Polar beach-ridges as climate archives (Quaternary of King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) (Polar Beach)

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The potential of polar beach-ridges as archives of climate variations will be tested. The new approach of the planned investigations is to decipher the internal beach-ridge architecture using geophysical and sedimentological data in an integrated approach. Controlling factors on beach-ridge development are waves, sea-level, and sediment supply. As all of these react on climatic changes, the sediments of beach ridges bear the potential to host a valuable record of even short climate changes. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), sedimentological data, geological mapping, GPS leveling, and radiocarbon dating will provide a solid database for our interpretations, and allow for a sequence-stratigraphic interpretation. A new process-oriented model for the genesis of polar beach ridges will be established that also allows predicting changes under the recent global warming regime. For this purpose, beach-ridge systems along the coasts of Maxwell Bay and adjacent Potter Cove (King George Island, South Shetland Islands) will be investigated. The focus of the proposed study is on the younger Holocene sediments, but older beach systems will be incorporated for comparison if present.