Publication Date:
2012-06-01
Description:
Some of the greatest uncertainties in our understanding of Cenozoic global tectonics and climate can be traced back to our relatively meager knowledge about Antarctica’s continental lithosphere and its overlying continental glaciers (Steinberger et al., 2004; Raymo and Huybers, 2008). A trove of information about past tectonism and the behavior of the continental ice sheets lies buried along the submarine continental margins of Antarctica. Searching for and recovering this information presents a unique and significant suite of logistical challenges that have precluded extensive drilling on the continent. However, over the last few decades there have been several international efforts to drill Cenozoic stratigraphic sequences within basins in the West Antarctic Rift system in the southern Ross Sea (e.g., CIROS-1, 2; CRP-1, 2, 3; AND-1B; and AND-2A in Fig. 1). These drilling projects yielded stratigraphic sections with remarkably high core recovery (〉98%) and have provided fundamental advances toward understanding past climate and tectonic patterns, as well as the contemporary geodynamic state of the Antarctic continent.
Electronic ISSN:
1553-040X
Topics:
Geosciences
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