Neogene interaction of tectonic and glacial processes at the Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula

The Antarctic Peninsula was a magmatic arc subducting Pacific Ocean floor throughout the Mesozoic. During the Cenozoic, subduction ceased at each of a series of ridge‐crest–trench collisions, which migrated northeast along the margin. Multichannel seismic profiles across the Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula show evidence of post‐collision uplift, followed by subsidence. During Pliocene–Pleistocene time, ice sheets have grounded out to the shelf edge at times of glacial maximum, transporting sediment that has extended the outer shelf. Subsidence of the margin has preserved a unique sedimentary record of ice‐sheet advances, which provides the opportunity of looking closely at the hypothesized relationship between change in grounded ice volume and global sea‐level change.

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