Uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains

The 3,000-km long and 4.5 km high Transantarctic Mountains represent the uplifted flank of the West Antarctic Rift system and mark the morphological and geological boundary between East and West Antarctica. However, the mechanism of their uplift is not well understood. The project will use magnetic, gravity and seismic survey data to determine the geometry of strata in the sedimentary basins beneath southern McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (the hanging wall) and use this data to test between various proposed uplift mechanisms. Some of the data has already been collected and is available. Additional data will be collected in November-December, 2001. The project will involve data processing and computer modelling of magnetic and gravity data and combining this with existing seismic data. Project could involve fieldwork during November-December 2001 (to be negotiated).

Selected References

Behrendt, L.R., S.A. Henrys, J.B. Anderson, and P.J. Barrett, Patterns of late Cenozoic volcanic and tectonic activity in the West Antarctic rift system revealed by aeromagnetic surveys, Tectonics, 15, 660-676, 1996.

Fitzgerald, P.F., The Transantarctic Mountains of southern Victoria land: the application of apatite fission track analysis to a rift shoulder uplift, Tectonics, 11, 634-662, 1992.

Stern, T.A., and U.S. ten_brink, Flexural uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 10,315-10,330, 1989.

Stern, T.A., F.J. Davey, and G. Delisle, Lithospheric flexure induced by the load of the Ross Archipelago, southern Victoria land, Antarctica, in Geological evolution of Antarctica, edited by M.R.A. Thomson, A. Crame, and J.W. Thomson, pp. 323-328, Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Sugden, D.E., G.H. Denton, and D.R. Marchant, Landscape evolution of the Dry Valleys, Transantarctic Mountains: tectonic implications, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 9949-9967, 1993.

ten Brink, U., and T. Stern, Rift Flank Uplifts and Hinterland basins: Comparison of the Transantarctic Mountains with the Great Escarpment of Southern Africa, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 569-585, 1992.