This award is for support of a one year project to study the micropaleontologic character (diatoms, foraminifera, and other microfossils) of sub-glacial sediments from beneath ice stream B, as part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) program. The sediments to be studied were obtained by Barclay Kamb as part of his drilling program on Ice Stream B during the 1991/1992 Antarctic field season. The objectives of this study are to: 1) identify Pleistocene and Pliocene episodes of West Antarctic ice sheet glaciation, 2) evaluate deglacial and preglacial environments in West Antarctica, 3) evaluate sediment provenance and glacial mixing, 4) test models of rapid ice stream flow (sub- ice till deformation or basal sliding), and 5) provide base-line geologic and chronostratigraphic data as an aid to geophysical interpretations.
