Neogene Paleoecology of the Beardmore Glacier Region

The Meyer Desert Formation at the Oliver Bluffs on the Beardmore Glacier is one of the most important terrestrial fossil deposits in Antarctica. Focus during the field study was on making additional collections from a marlstone and a wood-bearing siltstones, representing freshwater environments of a small, shallow lake and a stream respectively. The fossils isolated from the collections during subsequent lab studies are important as they provide a basis for interpreting the paleoclimate at the time of the deposition of the deposits. In fact, analysis of the fossils provides the only way of assessing certain climate parameters such as the summer temperature regime. Further, the fossils are those of plants and animals with living relatives and so they are a very important biogeographic resource. Among the fossils were the wing cases of the first ground beetle from Antarctica which has relatives in South America and Tasmania testifying to the break-up of Gondwana. Many other fossils discovered during the study are in the process of being described. These include new species of a freshwater clam and a snail. The fossils of the ground beetle have already been reposited in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. Similar arrangements are being made for all of the other specimens from site after their ongoing research life. Records of the fossils are also being posted to the on line Neotoma Paleoecology Database https://neotomadb.com. The stratigraphy, sedimentary facies, images of the fossils, and interpretations of the paleoclimate and biogeography can be found in an on-line photo essay at https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~ashworth/MDF_Web/index.html. Nine students received training during the study from the initial fieldwork to the lab analyses. Some are still completing their undergraduate degrees but five others completed graduate degrees in geology and biology.