Antarctic Field work:  Oct 13  - Nov. 14 (approximately)   We will be based at McMurdo Station in Antarctica and take 10 day-trips via a small airplane to collect samples from along some of the large glaciers.

IUPUI Geology participants:  Dr. Kathy Licht (PI) and Dr. Andy Barth and M. S. student Emerson Palmer.  Dr. Jeff Swope (IUPUI Geology) will not be going to Antarctica this field season but is working on a local education outreach project that uses the same kinds of techniques as we will use in Antarctica with Jr. High Earth Science teachers.  In the field party, there will also be a faculty member and graduate student from the Univ. of MN-Duluth as well as a mountaineer.

Summary:
Reliable predictions of the Antarctic ice sheet’s response to changing climate and rising sea level are built from sophisticated ice sheet models that can accurately reconstruct past ice sheet configurations. We plan an integrated, interdisciplinary study of glacial deposits in the Ross Embayment that will help to constrain Antarctica’s Late Quaternary (~30,000 yrs ago) glacial history and improve our knowledge of the rocks that underlie the massive East Antarctic ice sheet.  Our goals are to use till provenance to evaluate past ice flow models for the Ross Embayment during the last glacial maximum (18,000 yrs ago) and to characterize rocks eroded from the East Antarctic craton while constraining physical changes to till during transport. We will characterize the petrologic, geochemical, and isotopic characteristics of tills from all the major outlet glaciers that drain the East Antarctic ice sheet through the central and southern Transantarctic Mountains.  Reliable predictions of the Antarctic ice sheet’s response to changing climate and rising sea level are built from sophisticated ice sheet models that can accurately predict past ice sheet configurations. Results from this study will provide modelers with essential constraints on ice dynamics and the relative contributions of East and West Antarctic ice sheets to the Ross Embayment during the LGM, as well as provide geologists key information about early Earth history from the rocks eroded from East Antarctica. Finally, we will build upon previous research-centered outreach efforts by hosting field-based curriculum development workshops for 30 Indiana Earth Science educators that utilize provenance as a concept linking local and Antarctic geology while supporting state education standards.

Why would the average American care about the results of your Antarctic Field work? Will the results have any implications for our lives, the weather? Crops? Etc.
Antarctica is a key component in the earth's climate system because it impacts global ocean and atmospheric circulation (as well as the amount of heat radiated back out to space), which can affect the climate in regions far from Antarctica.  Additionally, the Antarctic ice sheets are closely tied to sea level changes.  Shrinking Antarctic ice would cause sea level rise and higher sea levels have important impacts within the U.S. and around the globe.  The flooding and damage from Hurricane Katrina would have been even worse if sea level was higher and globally much of the world's population is concentrated in cities that lie just above sea level.   Much of the U.S. coastline development, fresh water supply and susceptibility to hurricane damage is influenced by sea level.  One other point about ice sheet stability. The base of the West Antarctic ice sheet lies below sea level and therefore,  the ice sheet may be susceptible to rapid retreat (collapse) which would cause significant sea level rise and input of fresh water into the ocean.  Large input of freshwater into the ocean have the possibility of disrupting global ocean circulation, including the behavior of the Gulf Stream (in the North Atlantic) which keeps Europe bathed in relatively warm weather.

What is till provenance?
till:  the sediment (rocks, mud, soil, etc.) left behind after a glacier recedes from an area. Determining till provenance is the process of using composition of glacial materials to determine what geographic area it came from.  Its sort of like fingerprinting.    For instance, many of the rocks  in northern Indiana are not indigenous to this area, they were carried here from glaciers that originated in Canada.  By matching rock types in the deposits to the location where the rocks types naturally occur allow us to reconstruct past ice flow paths.

What does this mean? It will help to constrain Antarctica’s Late Quaternary (~30,000 yrs ago)
glacial history

By reconstructing past ice flow patterns, we can learn about potential instabilities in the West Antarctic ice sheet.  Our predictions of future behavior of the ice sheets come from model simulations.  These model simulations require geologic data to determine whether they are producing realistic results.  Our data will provide important constraints that the models much reproduce in the past in order to have more confidence in their future predictions.

What is the benefit of a better knowledge of the rocks underlying the ice sheet?

This is vital information for understanding Earth's geologic history.   At this point in time, we know little about the rocks that make up a continent that is larger than the U.S. and Mexico combined.   These rocks may be able to tell us whether Antarctica and the western U.S. were connected in early Earth History (a few billion years ago).  This is done by identifying matching rocks types derived from both locations.