The age of the first holocene marine transgression in potter cove, Isla 25 de Mayo (King George Island), South Shetland Islands

STRELIN, JORGE; HEREDIA BARION, PABLO A.; MARTINI, MATEO ANTONIO; KAPLAN, MICHAEL; KUHN, GERHARD

Cordona

Congreso; XIX Congreso Geológico Argentino; 2014

Asociación Geológica Argentina

 Since Sugden and John?s (1973) paper regarding the glacier fluctuations in the South Shetland Islands, it is generally accepted that the first Holocene marine transgression of this archipelago occurred at least by 9540 ± 235 cal yrs BP (del Valle et al. 2007, Hall 2010). This age is very important, since it provides the minimum on land obtained age of the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and start of the Holocene in this Antarctic sector. In this work we present our own chronological results obtained at this key site, which put in doubt the earliest Holocene radiocarbon age obtained by Sugden and John (1973). According to the new age interpretation of the southern Potter Cove section, the Holocene postglacial marine transgression initiated before 7650 cal yrs BP, reaching about 12 m altitude above the present sea level (Hall 2010), and was locally interrupted by a glacier advance about 200 yrs later, after 7.285 yrs BP.