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Type of Document Thesis Author Foley, Susan Murr URN etd-05052010-112837 Title Holocene Diatoms Recovered in the Firth of Tay, Antarctic Peninsula (Sites NBP0602A-8 and NBP0703-02JPC) Degree Master of Science Department Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science, Department of Advisory Committee
Advisor Name Title Sherwood W. Wise Committee Chair Anthony J. Arnold Committee Member Joseph F. Donoghue Committee Member Keywords
- Antarctic Peninsula
- Firth of Tay
- Diatom
- Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum
Date of Defense 2010-05-03 Availability unrestricted Abstract A greatly expanded section of Holocene sediment was recovered at Site NBP0602-8in the Firth of Tay near the tip of the West Antarctic Peninsula during the SHALDRIL
II cruise aboard the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer, 2006. Recovery in the four holes at this site was
~85%, with the exception of the uppermost eight meters of water saturated sediments. The next
year the site was revisited during Cruise NBP0703 and a jumbo piston core (JPC 02) recovered
sediment to 23 meters below seafloor to fill missing gaps in the upper section.
Fossil diatoms have been proven to be highly useful in paleontological climate
reconstruction. Therefore, this investigation is a down-core quantitative study of diatom
assemblages from this Firth of Tay sequence to identify and constrain changes in
paleoenvironmental events. The project provides evidence of an early deglaciation
episode, the Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum, and subsequent cooling and Neoglacial
conditions that persist until the present. The Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum delineated
in this study correlates closely with the timing and duration of this event in Maxwell Bay,
to the north. The same event is recorded in Palmer Deep on the opposite (west) side of
the Antarctic Peninsula but with an earlier onset and longer duration. The Climatic Optimum
recorded at the Firth of Tay is less pronounced than at the other two sites, however, due to the
colder water stemming from the Weddell Sea Gyre.
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