Selected geomorphologic and stratigraphic investigations, Vestfold Hills

The program targets two major objectives: - (1) to determine and improve the Quaternary glacial chronology of the Southern Hemisphere in support of global climate change studies and (2), to characterise the processes of surface weathering and landscape evolution in semi-arid regions of the Australian continent.

We have constructed and operate a fully equipped geochemistry laboratory for processing and preparation of in-situ AMS rock samples and have developed AMS techniques at ANTARES to measure these cosmogenic radioisotopes at the required sensitivity. Over the past few years, Antarctic rock samples (bedrock, erratics, gravels) have been collected from four sites whose glacial chronology is controlled primarily by the dynamics of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.