9318515 Denton This award is for support for a two year study to improve the understanding of Pliocene glacial history and landscape evolution of the Transantarctic Mountains in order to reconcile conflicting hypotheses of Antarctic climate and associate ice response during Pliocene warm intervals. The new field area to be studied is the Royal Society Range, which has extensive areas free of ice and is adjacent both to the Dry Valleys and to large off-shore volcanoes. These unique circumstances suggest that critical Pliocene chronologic, stratigraphic, paleoclimatic, and surface uplift data will be well preserved in this area. The glacial and tectonic information that will be derived from the Royal Society Range should greatly clarify two important and intertwined problems of Antarctic science: Pliocene ice-sheet stability and the evolution of the Transantarctic Mountains. ***
