Rv. Dingle et M. Lavelle, ANTARCTIC PENINSULAR CRYOSPHERE - EARLY OLIGOCENE (C. 30 MA) INITIATION AND A REVISED GLACIAL CHRONOLOGY, Journal of the Geological Society, 155, 1998, pp. 433-437
Strontium isotope stratigraphy provides a chronology for Cenozoic cryo
genic strata in the northern Antarctic Peninsula and allows an assessm
ent of diachronism in onset of glacial conditions between East and Wes
t Antarctica. The earliest observed event on the Antarctic Peninsula w
as late Early Oligocene (29.8 +/- 0.6 Ma) (at least c. 4 Ma later than
in East Antarctica), with a second in the early Early Miocene (22.6 /- 0.4 Ma). Both glacials and intervening interglacial were continent-
wide phenomena. Two late Neogene glaciations are distinguished: early
Late Miocene (9.9 +/- 0.97 Ma) (Hobbs Glacier/Jones Mountains) and lat
est Miocene (Alexander Island). A further late Neogene glacial deposit
(Weddell Formation) can be constrained only as < c. 10 Ma.