Subglacial morphology and structural geology in the southern Transantarctic Mountains from airborne geophysics ...

• Main Author: Davis, Marcy B.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Texas at Austin 2001
• Subjects: Geomorphology > Antarctica > Transantarctic Mountains; Geology, Structural > Antarctica > Transantarctic Mountains; Geophysical surveys > Antarctica > Transantarctic Mountains; Antarctic; Ross Ice Shelf; South Pole; Transantarctic Mountains; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/2786; https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/75682

The Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) form the high western rift flank of the West Antarctic Rift System (WARS), a region of extended crust that separates East and West Antarctica. Little is known about the structural geology in the southern TAM due to limited accessibility and more ice cover than in the central and northern TAM. The objectives of this study are to characterize the subglacial bedrock morphology interior of the southern TAM and to define the structural geology along the southern TAM Front through analysis of airborne ice-penetrating radar data. The airborne survey extended from the Ross Ice Shelf, southward over the TAM along the 150°W meridian and between the Scott and Reedy Glaciers then over the high plateau and through the South Pole. Approximately 15,000 line km were flown and processed using finite difference migration techniques in a seismic processing software package. Subsequently, the ice and bed surfaces were picked along each line and known geology was interpreted on the radar ...