Bathymetric and geological maps from the British Antarctic Survey

Abstract

Since my 2012 feature about British Antarctic Survey (BAS) geological maps, the survey has continued to produce a series of ad hoc maps highlighting the results of their ongoing research, often in collaboration with their international colleagues. Not only has BAS added to their geological mapping series with James Ross Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, they have also produced a map of the bedrock topography of the entire continent, together with two bathymetric and geological settings sheets of the seas to the north of Antarctica. The first oceanographic map focuses on the South Sandwich Islands, some of the most remote United Kingdom overseas territories, roughly 700 km south‐east of South Georgia. Finally, the Drake Passage sheet shows the sea bed morphology from the Falklands and Tierra del Fuego to the South Shetland Islands just off the Antarctic Peninsula, spanning 70–50°W in longitude and 52–63°S in latitude. Below 60° south, all international territorial claims have been frozen by the Antarctic Treaty, which has demilitarized the entire continent since 1961 and ensured it remains untainted by mineral exploration and which has now expanded to a membership of over 50 nations.