Abstract
New geophysical data from Antarctica’s Ross Embayment reveal the
structure and subglacial geology of extended continental crust beneath
the Ross Ice Shelf. We use airborne magnetic data from the ROSETTA-Ice
Project to locate the contact between magnetic basement and overlying
sediments. We delineate a broad, segmented basement high with thin
(0-500m) non-magnetic sedimentary cover which trends northward into the
Ross Sea’s Central High. Before subsiding in the Oligocene, this feature
likely facilitated early glaciation in the region and subsequently acted
as a pinning point and ice flow divide. Flanking the high are wide
sedimentary basins, up to 3700m deep, which parallel the Ross Sea basins
and likely formed during Cretaceous-Neogene intracontinental extension.
NW-SE basins beneath the Siple Coast grounding zone, by contrast, are
narrow, deep, and elongate. They suggest tectonic divergence upon active
faults that may localize geothermal heat and/or groundwater flow, both
important components of the subglacial system.