Abstract

We present results of a multi-proxy study on marine sediment core JR179 -PC466 recovered from the crest of a sediment drift off the west Antarctic Peninsula at roughly 2300 m water depth. The 10.45-m long core consists dominantly of glaciomarine terrigenous sediments with only traces of calcium carbonate ( 19 and 11 ka BP, when numerous icebergs drifted across the core site, thereby releasing IRD. During this time sea-level rise destabilized the Antarctic Peninsula (APIS) and West Antarctic (WAIS) ice sheets that had advanced onto the shelf during the sea-level low-stand of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 19-23 ka BP). Overall, our results demonstrate that it is possible to establish an age model and reconstruct palaeoceanographic and climatologic changes at high temporal resolution from sedimentary sequences recovered at 2300 m water depth from a West Antarctic drift.