SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES
The principal drilling objectives of Leg 178 are to
- extract and compare high-resolution records of the past 10 Ma of continental glaciation
contained in topset beds (paleoshelf) of the glacial prograded wedge at the Antarctic
Peninsula Pacific margin, in foreset beds (paleoslope) of the same sequence groups, and in
a hemipelagic sediment drift on the continental rise;
- compile an optimal high-resolution history of grounded ice-volume fluctuation and
compare it with low-latitude records of sea-level change and isotopic estimates of ice
volume change over the past 10 Ma;
- assess the main controls on sediment transport and deposition during glacial intervals and
use the insights gained to optimize investigation of the longer, more complicated East
Antarctic record of glaciation and glacio-eustatic sea-level change; and
- extract an ultra-high-resolution Holocene record from a protected basin on the inner
continental shelf for comparison with similar records from the ice sheets and lower-latitude
sites to investigate decadal- and millennial-scale climatic variation.
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