Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


T.Hall_thesis.pdf (18.18 MB)

Supplemental Files

File List


Hall_thesis_AppendixB.pdf (3.37 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Paleogene-Neogene seismic stratigraphy of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: tectonic and climate controls on erosion, sediment delivery and preservation

Hall, Tricia L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500407899029314

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Earth Sciences.
The interplay of tectonics and climate is recorded in the sedimentary strata within the Victoria Land Basin, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Patterns of Cenozoic sedimentation are documented from interpretation of seismic reflection profiles calibrated by drillhole data in McMurdo Sound. These patterns provide enhanced constraints on the evolution of the coupled Transantarctic Mountains-West Antarctic Rift System and on ice sheet advance/retreat through multiple climate cycles. Revised seismic mapping through McMurdo Sound has been completed, utilizing the seismic stratigraphic framework first established by Fielding et al. (2006) and new reflectors marking unconformities identified from the AND-2A core (Levy et al., 2016). Correlations between the two frameworks update age constraints for the initiation of the Terror Rift, which was previously interpreted to have begun ~13 Ma based on age assignments made by Wilson et al. (2012) in the AND-1B core. New observations indicate the Terror Rift could have initiated as early as ~20 Ma, and was well underway by ~18 Ma, taking into account interval thickness patterns and new age assignments for reflector surfaces. The new age framework for seismic reflectors also raises the possibility of down-to-the-east normal faults underneath Hut Point Peninsula, in order to reconcile ~13 Ma and younger ages in the AND-1B core with McMurdo Sound seismic stratigraphy. Seismic facies correlated to the AND-2A core were mapped throughout McMurdo Sound. The strongest control on these facies was Miocene water depth. Facies patterns suggest that the shelf-slope-basin geometry within McMurdo Sound did not shift laterally throughout the Miocene, and was very similar to the present morphology. The mapped extent of erosion features indicates that grounded ice did not extend from the south throughout McMurdo Sound until ~14.4 Ma. Prior to that point, erosion was limited to the western shelf as ice extended eastward from TAM outlet glaciers. Up until the Middle Miocene, variable climate and ice sheet conditions dictated the basal thermal regime of ice sheets. To test the view that cold based ice sheets in arid, polar deserts minimally erode the landscape, sediment volumes and mass accumulation rates were calculated for critical climatic intervals. From ~22 Ma to ~13 Ma the overall trend of mass accumulation rates declined, with a noticeable decline following the onset of cold-based glaciation during a global cooling trend following the Mid Miocene Climate Optimum ~15 Ma.
Terry Wilson (Advisor)
Lawrence Krissek (Committee Member)
Derek Sawyer (Committee Member)
236 p.
Geological; Geology; Geophysical; Geophysics
McMurdo Sound; Ross Sea; seismic stratigraphy; seismic facies; seismic reflection; geophysics; AND-2A core; mass accumulation rates; cold-based glaciation; Miocene; isopach; West Antarctic Rift System; Terror Rift

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hall, T. L. (2017). Paleogene-Neogene seismic stratigraphy of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: tectonic and climate controls on erosion, sediment delivery and preservation [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500407899029314

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hall, Tricia. Paleogene-Neogene seismic stratigraphy of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: tectonic and climate controls on erosion, sediment delivery and preservation. 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500407899029314.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hall, Tricia. "Paleogene-Neogene seismic stratigraphy of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: tectonic and climate controls on erosion, sediment delivery and preservation." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500407899029314

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1500407899029314
240
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.