This award supports a study of mixed diatom assemblages from Pliocene to late Quaternary glacial sediments in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica that are referred to as the Ross Sea Diamicton. This layer of glacial sediment is the record of glacial activity during the last glacial maximum and holds information about the waxing and waning of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will utilize samples that have been recovered in piston and drill cores from the Ross Sea and from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and will use modern quantitative methods for identifying and interpreting diatom populations. The data developed in this study will be used to test stratigraphic models for the Ross Sea Embayment. These stratigraphic models will be used to assess the level of dynamic behavior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, specifically the question of whether, and how often, this ice sheet has collapsed in the geologically recent past.
