Antarctic erosion history reconstructed by Terre Adelie moraine geochronology

We report apatite fission-track and Be-10 terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) dating of 14 moraine boulders originating from inland Terre Adelie, East Antarctica. These data show cooling of the Proterozoic Terre Adelie craton at < similar to 120 degrees C between 350 and 300 Ma, suggesting > 4 km temperate glacial erosion during the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age, followed by nearly null Mesozoic erosion and low glacial erosion (< 2 km) in the Cenozoic. Based on glacial flux maps, the origin of the boulders may be located similar to 400 km upstream. Preliminary TCN (Be-10) datings of moraine boulders cluster within the last 30 ka. Cosmogenic ages from the Lacroix Nunatak suggest a main deglaciation after the Younger Dryas at c. 10 ka, while those of Cap Prud'homme mostly cluster at 0.6 ka, in agreement with an exhumation of boulders during the Little Ice Age.