Former extension of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

Abstract

Knowledge about the Quarternary geology of the Australian sector of Antarctica is very incomplete. Scattered observations of glacial deposits in that area, made during the ANARE 6 expedition in 1987, indicate that the inland ice had formerly a considerably wider extension than today. The ice was more than 200 m thicker, probably of the order 1, 000m. This maximum stage cannot yet be dated, but conditions seem to favour a late Wisconsin-Weichselian maximum age. However, a much higher age cannot be excluded.