Summary for Field Activity Number 1993-028-FA

Alternate Leg ID: EAST93

Area of Operations: Taylor Dome, Lashly Mountain, Transantarctic Mountains, Wilkes Basin, East Antarctic Polar Plateau, Antarctica

Dates: December 01, 1993 to January 29, 1994

Objectives: By imaging the bedrock under the East Antarctic ice sheet between the Transantarctic Mountains and the Wilkes subglacial Basin, the experiment provided: 1) quantitative constraints for modeling the uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains and the subsidence of the Wilkes Basin as a flexed lithospheric plate with a free-edge at the boundary with West Antarctica; 2) mapping of the extent of the Ferrar dolerite sills and basalts inland from the mountains to discern whether they originated from an active mantle plume or from rifting and passive upwelling; and 3) analysis of the seismic stratigraphy of the Wilkes Basin sediments to resolve climatic conditions and size of the ice sheet in the Cenozoic, when parts of East Antarctica were deglaciated during much of the Late Cenozoic.

Type of Activity:

Information to be derived: Morphology

Summary: Multichannel seismic reflection: 236 km; Gravity: 312.6 km; Magnetics: 312.6 km; Ground penetrating radar: 205 km

USGS Project Number: EAST93

Contact: Uri ten Brink (utenbrink@usgs.gov)

InfoBank: uses the identifier T-1-93-AN. Visit this site for more information.