 2018 during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 374) and focus on three data sets. (1) They will use the occurrence, frequency, and character of mm-scale turbidite beds as a proxy of dense-shelf-water cascading outflow and AABW production. They will estimate the down-slope flux via numerical modeling of turbidity current properties using morphology, grain size, and bed thickness as input parameters. (2) They will use grain-size data, physical properties, XRF core scanning, CT imaging, and hyperspectral imaging to guide lithofacies analysis to infer processes occurring during glacial, deglacial, and interglacial periods. Statistical techniques and optimization methods will be applied to test for astronomical forcing of sedimentary packages in order to provide a cyclostratigraphic framework and interpret the orbital-forcing regime. (3) They will use bulk sedimentary carbon and nitrogen abundance and isotope data to determine how relative contributions of terrigenous and marine organic matter change in response to orbital forcing. All of these data will be integrated with sedimentological records to deconvolve organic matter production from its deposition or remobilization due to AABW outflow as a function of the oscillating extent of the AIS. These data sets will be integrated into a unified chronostratigraphy to determine the relationship between AABW outflow and orbital-forcing scenarios under the varying climate regimes of the Plio-Pleistocene. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
As glaciers creep across the landscape, they can act as earthmovers, plucking up rocks and grinding them into fine sediments. Glaciers have moved across the Antarctic landscape over thousands to millions of years, leaving these ground-up sediments in their wake. This study builds on pilot discoveries by the investigators that revealed remarkably large and variable measurements of surface area in glacially-derived fine-grained sediments found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), one of the few landscapes on the Antarctic continent not currently covered by ice. Surface area is key to chemical weathering, the process by which rock is converted to soils as ions are carried away in streams and groundwater. These chemical weathering processes are also one of the primary means by which the Earth system naturally removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Hence, high surface areas observed in sediments implies high "weatherability" which in turn translates to more potential carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. Therefore, chemical weathering in high surface area glacial sediments may have significant impacts on Earth's carbon cycle. The researchers will measure the chemical and physical properties of sediments previously collected from the Dry Valleys to understand what factors lead to production of sediment with high-surface area and potential "weather ability" and investigate how sediment produced in these glacial systems could ultimately impact Earth's carbon budget. Results from this research will help scientists (including modelers) refine predictions of the effects of melting glaciers- and attendant exposure of glacial sediment? on atmospheric carbon levels. These results may also contribute to applied research efforts on development of carbon-dioxide removal technologies utilizing principles of rock weathering. In addition to the scientific benefits, this research will involve several students at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels, including science education undergraduates, thus contributing to training of the next-generation STEM workforce. Physical weathering produces fresh surfaces, greatly enhancing specific surface area (SSA) and reactive surface area (RSA) of primary minerals. Quantifying SSA and RSA of sediments is key to determining dissolution and leaching rates during natural weathering, but few data exist on distribution of sediment SA, particularly in glacial and fluvial systems. Pilot data from glacial stream systems in Taylor Valley and Wright Valley (located in the MDV) exhibit remarkably high and variable values in both SSA and RSA, values that in some cases greatly exceed values from muds in temperate glacial systems. This discovery motivates the current research, which aims to investigate the hypothesis that high and variable SAs of muds within Wright and Taylor Valleys reflect textural and/or compositional inheritance from the differing depositional settings within the MDV, biologic controls, dust additions, and/or pedogenic processes. These hypotheses will be tested by sedimentologically, mineralogically, and geochemically characterizing muds from glacially derived sediment deposited in various environments (cold vs. wet based glaciation; fluvial, lacustrine, dust, and drift deposits) and of varying age (Miocene to Modern) from the MDV and quantifying variation of SA and reactivity. Comparisons with analyzed muds from temperate glacial systems will enable polar-temperate comparisons. Analyses will focus on muds of previously collected sediment from the MDVs. Grain size and SSA will be measured by Laser Analysis and N2 adsorption BET, respectively. After carbonate removal, samples will be re-analyzed for SSA, and muds characterized geochemically. Mineralogy and bulk chemistry will also be assessed on co-occurring sand fractions, and textural attributes documented. SSA-normalized dissolution experiments will be used to compare solutes released from sediments to determine RSAs. Results will be integrated with the various sedimentologic and geochemical analyses to test the posed hypotheses. Ultimately, this research should shed light on how weathering in Antarctic systems contributes to global carbon cycling.
Abstract (non-technical) Sea level rise is a problem of global importance and it is increasingly affecting the tens of millions of Americans living along coastlines. The melting of glaciers in mountain areas worldwide in response to global warming is a major cause of sea level rise and increases in nuisance coastal flooding. However, the world's largest land-based ice sheets are situated in the Polar Regions and their response under continued warming is very difficult to predict. One reason for this uncertainty is a lack of observations of ice behavior and melt under conditions of warming, as it is a relatively new global climate state lasting only a few generations so far. Researchers will investigate ice growth on Antarctica under past warm conditions using geological archives embedded in the layers of sand and mud under the sea floor near Antarctica. By peeling back at the layers beneath the seafloor investigators can read the history book of past events affecting the ice sheet. The Antarctic continent on the South Pole, carries the largest ice mass in the world. The investigator's findings will substantially improve scientists understanding of the response of ice sheets to global warming and its effect on sea level rise. Abstract (technical) The melt of land based ice is raising global sea levels with at present only minor contributions from polar ice sheets. However, the future role of polar ice sheets in climate change is one of the most critical uncertainties in predictions of sea level rise around the globe. The respective roles of oceanic and atmospheric greenhouse forcing on ice sheets are poorly addressed with recent measurements of polar climatology, because of the extreme rise in greenhouse forcing the earth is experiencing at this time. Data on the evolution of the West Antarctic ice sheet is particularly sparse. To address the data gap, researchers will reconstruct the timing and spatial distribution of Antarctic ice growth through the last greenhouse to icehouse climate transition around 37 to 33 Ma. They will collect sedimentological and geochemical data on core samples from a high-latitude paleoarchive to trace the shutdown of the chemical weathering system, the onset of glacial erosion, ice rafting, and sea ice development, as East and West Antarctic ice sheets coalesced in the Weddell Sea sector. Their findings will lead to profound increases in the understanding of the role of greenhouse forcing in ice sheet development and its effect on the global climate system. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The LISSARD project (Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) is one of three research components of the WISSARD integrative initiative (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) that is being funded by the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program of NSF's Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. The overarching scientific objective of WISSARD is to assess the role of water beneath a West Antarctic ice stream in interlinked glaciological, geological, microbiological, geochemical, and oceanographic systems. The LISSARD component of WISSARD focuses on the role of active subglacial lakes in determining how fast the West Antarctic ice sheet loses mass to the global ocean and influences global sea level changes. The importance of Antarctic subglacial lakes has only been recently recognized, and the lakes have been identified as high priority targets for scientific investigations because of their unknown contributions to ice sheet stability under future global warming scenarios. LISSARD has several primary science goals: A) To provide an observational basis for improving treatments of subglacial hydrological and mechanical processes in models of ice sheet mass balance and stability; B) To reconstruct the past history of ice stream stability by analyzing archives of past basal water and ice flow variability contained in subglacial sediments, porewater, lake water, and basal accreted ice; C) To provide background understanding of subglacial lake environments to benefit RAGES and GBASE (the other two components of the WISSARD project); and D) To synthesize data and concepts developed as part of this project to determine whether subglacial lakes play an important role in (de)stabilizing Antarctic ice sheets. We propose an unprecedented synthesis of approaches to studying ice sheet processes, including: (1) satellite remote sensing, (2) surface geophysics, (3) borehole observations and measurements and, (4) basal and subglacial sampling. <br/><br/>INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognized that the greatest uncertainties in assessing future global sea-level change stem from a poor understanding of ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet vulnerability to oceanic and atmospheric warming. Disintegration of the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) alone would contribute 3-5 m to global sea-level rise, making WAIS a focus of scientific concern due to its potential susceptibility to internal or ocean-driven instability. The overall WISSARD project will test the overarching hypothesis that active water drainage connects various subglacial environments and exerts major control on ice sheet flow, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations. <br/><br/>BROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: Global warming, melting of ice sheets and consequential sea-level rise are of high societal relevance. Science Resource Development: After a 9-year hiatus WISSARD will provide the US-science community with a renewed capability to access and study sub-ice sheet environments. Developing this technological infrastructure will benefit the broader science community and assets will be accessible for future use through the NSF-OPP drilling contractor. Furthermore, these projects will pioneer an approach implementing recommendations from the National Research Council committee on Principles of Environmental Stewardship for the Exploration and Study of Subglacial Environments (2007). Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating them in our research programs; ii) introducing new investigators to the polar sciences by incorporating promising young investigators in our programs, iii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by incorporating various teachers and NSTA programs, and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as popular science magazines, museum based activities and videography and documentary films. In summary, WISSARD will promote scientific exploration of Antarctica by conveying to the public the excitement of accessing and studying what may be some of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth, and which represent a potential analogue for extraterrestrial life habitats on Europa and Mars.
Intellectual Merit: The PI hypothesizes that bedforms found in the Central and Joides troughs can be interpreted as having been formed by rapid retreat, and possible collapse of an ice stream that occupied this area. To test this hypothesis, the PI proposes to conduct a detailed marine geological and geophysical survey of Central and Joides Troughs in the western Ross Sea. This project will bridge gaps between the small and isolated areas previously surveyed and will acquire a detailed sedimentological record of the retreating grounding line. The PI will reconstruct the retreat history of the Central and Joides troughs to century-scale resolution using radiocarbon dating methods and by looking at geomorphic features that are formed at regular time intervals. Existing multibeam, deep tow side-scan sonar, and core data will provide a framework for this research. The western Ross Sea is an ideal study area to investigate a single ice stream and the dynamics controlling its stability, including interactions between both East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. Broader impacts: This proposal includes a post-doc, a graduate and two undergraduate students. The post-doc is involved with teaching an in-service K-12 teacher development and training course at Rice University for high-need teachers with a focus on curriculum enhancement. The project fosters collaboration for the PI and students with researchers at Louisiana State University and international colleagues at the Institute for Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The results from this project could lead to a better understanding of ice sheet and ice stream stability. This project will yield implications for society's understanding of climate change, as this work improves understanding of the behavior of ice sheets and their links to global climate.
Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.
Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.
Intellectual Merit:<br/>The focus of this proposal is to collect fossil plants and palynomorphs from Permian-Triassic (P-T) rocks of the central Transantarctic Mountains (CTM), together with detailed data on sedimentologic and paleoecologic depositional environments. Fossil plants are important climate proxies that offer a unique window into the past, and the CTM fossils are an important source of data on the ways that plants responded to a strongly seasonal, polar light regime during a time of global change. The proposed project uses paleobotanical expertise, integrated with detailed sedimentology and stratigraphy, to reconstruct Permian-Triassic plant communities and their paleoenvironments. This interdisciplinary approach could uncover details of Antarctica?s complex late Paleozoic and Mesozoic environmental and climatic history which included: 1) deglaciation, 2) development and evolution of a post-glacial landscape and biota, 3) environmental and biotic change associated with the end-Permian mass extinction, 4) environmental recovery in the earliest Triassic, 5) strong, possible runaway Triassic greenhouse, and 6) widespread orogenesis and development of a foreland basin system. The PIs will collect compression floras both quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain biodiversity and abundance data. Since silicified wood is also present, the PIs will analyze tree rings and growth in a warm, high-latitude environment for which there is no modern analogue. Fossil plants from the CTM can provide biological and environmental information to: 1) interpret paleoclimate when Gondwana moved from icehouse to greenhouse conditions; 2) trace floral evolution across the P-T boundary; 3) reconstruct Antarctic plant life; 4) further understanding of plant adaptations to high latitudes. The Intellectual Merit of the research includes: 1) tracing floral evolution after the retreat of glaciers; 2) examining floral composition and diversity across the PTB; and 3) obtaining data on the recovery of these ecosystems in the Early Triassic, as well as changes in floral cover and diversity in the Early-Middle Triassic. Antarctica is the only place on Earth that includes extensive outcrops of terrestrial rocks, combined with widespread and well-preserved plant fossils, which spans this crucial time period.<br/><br/>Broader impacts:<br/>The broader impacts include public outreach; teaching, and mentoring of women and underrepresented students; mentoring graduate student, postdoctoral, and new faculty women; development of an inquiry-based workshop on Antarctic paleoclimate with the Division of Education, KU Natural History Museum; continuing support of workshops for middle school girls in science via the Expanding Your Horizons Program, Emporia State University, and the TRIO program, KU; exploring Antarctic geosciences through video/computer links from McMurdo Station and satellite phone conferences from the field with K-12 science classes in Wisconsin and Kansas, and through participation in the NSF Research Experiences for Teachers program at the University of Wisconsin.
Intellectual Merit: <br/>The goal of this project is to address relationships between foreland basins and their tectonic settings by combining detrital zircon isotope characteristics and sedimentological data. To accomplish this goal the PIs will develop a detailed geochronology and analyze Hf- and O-isotopes of detrital zircons in sandstones of the Devonian Taylor Group and the Permian-Triassic Victoria Group. These data will allow them to better determine provenance and basin fill, and to understand the nature of the now ice covered source regions in East and West Antarctica. The PIs will document possible unexposed/unknown crustal terrains in West Antarctica, investigate sub-glacial terrains of East Antarctica that were exposed to erosion during Devonian to Triassic time, and determine the evolving provenance and tectonic history of the Devonian to Triassic Gondwana basins in the central Transantarctic Mountains. Detrital zircon data will be interpreted in the context of fluvial dispersal/drainage patterns, sandstone petrology, and sequence stratigraphy. This interpretation will identify source terrains and evolving sediment provenances. Paleocurrent analysis and sequence stratigraphy will determine the timing and nature of changing tectonic conditions associated with development of the depositional basins and document the tectonic history of the Antarctic sector of Gondwana. Results from this study will answer questions about the Panthalassan margin of Gondwana, the Antarctic craton, and the Beacon depositional basin and their respective roles in global tectonics and the geologic and biotic history of Antarctica. The Beacon basin and adjacent uplands played an important role in the development and demise of Gondwanan glaciation through modification of polar climates, development of peat-forming mires, colonization of the landscape by plants, and were a migration route for Mesozoic vertebrates into Antarctica. <br/><br/>Broader impacts: <br/>This proposal includes support for two graduate students who will participate in the fieldwork, and also support for other students to participate in laboratory studies. Results of the research will be incorporated in classroom teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels and will help train the next generation of field geologists. Interactions with K-12 science classes will be achieved by video/computer conferencing and satellite phone connections from Antarctica. Another outreach effort is the developing cooperation between the Byrd Polar Research Center and the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus.
This award is for support for a four year program to study the basal conditions of ice stream D using techniques previously applied to ice stream B. The objective is to determine whether the physical conditions and processes to be observed by borehole geophysics at the base of this large ice stream are consistent with what has been observed at ice stream B and to point to a common basal mechanism of ice streaming. This project includes a comparison between two parts of ice stream D, an upstream reach where flow velocities are modest (about 80 meters/year) and a downstream reach of high velocity (about 400 meters/year). The comparison will help to reveal what physical variable or combination of variables is mainly responsible for the streaming flow. The variables to be monitmred by borehole observation include basal water pressure, basal sliding velocity, flow properties and sedimentological characteristics of subglacial till if present, ice temperature profile including basal water transport velocity, connection time to the basal water system, basal melting rate and others.
9909367 Leventer This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a multi-institutional, international (US - Australia) marine geologic and geophysical investigation of Prydz Bay and the MacRobertson Shelf, to be completed during an approximately 60-day cruise aboard the RVIB N.B. Palmer. The primary objective is to develop a record of climate and oceanographic change during the Quaternary, using sediment cores collected via kasten and jumbo piston coring. Core sites will be selected based on seismic profiling (Seabeam 2112 and Bathy2000). Recognition of the central role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global oceanic and atmospheric systems is based primarily on data collected along the West Antarctic margin, while similar extensive and high resolution data sets from the much more extensive East Antarctic margin are sparse. Goals of this project include (1) development of a century- to millennial-scale record of Holocene paleoenvironments, and (2) testing of hypotheses concerning the sedimentary record of previous glacial and interglacial events on the shelf, and evaluation of the timing and extent of maximum glaciation along this 500 km stretch of the East Antarctic margin. High-resolution seismic mapping and coring of sediments deposited in inner shelf depressions will be used to reconstruct Holocene paleoenvironments. In similar depositional settings in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea, sedimentary records demonstrate millennial- and century- scale variability in primary production and sea-ice extent during the Holocene, which have been linked to chronological periodicities in radiocarbon distribution, suggesting the possible role of solar variability in driving some changes in Holocene climate. Similar high-resolution Holocene records from the East Antarctic margin will be used to develop a circum-Antarctic suite of data regarding the response of southern glacial and oceanographic systems to late Quaternary climate change. In addition, these data will help us to evaluate the response of the East Antarctic margin to global warming. Initial surveys of the Prydz Channel - Amery Depression region reveal sequences deposited during previous Pleistocene interglacials. The upper Holocene and lower (undated) siliceous units can be traced over 15,000 km2 of the Prydz Channel, but more sub-bottom seismic reflection profiling in conjunction with dense coring over this region is needed to define the spatial distribution and extent of the units. Chronological work will determine the timing and duration of previous periods of glacial marine sedimentation on the East Antarctic margin during the late Pleistocene. Analyses will focus on detailed sedimentologic, geochemical, micropaleontological, and paleomagnetic techniques. This multi-parameter approach is the most effective way to extract a valuable paleoenvironmental signal in these glacial marine sediments. These results are expected to lead to a significant advance in understanding of the behavior of the Antarctic ice-sheet and ocean system in the recent geologic past. The combination of investigators, all with many years of experience working in high latitude marine settings, will provide an effective team to complete the project. University and College faculty (Principal Investigators on this project) will supervise a combination of undergraduate and post-graduate students involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in tandem with the research goals of the project.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The project aims on studying sediment cores collected from Prydz Bay and the Ross Sea to unravel the Neogene paleoclimatic history of the East Antarctic ice sheet. In the light of current measurements and predictions of a substantial rise in global temperature, investigations into the sensitivity of the East Antarctic ice sheet to climate change and its role in the climate system are essential. Geological records of former periods of climate change provide an opportunity to ground truth model predictions. The scientific objective of this project is to identify a previously proposed middle Miocene transition from a more dynamic wet-based East Antarctic ice sheet to the present semi-permanent ice sheet that is partially frozen to its bed. The timing and significance of this transition is controversial due to a lack of quantitative studies on well-dated ice-proximal sedimentary sequences. This project partially fills that gap using the composition and physical properties of diamictites and sandstones to establish shifts in ice-sheet drainage pathways, paleoenvironments and basal ice conditions. The results from the two key areas around the Antarctic continental margin will provide insight into the behavior of the East Antarctic ice sheet across the middle Miocene transition and through known times of warming in the late Miocene and Pliocene.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. <br/><br/>Quaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - "ka" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments.<br/><br/>Limited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant "cold-tongue" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition).<br/><br/>This project will collect detrital grains from a variety of "zero-age" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses.<br/><br/>Systematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.
Domack: OPP 9615053 Manley: OPP 9615670 Banerjee: OPP 9615695 Dunbar: OPP 9615668 Ishman: OPP 9615669 Leventer: OPP 9714371 Abstract This award supports a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional effort to elucidate the detailed climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch (the last 10,000 years). The Holocene is an important, but often overlooked, portion of the Antarctic paleoclimatic record because natural variability in Holocene climate on time scales of decades to millennia can be evaluated as a model for our present "interglacial" world. This project builds on over ten years of prior investigation into the depositional processes, productivity patterns and climate regime of the Antarctic Peninsula. This previous work identified key locations that contain ultra-high resolution records of past climatic variation. These data indicate that solar cycles operating on multi-century and millennial time scales are important regulators of meltwater production and paleoproductivity. These marine records can be correlated with ice core records in Greenland and Antarctica. This project will focus on sediment dispersal patterns across the Palmer Deep region. The objective is to understand the present links between the modern climatic and oceanographic systems and sediment distribution. In particular, additional information is needed regarding the influence of sea ice on the distribution of both biogenic and terrigenous sediment distribution. Sediment samples will be collected with a variety of grab sampling and coring devices. Analytical work will include carbon-14 dating of surface sediments using accellerator mass spectrometry and standard sedimentologic, micropaleontologic and magnetic granulometric analyses. This multiparameter approach is the most effective way to extract the paleoclimatic signals contained in the marine sediment cores. Two additional objectives are the deployment of sediment traps in front of the Muller Ice Shelf in Lallemand Fjord and seismic reflection work in conjunction with site augmentation funded through the Joint Oceanographic Institute. The goal of sediment trap work is to address whether sand transport and deposition adjacent to the ice shelf calving line results from meltwater or aeolian processes. In addition, the relationship between sea ice conditions and primary productivity will be investigated. The collection of a short series of seismic lines across the Palmer Deep basins will fully resolve the question of depth to acoustic basement. The combination of investigators on this project, all with many years of experience working in high latitude settings, provides an effective team to complete the project in a timely fashion. A combination of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in-tandem with research goals of the project.
Marine geological and geophysical studies of the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea continental shelves provide evidence that the ice sheet grounded near the shelf edge in these areas during the late Wisconsinan, and that the retreat of the ice sheet to its present position was rapid and probably episodic. This Award supports a project which will establish the most recent (late Wisconsin- Holocene) history of ice sheet advance and retreat in Ross Sea. The objectives include: 1) reconstruction the late Wisconsin paleodrainage regime, including ice stream divides; 2) reconstruction of former grounding zone positions; 3) constraint of the timing of ice sheet retreat from the shelf; and 4) acquisition of geophysical, sedimentological, and paleontological data which may provide indicators the environmental factors that may have influenced to ice sheet retreat. This is a joint effort between Rice University, the University of Colorado, and Hamilton College. The project involves experts in a wide variety of fields, and will interface with glaciologists, physical oceanographers and climatologists who will address the problem of ice sheet stability and the record of climatic and glaciological change.
This award supports an integrated seismic, sedimentologic, and paleontologic investigation of glacio-marine stratigraphy of the Ross Sea continental shelf. The purpose of this work is to acquire seismic images and sediment cores of the glacial sediments toward a better understanding of the Cenozoic history of glaciation in the Ross Sea region. This investigation will utilize high resolution seismic profiling data to locate regions where the Pleistocene glacial till is thin or perhaps absent. Piston coring at these locations, if the till is penetrated, will provide sedimentary records of Cenozoic depositional environments and could provide important clues to fluctuations of the Antarctic Ice Sheets. The seismic profiling will provide a direct record of the grounding history of the Ross Ice Shelf during the Pleistocene and it will also allow first order correlations of Cenozoic sedimentary units that are represented by sediments recovered in the piston cores. This work will provide important proxy records of the history of both the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and this, in turn, will provide important constraints to climate models.
9909665 Berger This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. Quaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - "ka" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments. Limited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant "cold-tongue" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition). This project will collect detrital grains from a variety of "zero-age" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses. Systematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, provides funds for a study to investigate paleoenvironmental conditions during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic in central interior Antarctica. The 4 km thick sequence of sedimentary rocks, known as the Beacon Supergroup, in the Beardmore Glacier area records 90 million years of Permian through Jurassic history of this high-paleolatitude sector of Gondwana. It accumulated in a foreland basin with a rate of subsidence approximately equal to the rate of deposition. The deposits have yielded diverse vertebrate fossils, in situ fossil forests, and exceptionally well preserved plant fossils. They give a unique glimpse of glacial, lake, and stream/river environments and ecosystems and preserve an unparalleled record of the depositional, paleoclimatic, and tectonic history of the area. The excellent work done to date provides a solid base of information on which to build understanding of conditions and processes.<br/><br/>This project is a collaborative study of this stratigraphic section that will integrate sedimentologic, paleontologic, and ichnologic observations to answer focused questions, including: (1) What are the stratigraphic architecture and alluvial facies of Upper Permian to Jurassic rocks in the Beardmore area?; (2) In what tectonostratigraphic setting were these rocks deposited?; (3) Did vertebrates inhabit the cold, near-polar, Permian floodplains, as indicated by vertebrate burrows, and can these burrows be used to identify, for the first time, the presence of small early mammals in Mesozoic deposits?; and (4) How did bottom-dwelling animals in lakes and streams use substrate ecospace, how did ecospace use at these high paleolatitudes differ from ecospace use in equivalent environments at low paleolatitudes, and what does burrow distribution reveal about seasonality of river flow and thus about paleoclimate? Answers to these questions will (1) clarify the paleoclimatic, basinal, and tectonic history of this part of Gondwana, (2) elucidate the colonization of near-polar ecosystems by vertebrates, (3) provide new information on the environmental and paleolatitudinal distributions of early mammals, and (4) allow semi-quantitative assessment of the activity and abundance of bottom-dwelling animals in different freshwater environments at high and low latitudes. In summary, this project will contribute significantly to an understanding of paleobiology and paleoecology at a high latitude floodplain setting during a time in Earth history when the climate was much different than today.