L089 Wilkes ice thickness measurements, Antarctica, 1961

• Other Authors: Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) (distributor), Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) (owner), Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) (pointOfContact), Geoscience Australia (publisher), Jewell, F. (author), MNHD (hasAssociationWith), Manager Client Services (custodian), U44229 (custodian)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Geoscience Australia
• Subjects: geoscientificInformation; Seismic Data; seismic survey; seismic reflection; seismic velocity; geophysics; AQ; Seismology and Seismic Exploration; EARTH SCIENCES; Published_External; Adams Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Totten Glacier
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/l089-wilkes-ice-antarctica-1961/1220299; https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/76470

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded Statement: The ice thickness measurements described here were made in 1961, the first year of a three-year programme by members of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition wintering at Wilkes Base. The seismic equipment was supplied by the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, and the writer, a geophysicist of the Bureau, acted as seismic observer. The party of six, led by Captain N.R. glaciological and meteorological observations. permitted, all members of the party helped with particular J. McGhee, mechanic, and S. Stadler, did most of the shot-hole drilling. Smethurst, also made Where other duties the seismic work; in weather observer, The equipment and techniques used, and the relevance of ice thickness measurements to other studies, have been largely covered by Goodspeed (1958), who describes similar work done in 1957-58 near Mawson, Antarctica. Ice thickness measurements were made in 1961 by seismic methods on a line southward from S-2, a glaciological station 50 miles east-south-east of Wilkes Base, Antarctica. The traverse constituted the first year's work of a three-year programme. The results showed that the rock underlying the ice dips below sea level at a point between 20 and 40 miles south of S-2. It remains below sea level at all the locations occupied to the south, as far as 280 miles south of S-2, where the rock surface is again above sea level. The main feature is a valley disclosed in the rock formation between 40 and 80 miles south of S-2. Midway between these two points the rock lies at approximately 7500 ft below sea level. The positions of the Totten Glacier and the John Quincy Adams Glacier suggest that the valley may have been responsible for their formation.