MAPPING GLACIAL GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS AT TUCKER, MARINER, AND AVIATOR GLACIERS IN THE NORTHWESTERN ROSS SEA

Tucker, Mariner, and Aviator Glaciers drain the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the northern Transantarctic Mountains into the northwestern Ross Sea. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), this portion of the Ross Sea was most likely occupied by a grounded ice sheet composed of ice sourced from the southern Transantarctic Mountains and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Thus, identifying past changes in extent and thickness of these three glaciers would provide constraints on the thickness and grounding line position of a Ross Sea ice sheet during the LGM. Past reconnaissance visits to this region, as well as extrapolation from glacial-geologic mapping in areas to the south, suggest that these glaciers show evidence of LGM highstands related to thickened Ross Sea ice. Here we use high-resolution satellite imagery to evaluate this hypothesis by i) identifying and mapping lateral moraines and other glacial deposits, and ii) determining whether these deposits would be geometrically consistent with expected LGM ice surface elevations in the outer Ross Sea. Our overall aim is to identify locations most likely to preserve evidence of LGM ice sheet configuration in preparation for planned fieldwork.