Hamilton College - Expeditions - Antarctica 2005

Ashley Hatfield, Gemma Kirkwood and Heather Schrum presented posters at the AGU Meeting in San Francisco. Hatfield's presentation, "Jun Jaegyu Volcano: A Recently Discovered Alkali Basalt Volcano in Antarctic Sound, Antarctica," shows evidence of recent activity from this newly discovered volcano. She has been working on the petrography and geochemistry of the volcanic construct and plans to use trace element and isotopic data this spring to learn more about its chemical signature. The Jun Jaegyu Volcano was discovered last year during Hamilton's Antarctic research cruise.

Kirkwood's poster, "Solar vs. Tidal Forcing of Centennial to Decadal Scale Variability in Marine Sedimentary Records from the Western Antarctic Peninsula," presents her studies of the periodic forcing mechanisms in cores from the Schollaert Drift. She used spectral analysis to find strong cycles that contributed to magnetic susceptibility and grain-size profiles of the cores. This research is important because a greater understanding of climate variability is necessary for a comprehensive evaluation of current and future conditions.

Schrum presented her poster titled "A Glimpse at Late Mesozoic to Early Tertiary Offshore Stratigraphy from Wilkes Land, East Antarctica: Results of Strategic Dredging of the Mertz-Ninnis Trough," in which she studied the palynology (pollen and spores) of rocks from a series of dredges as a way of age dating the exposed strata in an erosional trough. Studying dredged rocks is a relatively easy and cost-effective way of sampling stratigraphic succession, although there has been little systematic dredging in the Antarctic.

FACULTY RESEARCH

Heavy ice cover and inclement weather prevented progress on the original goals for the 2004 cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula, but the expedition did have one incredible result: an underwater volcano was discovered, mapped and studied by the team.

Previous cruises to the Antarctic Peninsula resulted in publications outlining the sequence of events that occurred beneath the former Larsen-A Ice Shelf (see Brachfeld et al 2003) and timing of deglaciation in the Palmer Deep Basin (see Domack et al., in press).

Dr. Eugene Domack gave a presentation to an international workshop on the stability of the Larsen Ice Shelf in fall 2004. He has also published information as part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.

Facts about Antarctica

News

Ecosystem Beneath a Collapsed Antarctic Ice Shelf Discovered

The chance discovery of a vast ecosystem beneath the collapsed Larsen Ice Shelf will allow scientists to explore the uncharted life below Antarctica's floating ice shelves and further probe the origins of life in extreme environments. Researchers discovered the sunless habitat after reviewing a recent underwater video study examining a deep glacial trough in the northwestern Weddell Sea following the sudden Larsen B shelf collapse in 2002. More...

Kirkwood '05 Receives National Research Award for Antarctic Climate Study

Gemma Kirkwood

Gemma Kirkwood '05 received an Outstanding Student Paper Award for her presentation, "Solar vs. Tidal Forcing of Centennial to Decadal Scale Variability in Marine Sedimentary Records from the Western Antarctic Peninsula," at the 2004 fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. She was in competition with Ph.D. candidates as well as undergraduate students for this honor. The Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Focus Group selected only two out of 169 student papers. More ...