Fig. 1

Left: location of soil development gradients formed by glacier retreat on the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island; right: a Ardley Island palaeobeach sequence (P1-P6, green); b a typical plot at the altitudinal chronosequence ‘Meseta’ (M1-M8 in red), here M6, with soil having a loamy texture; the temporal gradient of ‘Meseta’ consists of plots of comparable altitude (~220 ma.s.l.) with almost no impact of bird feces and located as far as possible from direct sea spray, c temporal gradient at ‘Collins’ Outcrop’, C1-C4 in blue. ‘Collins’ Outcrop’ represents an altitudinal glacier retreat with Deschampsia antarctica .C1: Glacier till, C2: Mosses, C3: Mosses with 10 % Deschampsia antarctica, C4: Deschampsia antarctica