Basement Topography and Sediment Thickness Beneath Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf

Abstract

AbstractNew 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.