Abstract Following more than 25 years of exploration and research since the last regional appraisal, the number of known subaerially exposed volcanoes in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region has more than trebled, from less than 15 to more than 50, and that total must be increased at least three-fold if seamounts in Bransfield Strait are included. Several volcanoes remain unvisited and there are relatively few detailed studies. The region includes Deception Island, the most prolific active volcano in Antarctica, and Mount Haddington, the largest volcano in Antarctica. The tectonic environment of the volcanism is more variable than elsewhere in Antarctica. Most of the volcanism is related to subduction. It includes very young ensialic marginal basin volcanism (Bransfield Strait), back-arc alkaline volcanism (James Ross Island Volcanic Group) and slab-window-related volcanism (seamount offshore of Anvers Island), as well as volcanism of uncertain origin (Anvers and Brabant islands; small volcanic centres on Livingston and Greenwich islands). Only ‘normal’ arc volcanism is not clearly represented, possibly because active subduction virtually ceased at c. 4 Ma. The eruptive environment for the volcanism varied between subglacial, marine and subaerial but a subglacial setting is prominent, particularly in the James Ross Island Volcanic Group.

Abstract Considerable controversy exists concerning the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Neogene Period. The northern Antarctic Peninsula is in a critical position in this debate as it represents a peripheral area of the ice sheet and is therefore likely to have been sensitive to climatic changes. This paper is concerned with Neogene glacial deposits that occur on James Ross and Vega islands. They occur between a thick volcanic sequence, the James Ross Island Volcanic Group, and Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks; they also occur within the volcanic sequence itself. The glacial deposits, where dated, give a series of snapshots of glacial conditions in Neogene time. The deposits are characterized by diamictite and sandy mudstone. Published 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ages on shelly fossils in some deposits range from 9.9 to 4.7 Ma, although additional 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages on interbedded volcanic rocks suggest that younger sedimentary deposits are also present. On James Ross Island the basal diamictite is interpreted as glaciomarine sediment that has undergone subaqueous mass movement, and on Vega Island as basal till originating from the west. Provenance studies indicate that the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet expanded sufficiently to deposit these sediments. These diamictites, in places, are overlain by waterlain tuffaceous rocks that include a minor ice-rafted component. Complex deformation of sedimentary and volcanic deposits and contact-metamorphism relationships confirm that volcanism was contemporaneous with glaciation. Later glacial events (within the volcanic sequence) are characterized by glacial erosion of basalt followed by basal till and, possibly, glaciofluvial deposition. The clasts in the latter are almost exclusively local, hence later glaciation was as a small ice cap constructed on the growing volcanic complex of James Ross Island.

Abstract Basaltic pahoehoe lava-fed deltas are important coastal constructions of many oceanic islands and continental flood basalt provinces. Whilst littoral processes associated with their formation have been described, little is known about subaqueous processes and products. This study is primarily focused on field studies of lava-fed deltas from the James Ross Island Volcanic Group (JRIVG), Antarctica, but also on other published studies of lava-fed deltas, and on information from studies of coarse-grained alluvial deltas. Seven coherent lava facies and eight subaqueously deposited clastic facies from the JRIVG are described and interpreted. Clastic facies are dominated by cobble-sized angular lithic and fluidal lithic-vitric breccias. The fluidal lithic-vitric breccias are derived from various slope failure processes acting on large-volume ponded lavas in the frontal crest area, or from gravity-driven ductile detachment of the margins of active pillow and sheet lavas on the steep subaqueous slope. Angular lithic breccias are generated mostly by similar brittle processes operating on cooled and jointed lavas ponded upslope. Subaqueous emplacement is mostly by density-modified grain flows with associated small buoyant plumes of finer sediment, and by high-density turbidity currents, many of which infill debris chutes. Basaltic lava-fed deltas have large-scale characteristics and processes that are similar to those of Gilbert-type and gravitationally-modified Gilbert-type alluvial deltas. Important contrasts that influence processes and facies in lava-fed deltas include the absence of any effluent force and the presence of hot clasts. Study of lava-fed delta deposits is important for palaeoenvironmental analysis because marine examples record relative sea level changes, and englacial examples provide evidence of minimum ice sheet thicknesses and meltwater levels. Characteristics that may be used to distinguish lava-fed deltas in marine and englacial lake environments are discussed, and littoral zone facies analysis is emphasized. Suggestions for future research include correlation of the physical parameters of subaerial and subaqueous lavas and the nature of cogenetic clastic products, submersible dives on active deltas, detailed facies analysis of individual tangential foreset beds, and comparative studies with steep coarse-grained alluvial deltas.