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Changing distribution of late Quaternary terrestrial lacustrine and littoral environments in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica

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Abstract

Relict marine terraces and associated boulder pavements allow the mapping of coastal environments in the Vestfold Hills and adjacent islands approximately 6000 a B.P. These structures are best developed in what were restricted tidal waters and are ascribed to sea-ice dynamics. The retreat of glacier ice, the subsequent flooding of many areas by sea water and the drainage of most of these as isostatic uplift raised the Vestfold Hills in the Holocene, have produced an immense variety of lacustrine environments as well as a diverse marine littoral. Glacial advance and retreat have occurred in the mid-late Holocene and is particularly evident adjacent to the Sørsdal Glacier.

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Peterson, J.A., Finlayson, B.L. & Qingsong, Z. Changing distribution of late Quaternary terrestrial lacustrine and littoral environments in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. Hydrobiologia 165, 221–226 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00025591

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