Holocene Benthic Colonisation History Beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, Antarctica

East Antarctic seabed community data derived from a 47 cm sediment core from beneath the Amery Ice Shelf. The dataset reveals a succession of benthic fauna from the early Holocene (~9600 years before present) to the present, dominated by filter feeders and polychaetes. It was published by Geoscience Australia Data and last updated on 2026-04-30.

Use Cases

• Modeling species succession timelines based on the described faunal assemblage changes over the Holocene.
• Studying the relationship between ice shelf proximity and benthic food supply based on the co-occurrence of planktonic and benthic taxa.
• Assessing potential impacts of future ice shelf collapse on sub-ice shelf ecosystems based on the described organic supply regime.

Strengths

• Core length of 47 cm provides a temporal sequence.
• Faunal analysis includes specific taxa like sponges, bryozoans, and polychaetes.
• Temporal anchor point at ~9600 years before present for the onset of colonisation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified as the last update is in the future (2026-04-30).

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Fossil analysis of a sediment core.

Time Range

Holocene, from prior to ~9600 yr BP to present.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:02:33.101235

Geography

Beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica; influenced by currents from Prydz Bay.