Behavior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and Sea Level Change during the Late Quaternary

The issues of the extent of Antarctic ice sheet and relative sea level change since the last glaciation are discussed on the basis of the stratigraphy and the 14C-dates of raised beach deposits from the circum-antfrctic coastal areas. Although the Antarctic ice sheet is a fundamental factor in a discussion of the global climate and oceanographic systems, there has been little agreement on the extent of the ice sheet even during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Radiocarbon dates from some places along the Sôya Coast are clearly classified into two groups; the younger 3-8ka and the older 33-45ka without reservoir correction. The older 14C-dates suggest the occurrence of a transgression or a relatively high sea level during the interstadial of marine isotope stage 3. The extent of the Antarctic ice sheet during the LGM must have been smaller than that of the Maximum Model developed by Stuiver et al. (1981), which has established a significant boundary condition for the modeling of the past climate and its change.