Nano-scale investigations on clay minerals during the Holocene climate optimum; Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Rapid regional warming over the past decades on Antarctic Peninsula is related to the breakup of Larsen Ice shelves and accelerating glacier mass loss. We hypothesized that "The glacial environmental changes in sediment deposition may be reflected in nano-scale properties of clay minerals such as Illite Crystallinity (IC) and Crystal size distributions (CSDs) through the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)". Physical and biological effects on the modification of IC were investigated accompanying with X-ray diffractometer, Transmission electron microscopy, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy, and Pyrosequencing analysis. Decrease in IC values and increase in average illite packet size are likely to be revealing a change in depositional environments including microbial community composition as well as biogeochemical reaction during the Holocene climate optimum.