Abstract
The directions of strong winds are important for the distribution of
marine salt spray, rock weathering, lake chemistry and the distribution
of vegetation in Bunger Hills, a coastal ice-free oasis in East
Antarctica. Present-day strong winds (> 10 m s−1)
dominantly blow from 118 ± 21 degrees true (°T; ± 1 SD). Orientated
tafoni (weathering pits) might form in bedrock surfaces by salt and ice
crystallization, thermal stress and saltating sand particles, recording
the orientation of a strongly directional wind field since the last
deglaciation, which commenced > 30 000 years ago. The orientations of
these tafoni, at 101 ± 18°T for 686 measurements at 28 sites, are
indistinguishable from the direction of modern-day strong winds (> 10
m s−1), indicating that the orientation of the
slope of the ice sheet has been stable throughout the last 10 000 years
during the Holocene.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 130-137 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Antarctic Science |
Volume | 32 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2020 |
Keywords
- biogeography
- erosion
- Holocene
- palaeowind
- sea salt