ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE WEDDELL SEA, SOUTHERN OCEAN

Abstract

The Weddell Sea belongs to the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. It is located north of the Antarctic rift, between the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia arc of West Antarctica in the west and Dronning Maud Land of East Antarctica with its submarine continuation, the Maud Ridge, in the east. The rift systems of the American–Antarctic and Southwest Indian ridges serve as the northern boundary of the Weddell Sea. The geology of the Weddell Sea has been poorly studied, and the existing views on its origin and evolution remain controversial. This paper presents the results of a study of a new set of rock samples (more than 500 kg) collected by N.A. Kurentsova from the material obtained by Agassiz and Sigsbi skate trawls in the course of biological dredging in the Weddell Sea during Leg ANT-XXII/3 of the German R/V Polarstern. The nature of geologic samples dredged with a trawl usually cannot be unequivocally determined. Some geologists suggested that they were transported by floating ice or suspension flows, whereas others argued that they are fragments from basement exposures.