The characteristics of geophysical field and tectonic evolution in the Bransfield Strait

• Main Authors: Bochu, Yao, Guangyu, Wang, Bangyan, Chen, Shengyuan, Chen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 1995
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; South Shetland Islands; Bransfield Strait; Bransfield Trough; Advances in Polar Science; Antarc*; Polar Science
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/2088/; http://library.arcticportal.org/2088/1/A501.001.pdf

Having analyzed the data collected by our survey ship "Ocean IV" in the Bransfield Strait in 1991, we recognized that the geomorphology, gravity and magnetic anomalies trending NE direction along bandings. The sediments in the Bransfield Strait can be subdivided into two sequences: the first rifting sequence and the second rifting sequence. The basement was faulted into a half-graben in northwestern side of the Bransfield trough. Considering the crustal structure crossing the South Shetland Islands, the Bransfield Strait and the Antarctic Peninsula, we propose a two-phase rifting tectonic evolution model and a layered-shear model for the lithospheric deformation under the effects of extensional stress field.