This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The purpose of this proposal is to acquire Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dates from whole cobbles within raised beach ridges and boulder pavements from five areas in the Antarctic Peninsula. The PIs propose to use OSL to date features indicative of sea level variations that are not accessible with radiocarbon methods because of low organic carbon contents of coastal sediments from the Antarctic Peninsula. The PIs suggest that OSL measurements are possible in particular cobbles within raised beach ridges and boulder pavements and preliminary OSL ages from beach ridges in the South Shetland Islands show agreement with existing reservoir-corrected radiocarbon-derived sea-level curves. The PIs hypothesize that systematic differences in sea level histories can be seen from north to south and east to west across the Antarctic Peninsula. Paleo-ages of beach ridges and boulder pavements could, along with isostatic modeling, provide important constraints on the thickness and retreat history of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet since the Last Glacial Maximum. Accurate reconstructions of the ice sheet are important for researchers attempting to disentangle the isostatic adjustment from satellite gravity measurements that suggest melting in the region, and thus could help predict the future fate of ice sheets in light of predictions of sea-level rise and global warming. The broader impacts of this proposal are that these data could help constrain the prediction of future ice-sheet responses to global warming. Both PIs are from an EPScOR state institution that has a new PhD program in Geology. This institution awards the second-most number of BS degrees to Native American students in the country increasing the chance that undergraduate students associated with this work are from under represented groups. Lectures developed from this research will be given at three smaller universities within the state of Oklahoma that do not grant degrees in geology. The grant includes support for two graduate students.
