Periglacial processes and landforms in the South Shetland Islands (northern Antarctic Peninsula region)

Geomorphology and landforms distribution in selected ice-free areas in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctic Northern Peninsula region

“…Numerous studies carried out in the South Shetland Islands include the periglacial environment, where patterned ground, gelifluction, cryoclastic and cryoturbation processes, slope processes, and permafrost and active layer are the main focus (John and Sudgen, 1973;Simonov, 1977;Barsch et al, 1985;Vtyurina and Moskalevskiya, 1985;Xie, 1988;Cui et al, 1989;Qingsong, 1989;Martínez de Pisón et al, 1991, Zhu et al, 1996Jeong, 2006;Serrano and López-Martínez, 1997a, 1997bSerrano et al, 2002aSerrano et al, , 2002bSerrano et al, , 2008López-Martínez et al, 2012). Also, some studies have also focussed on soils and cryogenic processes (Blümel and Eitel, 1989;Ye and Tianjie, 1996;Chen and Blume, 1999;Chen et al, 2000).…”

“…During the last decade a considerable amount of soil, permafrost and geomorphological studies have been carried out in this region which is becoming warmer and wetter (Michel et al, 2006(Michel et al, , 2012(Michel et al, , 2014Navas et al, 2006Navas et al, , 2008Simas et al, 2006Simas et al, , 2007Simas et al, , 2008Schaefer et al, 2007;Serrano et al, 2008;Vieira et al, 2008Vieira et al, , 2010Vieira et al, , 2014Francelino et al, 2011;López-Martínez et al, 2012;Moura et al, 2012;Balks et al, 2013;Bockheim et al, 2013;Oliva and Ruiz-Fernández, 2015;Simas et al, 2015;Oliva et al, 2016). The relationship between landforms and soil distribution (Balks et al, 2013;Michel et al, 2014) and the distribution and changes of vegetation related to ice-free areas Pereira and Putzke, 2013;Guglielmin et al, 2014;Vieira et al, 2014) have been studied in detail in some areas.…”

Evaluation of frozen ground conditions along a coastal topographic gradient at Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, Antarctica) by geophysical and geoecological methods

“…Nevertheless, local factors can induce changes in this general distribution. In the SSI geomorphological landforms features related to permafrost conditions, such as rock glaciers, protalus lobes or moraines with ice-rich permafrost, have been observed close to sea level (López-Martínez et al, 2012;Oliva and Ruiz-Fernández, 2015).…”

Active layer thermal regime in two climatically contrasted sites of the Antarctic Peninsula region

“…The area has been deglaciated during the Holocene following the eastward retreat of the Rotch Dome glacier (Oliva et al, 2016). The relief of Byers Peninsula is organized around a central plateau (70-100 m) surrounded by Holocene marine terraces and the present-day beaches, with a few isolated hills exceeding an elevation of 140 m rising above the plateau (López-Martínez et al, 2012). A wide range of periglacial processes and landforms are distributed across the ice-free landscape of Byers Peninsula.…”