Abstract:

The Grove Mountains,located about 450 km inland from the coast of the Prydz Bay in the Lambert-Amery glacial system,is an ideal place to carry out studies on the Antarctic ice-sheet development and palaeo-climatic evolution in Antarctica. Financially and logistically supported by Chinese Oceanic Administration and Chinese Polar Research Center,the 22nd Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition(CHINARE) team made a special investigation on the evidence for climatic and ice-sheet evolution in this region.During the field survey of the 2005—2006 Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition(CHINARE),different kinds of Cenozoic sedimentary records were found in the Grove Mountains,including(1) different types of glacial moraines left by pre-existed glaciers developed in this region at different stages;(2) large quantity of glaciogenic sedimentary erratics found in the moraine banks in the center area of Grove Mountains;(3) different scales of glacier erosion landforms,esp.,the glacial stria,formed by pre-glacier movements at different stages;and(4) extraneous ice boulders and palaesols found in different places near the center of this region.All these record a complex climatic evolution history in this region accompanied by a fairly dynamic ice-sheet evolutionary process.