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.
Location
Taylor Dome, Lashly Mountain, Transantarctic Mountains, Wilkes Basin, East Antarctic Polar Plateau, Antarctica;
Stephen Bannister - NZ Inst. Geological and Nuclear Sciences - co-Ch. Sci./Shooter; David King - NZ Inst. Geological and Nuclear Sciences - Elect tech.; Mike Collins - NZ Antarctic Program - Mechanic; Bill King - NZ Antarctic Program - Search and rescue; Jan de Vries - NZ Antarctic Program - Search and rescue; Ron Hackney - Victoria Univ., Wellington, NZ - student; Rafael Katzman - WHOI - student; Yizhaq Makovsky - Stanford - student
