Impact of the ‘Little Ice Age’ climate cooling on the maar lake ecosystem affected by penguins: A lacustrine sediment record, Penguin Island, West Antarctica

Abstract

A Pliocene-age volcano on Penguin Island became active again in the Pleistocene/Holocene, forming the main cone of the island – Deacon Peak, and leaving late-Holocene phreatomagmatic craters, including ‘Petrel Crater’, about 200 m in diameter and filled currently by a maar lake with a flat bottom at 18 m water depth. Petrographic, geochemical, photosynthetic pigment, and diatom data from the 72-cm-long sediment core reveal that the crater was initially a marine lagoon with typical phytoplankton assemblages. Most probably, tectonic–volcanic activity about 1250 years ago, documented in tephra fallout, triggered an abrupt glacio-isostatic uplift that separated the lake from the sea. The horizon of tephra, probably from the Deception Island volcano, marks a sudden change in environment from brackish to lacustrine. The ecological evolution of the lake was initially constrained by an uplift, whereas the influence of marine water vanished with time, the lake became meromictic, and the freshwater mixolimnion layer expanded, while the monimolimnion became anoxic due to the influence of a penguin rookery situated on the shore. During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA), the maar may have been covered by permanent ice. A discharge of mineralized guano from the possibly enlarged penguin rookery on the lake shore caused an expansion of the anoxic monimolimnion to the ice surface and an important reduction of autochthonous lacustrine biota of the maar, whereas a substantially increased participation of allochthonous biota passively supplied with guano. That record in the lake sediment core reaffirms the occurrence of a regional LIA event in the maritime Antarctic.

Reconstructing Long-Term Changes in Avian Populations Using Lake Sediments: Opening a Window Onto the Past

“…In other instances, depending on the species producing the seabird guano and conditions of the surrounding ecosystem, the diatoms can also reflect changes in pH (Duda et al, 2020a,c) or conductivity (Duda et al, 2019). Given their ubiquity, diatoms have been successfully used to draw inferences about historical seabird populations around the world (Michelutti et al, 2009;Keatley et al, 2011;Brooks et al, 2012;MacDonald et al, 2015;Stewart et al, 2015Stewart et al, , 2019Roberts et al, 2017;Wasiłowska et al, 2017;Luoto et al, 2019;Duda et al, 2020a,c).…”

A high-resolution record of Mid- to Late-Holocene environmental changes from a land-locked lake in Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica

“…The spring, summer, and annual insolation values at 65°S can be seen as showing very low values during the LIA period (Figure 8f). The imprints of LIA have also been recorded in several Antarctic datasets viz., (a) a Late-Holocene cooling event recorded in ice cores (Masson et al, 2000); (b) LIA conditions in Palmer Deep (Bentley et al, 2009); (c) cold conditions and glacial readvances in maritime Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula (Píšková et al, 2019; Simms et al, 2021; Wasiłowska et al, 2017; (d) cold and dry conditions in the Larsemann Hills (Noronha-D’Mello et al, 2021; Verleyen et al, 2004; (e) strong katabatic winds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Bertler et al, 2011); and East Antarctica (Mosley-Thompson et al, 1990; Rhodes et al, 2012). An intensification of the westerly winds coincident with the LIA has also been reported by Mayewski et al (2009).…”

Application of UAV BVLOS remote sensing data for multi-faceted analysis of Antarctic ecosystem

“…A lake, 18 m deep, fills the bottom and serves as climate change record since Medieval Period (Wasiłowska et al, 2017). Numerous volcanic bombs can be seen around the flanks of the maar testifying for a violent eruption of the maar, possible between 1500BP and 1250BP (Wasiłowska et al, 2017). Our orthophoto and DEM did not allow us to map the extend of the maar flanks, visible on the map of Birenmajer (1979Birenmajer ( , 1982, because the slopes are too gentle.…”

“…The Petrel maar crater, with a similar diameter to that of the principal cone, has steep internal slopes with outcrops of rocks belonging to the Marr Point Formation (Birkenmajer, 1979). A lake, 18 m deep, fills the bottom and serves as climate change record since Medieval Period (Wasiłowska et al, 2017). Numerous volcanic bombs can be seen around the flanks of the maar testifying for a violent eruption of the maar, possible between 1500BP and 1250BP (Wasiłowska et al, 2017).…”