Antarctica has supported major ice sheets since the Early Cenozoic. Variations in the size and extent of these ice sheets resulted in major variations in global climate, sea-level, and atmospheric/ocean circulation. Yet, there is a paucity of Cenozoic Antarctic outcrops and difficult access to stratigraphic records has limited understanding of the timing and scale of dynamic and stable behaviour of the ice sheets. During the last two decades, studies of long sedimentary sequences drilled in and around Antarctica have led to significant advances in the understanding of the evolution of the Antarctic continent (climate, tectonic, etc).
This session is designed to investigate the many orders and scales of variation of Antarctica ice sheets, climate and tectonics from Antarctic and Subantarctic records, from outcrop studies, deep sea drilling, continental margin drilling and seismic investigations, permafrost and ice core drilling. Abstracts dealing with all aspects of this research, and including all methodologies, such as geochemical, geophysical, paleomagnetic, stable-isotopic, paleontologic, and sedimentologic methods, are welcome.