During the past year, data analysis has been under-taken on the recent and past dynamics of several northern Victoria Land glaciers, notably Rennick Glacier; the dynamics of selected rock glaciers in Wright Valley; and on the weathering characteristics of dolorites in the Queen Maud Mountains

Mayewski, Paul Andrew

English

University of Maine

The University of MaineDigitalCommons@UMaineEarth Science Faculty Scholarship Earth Sciences1979Glaciology and Glacio-geomorphology in VictoriaLandand Queen Maud MountainsPaul Andrew MayewskiUniversity of Maine, paul.mayewski@maine.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpubPart of the Geomorphology Commons, Glaciology Commons, and the Hydrology CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Earth Science FacultyScholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contactum.library.technical.services@maine.edu.Repository CitationMayewski, Paul Andrew, "Glaciology and Glacio-geomorphology in Victoria Landand Queen Maud Mountains" (1979). Earth ScienceFaculty Scholarship. 219.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/219The source of these clasts has not yet been deter-mined. However, given the broad distribution of vol-canic clasts and the apparent lack of volcanic vents (asdetermined by the field party's reconnaissance of ex-posed bedrock areas, especially those adjacent to andeast of the Victoria Lower Glacier), the clasts were mostprobably derived from the Ross Sea floor to the east andthen transported into the valley by glacier ice movinginland from the sea.Looking for evidence of early glaciation, the fieldparty also examined high bedrock surfaces on HansenRidge, the unnamed ridge south of Greenwood Valley,the Purgatory Peak area, and the unnamed ridge southof Clark Glacier and overlooking Wright Valley. Prelim-inary analysis suggests that ice flowing westward fromthe Ross Sea reached present elevations of at least 975meters.In addition, the field party collected algae and calcar-eous concretions from several depressions on an ice-con-tact delta at the eastern end of Lake Vida, as well asalgae from within the delta. When subjected to radio-carbon analysis, these samples should indicate the ageof one of the several terminal positions of the VictoriaLower Glacier, assuming that the age of the samples lieswithin the range of the dating method.This research was supported by National ScienceFoundation grant DPP 76-23460.ReferencesBorns, H. W., Jr. 1978. Ross Sea glaciations: events in LowerVictoria Valley. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 13(4):43-44.Catkin, P. E. 1971. Glacial geology of the Victoria valley system,Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. In Antarctic ResearchSeries, vol. 16, ed. A. P. Crary, pp. 363-412. Washington,D.C.: American Geophysical Union.Denton, G. H. 1971. The Late Cenozoic glacial history of Ant-arctica. In Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages, ed. K. K. Turekian, pp.267-306. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Glaciology and glacio-geomorphology in Victoria Landand Queen Maud MountainsPAUL A. MAYEWSKIDepartment of Earth SciencesUniversity of New HampshireDurham, New Hampshire 03824During the past year, data analysis has been under-taken on the recent and past dynamics of several north-ern Victoria Land glaciers, notably Rennick Glacier; thedynamics of selected rock glaciers in Wright Valley; andon the weathering characteristics of dolorites in theQueen Maud Mountains.The primary conclusions drawn from the 1974-75Rennick Glacier study (Mayewski, 1975; Mayewski andAttig, 1979; and Mayewski, Attig, and Drewry, 1979)include the characterization of former ice surface levelsin this portion of northern Victoria Land and the dy-namics of the recent changes in snowpatch cover on sev-eral massifs adjacent to Rennick Glacier.The results of a pilot study of the dynamics of tworock glaciers in Wright Valley are being analyzed. Thiswork draws together the results of short-term observa -tions collected during the 1968-69, 1970-71, 1971-72,and 1974-75 seasons dealing with the dynamics of thesefeatures.Results of a weathering study conducted on a suite ofdolerites collected at Halfmoon Bluff, adjacent to theShackleton Glacier, Queen Maud Mountains, appear inTalkington, Gaudette, and Mayewski (1976) and in apaper soon to be submitted for publication. Conclusionsdrawn in these papers deal with the style of chemicaland physical weathering affecting this lithology, use ofthis lithology as a relative dating tool, and estimates ofmass wasting-rates employing relative dating.This work has been supported in part by NationalScience Foundation grants GA 4029, GV 26652, and DPP74-15210.ReferencesMayewski, P. A. 1975. Glacial geologic investigation of the up-per Rennick Glacier region, northern Victoria Land, Ant-arctica. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 10(4): 164-66.Mayewski, P. A., J . W. Attig, and D. J . Drewry. 1979. Patternof ice surface decline for the Rennick Glacier, northern Vic-toria Land, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, vol. 22, no. 86.Talkington, R., H. Gaudette, and P. A. Mayewski. 1976. Pre-liminary investigation of the weathering stages of a tholeiiticbasalt (dolerite), Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica. Ant-arctic Journal of the United States, 11(4): 242-45.53

Glaciology and Glacio-geomorphology in Victoria Landand Queen Maud Mountains

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Glaciology and Glacio-geomorphology in Victoria Landand Queen Maud Mountains

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