The sites drilled on Leg 35 were selected to study the tectonic relationships and interactions between the Antarctic plate and the Antarctic Peninsula, the Scotia Arc, the southern Andes, and the Chile Ridge. Site 322 was drilled on the eastern end of the Bellingshausen Abyssal Plain where it is bounded by the Hero Fracture Zone to the northeast and the continental rise of Antarctica to the south. Site 323 was centrally located on the abyssal plain, about 30 miles west of the Eltanin Fracture Zone and about 150 miles north of the Antarctic continental rise. Site 324 was located on the gently sloping lower continental rise of Antarctica about 160 miles north of Thurston Island, the closest exposed land
