Air and shipborne magnetic surveys of the Antarctic into the 21st century

The Antarctic geomagnetics' community remains very active in crustal anomaly mapping. More than 1.5 million line-km of new air- and shipborne data have been acquired over the past decade by the international community in Antarctica. These new data together with surveys that previously were not in the public domain significantly upgrade the ADMAP compilation. Aeromagnetic flights over East Antarctica have been concentrated in the Transantarctic Mountains, the Prince Charles Mountains – Lambert Glacier area, and western Dronning Maud Land (DML) — Coats Land. Additionally, surveys were conducted over Lake Vostok and the western part of Marie Byrd Land by the US Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research projects and over the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the austral summer of 2004/2005 by a collaborative US/UK aerogeophysical campaign. New aeromagnetic data over the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains (120,000 line-km), acquired within the IPY Antarctica's Gamburtsev Province project reveal fundamental geologic features beneath the East Antarctic Ice sheet critical to understanding Precambrian continental growth processes. Roughly 100,000 line-km of magnetic data obtained within the International Collaboration for Exploration of the Cryosphere through Aerogeophysical Profiling promises to shed light on subglacial lithology and identify crustal boundaries for the central Antarctic Plate. Since the 1996/97 season, the Alfred Wegener Institute has collected 90,000 km of aeromagnetic data along a 1200 km long segment of the East Antarctic coast over western DML. Recent cruises by Australian, German, Japanese, Russian, British, and American researchers have contributed to long-standing studies of the Antarctic continental margin. Along the continental margin of East Antarctica west of Maud Rise to the George V Coast of Victoria Land, the Russian Polar Marine Geological Research Expedition and Geoscience Australia obtained 80,000 and 20,000 line-km, respectively, of integrated seismic, gravity and magnetic data. Additionally, US expeditions collected 128,000 line-km of shipborne magnetic data in the Ross Sea sector

Magnetic anomaly map of the Weddell Sea Region, Antarctic (Scale 1:2 500 000)

This paper describes a 1 : 2 500 000 scale aeromagnetic anomaly map produced by the joint efforts of VNIIOkeangeologia, Polar Marine Geological Research Expedition (PMGRE) and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWl) for the Weddell Sea region covering 1 850 000 km' of West Antarctica. Extensive regional magnetic survey flights with line-spacing of about 20 km and 5 km were carried out by the PMGRE between 1977 and 1989. In course of these investigations the PMGRE flew 9 surveys with flight-line spacing of 20 km and 6 surveys with flight-line spacing of 5 km mainly over the mountain areas of southern Palmer Land, western Dronning Maud Land, Coats Land and Pensacola Mountains, over the Ronne lee Shelf and the Filchner Ice Shelf and the central part of the Weddell Sea. More than 215 000 line-kilometers of total field aeromagnetic data have been acquired by using an Ilyushin Il-14 ski-equipped aircraft. Survey operations were centered on the field base stations Druzhnaya-1, -2, and -3, from which the majority of the Weddell Sea region network was completed. The composite map of the Weddell Sea region is prepared in colour, showing magnetic anomaly contours at intervals of 50-100 nT with supplemental contours at an interval of 25 nT in low gradient areas, on a polar stereographic projection. The compiled colour magnetic anomaly map of the Weddell Sea region demonstrates that features of large areal extent, such as geologic provinces, fold-belts, ancient eratonic fragments and other regional structural features can be readily delineated. The map allows a comparison of regional magnetic features with similar-scale geological structures on geological and geophysical maps. It also provides a database for the future production of the ''Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map of Antarctica'' in the framework of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research/International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (SCAR/IAGA) compilation

Forty-seven new subglacial lakes in the 0–1108 E sector of

ABSTRACT. During the summer field seasons of 1987–91, studies of central East Antarctica by airborne radio-echo sounding commenced. This scientific work continued in the 1990s in the Vostok Subglacial Lake area and along the traverse route from Mirny, and led to the discovery of 16 new subglacial water cavities in the areas of Domes Fuji and Argus and the Prince Charles Mountains. Twenty-nine subglacial water cavities were revealed in the area near Vostok, along with a feature we believe to be a subglacial river. Two subglacial lakes were discovered along the Mirny–Vostok traverse route. These are located 50 km north of Komsomolskaya station and under Pionerskaya station. We find high geothermal heat flux in the vicinity of the largest of the subglacial lakes, and suggest this may be due to their location over deep faults where additional mantle heat is available. 1

MAGNETIC ANOMALIES OF PRECAMBRIAN TERRANES OF THE EAST ANTARCTIC SHIELD COASTAL REGION (20°E-50°E)

Extensive regional magnetic survey flights with a line-spacing of about 20km were conducted by Polar Marine Geological Research Expedition (PMGRE) in 1972,1986,1988 and 1990 over the 20°E-50°E coastal region of East Antarctica. The flights total more than 34000 line-km of total magnetic intensity data acquired along north-south trending profiles. Magnetic anomaly maps compiled from digital data provide a synoptic view of major magnetic anomalies and the corresponding tectonic/geologic features of the Eastern Dronning Maud Land nd the Western Enderby Land. Availability of digital data allowed an application of various enhancement techniques and provided new interpretative information from the magnetic anomalies. The filtered and shaded relief maps have characteristic anomaly patterns (trends, amplitudes and wavelengths) which correlate with Precambrian tectonic features of the extensive Late Proterozoic area, and of the Archaean cratonic block of Enderby Land (Napier Complex). Of particular interest is the linear magnetic anomaly observed along the continental slope and shelf area; the Antarctic Continental Margin Magnetic Anomaly, ACMMA. This is a continentalscale crustal discontinuity formed during the Gondwana breakup. The archived aeromagnetic data will serve as the database for future production of the \u27Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map of Antarctica\u27 in the framework of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research/International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (SCAR/IAGA) compilation

(Table 1) Horizontal and vertical ice flow velocities for seven markers around Vostok Station

Combined geodetic, geophysical and glaciological in situ measurements are interpreted regarding surface height changes over subglacial Lake Vostok and the local mass balance of the ice sheet at Vostok station. Repeated GPS observations spanning 5 years and long-term surface accumulation data show that the height of the lake surface has not changed over the observation period. The application of the mass conservation equation to purely observational data yields an ice mass balance for Vostok station close to equilibrium

ADMAP - a digital magnetic anomaly map of the Antarctic

For a number of years the multi-national ADMAP working group has been compiling near surface and satellite magnetic data in the region south of 60° S. By the end of 2000, a 5 km grid of magnetic anomalies was produced for the entire region. The map readily portrays the first-order magnetic differences between oceanic and continental regions. The magnetic anomaly pattern over the continent reflects many phases of geological history whilst that over the abyssal plains of the surrounding oceans is dominated mostly by patterns of linear seafloor spreading anomalies and fracture zones. The Antarctic compilation reveals terranes of varying ages, including Proterozoic-Archaean cratons, Proterozoic-Palaeozoic mobile belts, Palaeozoic-Cenozoic magmatic arc systems and other important crustal features. The map delineates intra-continental rifts and major rifts along the Antarctic continental margin, the regional extent of plutons and volcanics, such as the Ferrar dolerites and Kirkpatrick basalts. The magnetic anomaly map of the Antarctic together with other geological and geophysical information provides new perspectives on the break-up of Gondwana and Rodinia evolution