Patagonia & the Antarctic Peninsula:
ideal natural laboratories for our purposes
• Large latitudinal range provides for a large range of precipitation
and glacier thermal regimes over relatively homogeneous
lithologies and tectonic settings
• Prior studies of the region have noted a significant decrease in
glaciomarine sediment accumulation in the fjords along a
southward transect but they have not assessed sediment yields or
erosion rates, and
• Fjords constitute accessible and nearly perfect natural sediment
traps that can be readily surveyed by research vessel, the
Nathaniel Palmer.