The Geology Of The Antarctic Continent

The present volume provides a comprehensive overview of the geology of the Antarctic continent. It is principally based on the meagre 1% of ice-free area of Antarctica and geophysical data. The only previous, fairly comprehensive treatment of Antarctic geology was published more than 25 year ago. Since then, our knowledge about the geology of the continent has increased immensely; despite the km-thick ice shield, which covers large parts of Antarcticas geology, particularly at its center. An outstanding feature of this book is that it combines the present knowledge in just one single volume. Following an introduction with a geographic outline and a general synopsis of Antarctic geology, individual chapters describe the regional geology of the seven main physiographic regions of Antarctica in detail: the Antarctic Peninsula, West Antarctica (Marie Byrd Land and Enderby Land), Transantarctic Mountains, the Shackleton Range and its surroundings (including the Bertrab, Littlewood and Moltke Nunataks), Dronning Maud Land, Lambert Glacier and the area surrounding it, East Antarctica from Kaiser-Wilhelm-II.-Land to George V Land/Terre Adélie. All seven chapters were written by acknowledged specialists in their field. Each chapter contains a topographic, historical and geological overview, a description of the respective geological units, their stratigraphy and related data and the tectonic structure of the respective region. Mostly, the findings are placed in a continent-wide/plate tectonic/geological context. The book closes with chapters on the mineral resources and the palaeontological record of the Antarctic continent. Even if the Antarctic Treaty System prohibits prospection and any exploitation of mineral resources in Antarctica at this time, occurrences of iron, other metal and coal deposits are known, and many more do probably exist. The mineral resources chapter does not just deal with known and presumed deposits, but also highlights environmental problems and relevant international treaties, economic issues and practical or general problems. The Antarctic ice is the largest fresh water resource on Earth. All nine authors are or have been active field geologists in the corresponding Antarctic regions and are affiliated with American, British, French and German research institutions. The book addresses researchers, students of geosciences, geologists and all other scientists interested in Antarctic science in general.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Antarctic Research Series, Volume 71. The Antarctic Ice Sheet has greatly affected global climate, sea level, ocean circulation, and southern hemisphere biota during Cenozoic times. Much of our understanding of the evolution of the ice sheet has been inferred from isotopic studies on distant deep-ocean sediments, because few Cenozoic rocks are exposed on the Antarctic continent. Yet, large differences occur between past ice volumes inferred from isotopic studies and those inferred from low-latitude sea-level variation. The massive quantities of glacially transported terrigenous sediments that lie beneath the Antarctic continental margin provide an additional, more direct record of the inferred ice sheet fluctuations. Volume 68 addresses the history of ice sheet fluctuations as recorded by geological and geophysical investigations of selected areas of the Antarctic continental margin. As described below, the volume gives data and results from on-going research by a major multinational project directed toward better understanding the impact of Antarctic Ice Sheet fluctuations on global sea levels and climates.

Antarctic Climate Evolution is the first book dedicated to furthering knowledge on the evolution of the world’s largest ice sheet over its ~34 million year history. This volume provides the latest information on subjects ranging from terrestrial and marine geology to sedimentology and glacier geophysics. An overview of Antarctic climate change, analyzing historical, present-day and future developments Contributions from leading experts and scholars from around the world Informs and updates climate change scientists and experts in related areas of study

Antarctica preserves a rock record that spans three and a half billion years of history and has a remarkable story to tell about the evolution of our Earth, from the hottest crustal rocks yet found in an orogenic system, to the assembly and breakup of Gondwana in the Phanerozoic. This volume highlights our improved understanding of the tectonic events that have shaped Antarctica and how these potentially relate to supercontinent assembly and fragmentation. The internal constitution of the East Antarctic Shield is assessed using information available from the basement geology and from detritus preserved as Mesozoic sediments in the Trans Antarctic Mountains. Accretionary orogenesis along the proto-Pacific margin of Antarctica is examined and the volumes of intracrustal melting compared with juvenile magma additions in these complex orogenic systems assessed. This special volume demonstrates the diversity of approaches required to elucidate and understand crustal evolution and evaluate the supercontinent concept.

Summary based on published and unpublished reports.

This memoir is the first to review all of Antarctica’s volcanism between 200 million years ago and the Present. The region is still volcanically active. The volume is an amalgamation of in-depth syntheses, which are presented within distinctly different tectonic settings. Each is described in terms of (1) the volcanology and eruptive palaeoenvironments; (2) petrology and origin of magma; and (3) active volcanism, including tephrochronology. Important volcanic episodes include: astonishingly voluminous mafic and felsic volcanic deposits associated with the Jurassic break-up of Gondwana; the construction and progressive demise of a major Jurassic to Present continental arc, including back-arc alkaline basalts and volcanism in a young ensialic marginal basin; Miocene to Pleistocene mafic volcanism associated with post-subduction slab-window formation; numerous Neogene alkaline volcanoes, including the massive Erebus volcano and its persistent phonolitic lava lake, that are widely distributed within and adjacent to one of the world’s major zones of lithospheric extension (the West Antarctic Rift System); and very young ultrapotassic volcanism erupted subglacially and forming a world-wide type example (Gaussberg).

A comprehensive single-authored book to introduce students and researchers to the marine geology of the Antarctic.