dynamics of the ice shelves, fluctuations of the ice sheets
extensions (Eastern and Western) and volcanic activity from
several volcanic complex of the Victoria Land. Marine sediments
consisting of alternated glacigenic, biogenic and volcanic
deposits can be interpreted in terms of changes in paleoclimate
and paleoenvironment conditions. We present a multidisciplinary
study of the sediments recovered in selected cores from Ross
Sea during 1999 and 2000 cruises and stored in the Italian
archive at Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide (Trieste). The study is
based on tephrostratigraphy, petrology, paleomagnetism, rock
magnetism, TIC/TOC geochemistry, Ar/Ar dating, palinology and
integrated biostratigraphy of forams and calcareous
nannoplankton of the sediments. Results provide new data on
local and/or global changes of paleoclimate and
paleoenvironmental conditions over the past 130 Ka.
Furthermore, the study of the recovered volcanic deposits adds
new information about the poorly known, recent volcanic activity
in the Victoria Land area.
