Project Description: Antarctic Peninsula Exhumation and Landscape Development Investigated by Low-temperature Detrital Thermochronometry

I. Overview and introduction. We propose to apply methods of low-temperature thermochronometry based on the (U-Th)/He system in apatite to investigate the exhumation history, the development of the present topography, and the pattern of glacial erosion in the central Antarctic Peninsula. Recent studies have used this approach to study the dramatic, high-relief landscapes formed by Pleistocene alpine glaciation in temperate latitudes, for example in New Zealand, The Alps, British Columbia, Alaska and Patagonia (Shuster et al, 2011; Valla et al., 2011; Shuster et al., 2005; Thomson et al., 2010; Berger et al., 2008; Ehlers et al., 2006). This research has revealed not only when the glacial valleys in these landscapes formed -which is important in understanding the relationship between Plio-Pleistocene climate change, landscape evolution, and tectonics -but also provided new insights into the pattern and physical processes of glacial erosion.