Subfossil avian assemblages and marine invertebrates found within marine deposits help to reconstruct Holocene environmental history at Potter Peninsula

Early Holocene Laternula sp shells in live position were found within mudy sediments deposited in an open fjord during a sea level high stand, which may reflect the early Holocene eustatic marine transgression that drowned the south coast of KGI down to 25-30 m depths.

Mid-Holocene penguin and flying bird remains accompanied by seal bones were discovered within raised marine beach sediments (2.4-16.7 m), which reflect high relative sea levels during two mid-Holocene episodes (c. 6400 years BP, and c. 4500 years BP) of seasonally open marine conditions. These episodes may coincide with a cooling period around Antarctica estimated from ice-core records between 8000-4000 years BP that preceded the "climate optimum" in the Antarctic Peninsula (4000-3000 yr BP).