Sediment Cores from Beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica

Two sediment cores collected from beneath the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica describe physical sedimentation patterns. The cores, AM01b and AM02, comprise Holocene siliceous muddy ooze and provide indicators of sediment transport pathways. The data was published by Geoscience Australia Data and was last updated on 2026-04-20.

Use Cases

• Modeling sub-ice shelf sediment transport pathways based on lithology and diatom assemblage indicators
• Contrasting basal melt and freeze site sedimentation patterns based on core composition
• Analyzing historical current activity episodes based on inclined bedding and sediment layers
• Re-evaluating basal melt/freeze circulation models based on sediment distribution evidence

Strengths

• Includes two distinct sediment cores from sites of basal freezing and melting, enabling comparison
• Provides corrected 14C ages and absolute diatom abundance as quantitative indicators
• Contains data on lithology, diatom assemblage, and surface ages for multi-proxy analysis

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• The description notes potential contamination by recycled organic matter affecting the basal age of one core

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Physical collection of sediment cores from beneath the Amery Ice Shelf

Time Range

Holocene, with a basal core age of approximately 28250 ± 230 14C yr bp

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 01:30:16.610556; freshness should be verified

Geography

Beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, Prydz Bay region