Project Title

Collaborative Research: Coring Seymour Island (CSI) Antarctica: Evaluating Causes and Effects of the End Cretaceous Mass Extinction

Summary

Event Number:
G-296-N
NSF / OPP Award 2026648

Program Director:
Dr. William Ambrose

ASC POC/Implementer:
Kenneth Vicknair / Diane Hutt

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Thomas Steven Tobin
ttobin@ua.edu
University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Department of Geological Sciences
Northport, Alabama

Location

Supporting Stations: Research Vessel
Research Locations: Seymour Island, Weddell Sea

Description

This project is designed to evaluate evidence of extinction patterns and depositional conditions from a high southern latitude Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) outcrop section in the Western Antarctic Peninsula region. The team will use hand trenching and drilling in areas around Seymour Island to get below the weathering horizon into high priority stratigraphic intervals. Collected rock samples and cores will be used to evaluate detailed sedimentary structures, geochemistry, and microfossils. The study will help determine if the K-Pg mass extinction was a single or double phased event and whether the Seymour Island region was a restricted, suboxic marine environment or an open well-mixed shelf environment.

Field Season Overview

The primary objective of this field effort is to collect sediment samples for microfossil and geochemical analyses across important stratigraphic intervals on Seymour Island. This objective will be accomplished by digging trenches and pits to access undisturbed sedimentary rocks, describing exposed features, and collecting samples to return to the principal investigators' (PIs’) labs for further analysis. Transportation of drilling equipment will require all-terrain vehicle (ATV) support, and this evaluation will involve locating a suitable drilling site that is ATV accessible, identifying navigable and environmentally suitable ATV paths. Relatively small-scale drilling equipment (e.g., SIPRE hand auger, SHAW backpack drill) will be used to assess the current depth of the permafrost, assessing permeability of the substrate, and stability of drilled bore holes. A team of 12, including two ASC support staff and two IDP drillers, is scheduled to utilize a pop-up camp on Seymour Island for up to 21 days. All camping gear and scientific sampling equipment will be brought ashore, assembled, utilized, disassembled and removed from the island by the end of the field season. Rock, core and microfossil samples will be categorized and shipped to the PI's home institution of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.

Deploying Team Members