The discovery of the southernmost ultra-high-resolution Holocene paleoclimate sedimentary record in Antarctica

The response of the Antarctic ice sheet to climate warming is the main source of uncertainty regarding future global sea level rise, since little is known about its present and past dynamics. The last deglaciation is the most recent interval of large-scale climate warming, during which the Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheets retreated, and sea level rose globally, although at a non-uniform rate. Geologic records from the polar regions are fundamental in determining the factors that caused the major changes in ice sheets during the last deglacial under different boundary conditions. Here, we combine morpho-bathymetric and seismic data with sediment cores and oceanographic measurements to reconstruct the processes that influenced the deposition of the southernmost, most extensive, ultrahigh-resolution record of the Holocene in Edisto Inlet fjord (Ross Sea, Antarctica). We find that post-glacial sedimentation resulted in a layered diatom mud up to 110 m thick that was locally redi...