Origin of the Mertz Drift, George V Basin, East Antarctica ...

• Main Author: Beaman, RJ
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: East Antarctica; Wega; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23212799.v1; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Origin_of_the_Mertz_Drift_George_V_Basin_East_Antarctica/23212799/1

During February-March 2000, a joint Italian/Australian marine geoscience expedition (Project WEGA) discovered and cored a large drift deposit, named the Mertz Drift. The drift is about 390 km\\(^2\\) in area, and lies in the western end of the George V Basin, East Antarctica. I document a study of the Mertz Drift as the deposit contains an important high-resolution record of palaeoenvironment changes during Holocene. X-radiographs of cores, visual core logs and multi-sensor core logger are used to distinguish facies in the cores. A comparison of facies from all cores, radiocarbon ages, thin section analysis and seafloor photographs of the Mertz Drift allowed interpretation of five different facies into four generalised phases of environmental history. A diamicton corresponds to sub-ice shelf, water-lain till deposited during the Last Glacial Maximum, and underlies the Mertz Drift. Unconformably overlying the diamicton is a massively bedded siliceous mud and diatom ooze (SMO) with a high proportion of ...