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Geological records from the Antarctic margin offer direct evidence of environmental variability at high southern latitudes and provide insight regarding ice sheet sensitivity to past climate change. The early to mid-Miocene (23-14 Mya) is a compelling interval to study as global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations were similar to those projected for coming centuries. Importantly, this time interval includes the Miocene Climatic Optimum, a period of global warmth during which average surface temperatures were 3-4 °C higher than today. Miocene sediments in the ANDRILL-2A drill core from the Western Ross Sea, Antarctica, indicate that the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) was highly variable through this key time interval. A multiproxy dataset derived from the core identifies four distinct environmental motifs based on changes in sedimentary facies, fossil assemblages, geochemistry, and paleotemperature. Four major disconformities in the drill core coincide with regional seismic discontinuities and reflect transient expansion of grounded ice across the Ross Sea. They correlate with major positive shifts in benthic oxygen isotope records and generally coincide with intervals when atmospheric CO2 concentrations were at or below preindustrial levels (∼280 ppm). Five intervals reflect ice sheet minima and air temperatures warm enough for substantial ice mass loss during episodes of high (∼500 ppm) atmospheric CO2 These new drill core data and associated ice sheet modeling experiments indicate that polar climate and the AIS were highly sensitive to relatively small changes in atmospheric CO2 during the early to mid-Miocene.

Byline: Sung Hi Choi (1), Samuel B. Mukasa (1), Alexandre V. Andronikov (1), Maria C. Marcano (1) Abstract: An origin of the Tinaquillo Peridotite Complex in northern Venezuela, and a model for the tectonic framework of the boundary zone between the southern Caribbean Plate margin and the South American Plate (SAP) during Late Jurassic to Mid-Cretaceous time are developed using newly measured Sr, Nd, Pb and Hf isotopic compositions as well as major and trace element geochemistry for some hornblendite veins and their spinel peridotite host rocks. Depleted geochemical characteristics, principally major element concentrations, and Nd and Hf isotopes (e.g., [epsilon].sub.Nd = + 27 [epsilon].sub.Hf = +50 ca. 3.4 Ga-Nd model age) of the Tinaquillo peridotites suggest a genetic link between this complex and the Guiana Shield farther to the south within Venezuela. Scattered zones within the Tinaquillo peridotite were overprinted by what we interpret as channelized hydrous fluids ( Author Affiliation: (1) Department Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2534 C.C. Little Building, 1100 N. University, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1005, USA Article History: Registration Date: 06/11/2006 Received Date: 05/06/2006 Accepted Date: 25/10/2006 Online Date: 12/12/2006 Article note: Communicated by T.L. Grove.