Historical geomorphology and structural glaciology of south-western Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica

This study presents a 1:8000 geomorphological and structural glaciological map of south-western Admiralty Bay, King George Island, based on a 1979 aerial survey. The map covers an area of 37.9 km2 and documents 16 462 structures and landforms. Large-scale landscape characteristics are determined by bedrock geology sculpted by overlying ice masses. The glaciers can be broadly separated into highly-crevassed tidewater glaciers, and less dynamic land-terminating glaciers. Proglacial areas contain ice-cored terrain abandoned by receding ice masses, with paraglacial and periglacial features superimposed on larger-scale landforms. Between 1979 and 2025, glacier cover decreased by 7.6 km2 or 25.5%, with the recession of tidewater glaciers exposing 5.8 km of new coastline and increasing marine surface area by 0.9 km2. This map provides a historical foundation for glaciological and landscape evolution studies, in addition to investigations that monitor changing terrestrial and marine ecosystems in a warming climate.