Abstract:

Field investigation of the modern coastal phenomena around the Fildes Peninsula of King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica permits us to suggest that there are three kinds of modern coastal features: fragmental coast, rock coast and ice cliff coast. The fragmental coast shows some peculiar high latitude landfbrms formed by wave action with floating ice. They are linear gravel ridges near back shore terrace, vertical gravel channels and ridges, pavements, graval pits and network structure in tideland. The typical features appear in tideland with gravel of 15-20 cm diameter and slope below 5°. Ice cliff coast is an important geomorphic element in polar area and has specific characteristics and process. Wave action is an important process for the ablat -ion of ice cliff coast and can accelerate the collapes of ice cliff. The raised coastal features belong to two groups, the younger and the older groups. The younger group is located below 20 meters above sea level and was formed in the Holocene (post-glatiation). The elevation of older group is approximately 20 meters above sea level and was formed during the last interglaciation or even earlier. The raising rate of Fildes Peninsula is 10.0 mm/a, which is larger than that of the margin of Antarctic Continent.