Japan JSPS Program: Using Molluscan Shells to Interpret Antarctic Nearshore Environmental Variations During the Holocene

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This award will provide supplementary support to enable Dr. Paul Berkman of the Ohio State University to conduct collaborative research with Dr. Yoshio Yoshida for 12 months at the National Institute of Polar Research in Japan. Berkman and Yoshida will compare modern and fossil samples of scallops and clams in order to interpret the environmental and sea level variations of Antarctica during the Holocene period. The shells of modern scallops and clams provide a record of their environmental conditions, reflecting hydrochemical variations associated with glacial meltwater stream impacts in the nearshore marine environment. Berkman and Yoshida believe that these same hydrochemical signatures exist in fossil molluscs around Antarctica and can be used to interpret glacial melting and sea level variations in the past. The team will collect modern and fossil samples of A. colbecki and L. elliptica near Syowa Station, an Antarctic research facility run by the Japan Antarctic Research Expedition, and will analyze the shells back in Japan. Dr. Miyai's experience in interpreting Antarctic coastal geomorphology complements Dr. Berkman's expertise in Antarctic scallops. Their collaboration will help determine how the Antarctic ice sheets have responded to changes in the earth's climate for the past 10,000 years and how they have contributed to the changes in seal level throughout the world.