Post-cruise Report AGSO Survey 217 : Joint Italian/Australian Marine Geoscience Expedition Aboard the R.V. Tangaroa to the George Vth Land Region of East Antarctica during February-March, 2000 : Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions Project no. 1044, Wilkes Land Glacial History (WEGA)

Brief description

The geophysical data collected includes a total of 1827 km of multi-channel seismic data and 562 km of Chirper sonar data. A total of 11 gravity cores, 28 piston cores, 18 surface grabs and 11 short trigger cores were collected on the voyage. Water profile (CTD) measurements and water samples were collected at nine stations and seabed bottom photographs were made at 11 stations. The expedition discovered and mapped a shelf sediment drift deposit covering about 400 km2 lying in an >800m deep section of the George Vth basin west of the Mertz Glacier. It is a true "drift" deposit, since these sediments exhibit a depositional architecture indicative of contour-parallel sediment transport. A significant observation is that the drift thins to the north into an acoustically-transparent veneer; this observation implies that the drift is sourced from the outer continental shelf, with sediment being transported landwards, across the shelf and into an 850m deep inner shelf basin.\n\nYou can also purchase hard copies of Geoscience Australia data and other products at http://www.ga.gov.au/products-services/how-to-order-products/sales-centre.html

Full description

Record (pdf) - Record (pdf)