St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The last forests on Antarctica : reconstructing flora and temperature from the Neogene Sirius Group, Transantarctic Mountains

Thumbnail
View/Open
Rees_Owen_2018_OR_LastForests_CC.pdf (1.421Mb)
Date
04/2018
Author
Rees-Owen, Rhian L.
Gill, Fiona L.
Newton, Robert J.
Ivanovic, Ruza F.
Francis, Jane E.
Riding, James B.
Vane, Christopher H.
Lopes dos Santos, Raquel A.
Keywords
Antarctica
Neogene
Sirius Group
Terpenoid
GDGT
Palaeovegetation
Palaeotemperature
Palaeoenvironment
GE Environmental Sciences
QE Geology
QD Chemistry
NDAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Fossil-bearing deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica indicate that, despite the cold nature of the continent’s climate, a tundra ecosystem grew during periods of ice sheet retreat in the mid to late Neogene (17–2.5 Ma), 480 km from the South Pole. To date, palaeotemperature reconstruction has been based only on biological ranges, thereby calling for a geochemical approach to understanding continental climate and environment. There is contradictory evidence in the fossil record as to whether this flora was mixed angiosperm-conifer vegetation, or whether by this point conifers had disappeared from the continent. In order to address these questions, we have analysed, for the first time in sediments of this age, plant and bacterial biomarkers in terrestrial sediments from the Transantarctic Mountains to reconstruct past temperature and vegetation during a period of East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat. From tetraether lipids (MBT’/CBT palaeothermometer), we conclude that the mean continental summer temperature was ca. 5 °C, in agreement with previous reconstructions. This was warm enough to have allowed woody vegetation to survive and reproduce even during the austral winter. Biomarkers from vascular plants indicate a low diversity and spatially variable flora consisting of higher plants, moss and algal mats growing in microenvironments in a glacial outwash system. Abietane-type compounds were abundant in some samples, indicating that conifers, most likely Podocarpaceae, grew on the Antarctic continent well into the Neogene. This is supported by the palynological record, but not the macrofossil record for the continent, and has implications for the evolution of vegetation on Antarctica.
Citation
Rees-Owen , R L , Gill , F L , Newton , R J , Ivanovic , R F , Francis , J E , Riding , J B , Vane , C H & Lopes dos Santos , R A 2018 , ' The last forests on Antarctica : reconstructing flora and temperature from the Neogene Sirius Group, Transantarctic Mountains ' , Organic Geochemistry , vol. 118 , pp. 4-14 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2018.01.001
Publication
Organic Geochemistry
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2018.01.001
ISSN
0146-6380
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Description
R.L.R.O. thanks the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) for supporting her PhD studentship (NE/K500847/1) and BGS for CASE support. R.I. was supported by a NERC Independent Fellowship (NE/K008536/1). F.L..G was supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12701

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter