During the Quaternary, the Mac. Robertson shelf of East Antarctica was deeply eroded by glaciers and currents exposing the underlying basement, resulting in a scalped shelf.

International efforts to protect the Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) that live on cold seeps and hydrothermal vents requires methods to predict where these features might be in advance of human activity. We suggest an approach to identifying seeps and vents in the CCAMLR region that uses existing data to highlight areas of possible seep and vent communities. These hierarchical criteria can be used to reduce the accidental disturbance of seep communities. We propose a 4 level classification of indicators: Class 1 Areas: VME confirmed by recovery of organisms or observation (video, stills). This level would qualify for VME status and high levels of protection. Class 2 Areas: Seepage/venting present but VME not confirmed. These locations would have a number of indicators of active seepage but VMEs have not been identified. Class 3 Areas: Seepage suspected from geophysical, geochemical or oceanographic observations. These areas have seismic indications of shallow gas or clathrates , structures suggesting fluid escape but where bubble flares or water column plumes have not been detected or where plume has been detected but not tied to an area of sea floor. Class 4 Areas: Area or geomorphic features associated with seepage and vents. These areas are large-scale geomorphic features such as Mid-Ocean Ridge rift valleys or volcanoes where vents are likely but not yet detected. Class 3 and Class 4 areas have been mapped from 45oE to 160oE using global bathymetry grids and seismic data from the SCAR Seismic Data Library.

Hemipelagic, sediment drift deposits have been discovered and mapped on the Antarctic Peninsula shelf in 300-500 m water depth. The drift located adjacent to Andvord Bay covers 44.5 km2 and exhibits continuous and discontinuous parallel reflections that conform to peaks and valleys in the acoustic basement as observed in deep-tow boomer and sparker seismic records. This style of drift deposit is a common feature of deep oceanic sediments, but is not normally found in continental shelf environments.

Sub-glacial geothermal heat flow is acknowledged to be a critical, yet poorly constrained, boundary parameter influencing ice sheet behaviour (Winsborrow et al 2010). Geothermal heat flow is the sum of residual heat from the formation of the Earth and the natural heat generated within the Earth from the radiogenic decay of the major heat producing elements (HPEs), U, Th and K. Estimates of the sub-glacial geothermal heat flow in Antarctica are largely deduced from remotely-sensed low-resolution datasets such as seismic tomography or satellite-based geomagnetics. These methods provide broad regional estimates of geothermal heat flow reflecting variations in the mantle contribution as a function of thickness of a thermally homogeneous crust. These estimates of sub-glacial geothermal heat flow, although widely utilised in ice sheet modelling studies, fail to account for lateral and vertical heterogeneity of heat production within the crust where HPEs are concentrated and that are known to significantly impact regional geothermal heat flow values. Significant variations in regional geothermal heat flow due to heterogeneous crustal distribution of HPEs have been recognised within southern Australia (e.g. McLaren et al., 2006), a region that was connected to east Antarctica along the George V, Adélie and Wilkes Lands coastline prior to breakup of Gondwana. The South Australian Heat Flow Anomaly (SAHFA; e.g. Neumann et al., 2000) is characterized by surface heat flows as high as 126 mWm-2, some '2-3 times' that of typical continental values, due to local enrichment of HPEs. The SAHFA forms part of a once contiguous continental block called the Mawson Continent, a now dismembered crustal block that is known, from geological and geophysical evidence, to extend deep into the sub-glacial interior of the Antarctic. It is highly probable that the high geothermal heat flow characteristics of the SAHFA also extend into the sub-glacial hinterland of Terra Adélie and George V lands, a possibility that has not been previously considered in ice sheet studies. In order to account for the occurrence of several sub-glacial lakes in Adélie Land, Siegert & Dowdeswell (1996) concluded that 'a further 25-50 mWm-2 of equivalent geothermal heat' was required over the assumed local geothermal heat flow of ca. 54 mWm-2. Although that study concluded that the additional heat required for basal melting was derived from internal ice deformation, they also acknowledged the possible role of variations in geothermal heat flow, and now that the SAHFA is well characterised, this is a possibility that appears very likely.

Two sediment cores collected from beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica describe the physical sedimentation patterns beneath an existing major embayed ice shelf. Core AM01b was collected from a site of basal freezing, contrasting with core AM02, collected from a site of basal melting. Both cores comprise Holocene siliceous muddy ooze (SMO), however, AM01b also recovered interbedded siliciclastic mud, sand and gravel with inclined bedding in its lower 27 cm. This interval indicates an episode of variable but strong current activity before SMO sedimentation became dominant. 14C ages corrected for old surface ages are consistent with previous dating of marine sediments in Prydz Bay. However, the basal age of AM01b of 28250 ± 230 14C yr bp probably results from greater contamination by recycled organic matter. Lithology, 14C surface ages, absolute diatom abundance, and the diatom assemblage are used as indicators of sediment transport pathways beneath the ice shelf. The transport pathways suggested from these indicators do not correspond to previous models of the basal melt/freeze pattern. This indicates that the overturning baroclinic circulation beneath the Amery Ice Shelf (near-bed inflow-surface outflow) is a more important influence on basal melt/freeze and sediment distributions than the barotropic circulation that produces inflow in the east and outflow in the west of the ice front. Localized topographic (ice draft and bed elevation) variations are likely to play a dominant role in the resulting sub-ice shelf melt and sediment distribution.

Less than one year after the spectacular calving of the Mertz Glacier tongue, scientists were collecting the first ever images of the seafloor where the glacier tongue once sat.

Frank Stillwell was a member of Douglas Mawson's 1911-1914 expedition to Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. His 1912 diary is being edited for publication. The editor has asked for a text box to be included in the publication that describes aspects of the geomagnetism activities that formed part of the expedition's scientific program.

Prydz Bay and the Mac.Robertson Land Shelf exhibit many of the variations seen on Antarctic continental shelves. The Mac.Robertson Shelf is relatively narrow with rugged inner shelf topography and shalow outer banks swept by the west-flowing Antarctic Coastal Current. U-shaped valleys cut the shelf. it has thin sedimentary cover deposited and eroded by cycles of glacial advance and retreat through the Neogene and Quaternary. Modern sedimention is diatom-rich Siliceosu Muddy OOze in shelf deeps while on the banks, phytodetritus, calcareous bioclasts and terrigenous material are mixed by iceberg ploughing. Prydz Bay is a large embayment fed by the Amery Ice Shelf. it has a broad inner shelf deep and outer bank with depths ranging from 2400 m beneath the ice shelf to 100 m on the outer bank. A clockwise gyre flows through the bay. Fine mud and siliceous ooze drapes the sea floor however banks are scoured by icebergs to depths of 500 m.

The Rayner Complex of East Antarctica is exposed between 45??80?E in the Enderby Land through Princes Elizabeth Land sector of East Antarctica. It is known to correlate with parts of present day India and to have been deformed and metamorphosed at high grades in the earliest Neoproterozoic (990-900 Ma). The age and origin of the protolith rocks of the Rayner Complex however remains largely unknown, as does the tectonic setting in which these rocks formed. New age data collected from the northern Prince Charles Mountains (eastern Rayner Complex), demonstrate that the pre-orogenic rocks from this region consist of: (1) volcanogenic and terrigenous sediments deposited between 1400 Ma and 1020 Ma in a magmatically active basin characterised by limited input from cratonic sources and, (2) probable syn-sedimentary granitoids dated to 1150 Ma. Our data confirm the continuity of the Rayner Complex into Prydz Bay, a region that preserves a remarkably similar geologic history but which is often differentiated from the Rayner Complex on the basis of a higher grade early Cambrian (~520 Ma) overprint. On the basis of our data we further conclude that the Rayner Complex protoliths likely in formed in a back-arc system that existed along the margin of the pre-Gondwana Indian craton. Anticlockwise P-T paths and high-T, low-P metamorphism associated with the inversion of the Rayner back-arc (990-900 Ma) suggest this event resulted from the accretion of a number of independent microplates, rather than continent-continent collision.

CAML is a five year International Program which will be undertaken as a major activity during the International Polar Year. This project will bring together all known data on Antarctic marine biodiversity and ocean change. The Antarctic Ocean is one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world. Research undertaken via CAML will produce fascinating images of the Southern Ocean Geoscience Australia's Marine and Coastal Group is contributing expertise in sea floor mapping and sediment core collection to CAML. The Australian Government Antarctic Division is collecting oceanographic data, video footage and sediment cores through hot-water drill holes in the Amery Ice Shelf. The sediment cores are collected using a corer designed and built by Geoscience Australia, and are being analysed by scientists at Geoscience Australia to understand the environmental history beneath this ice shelf. This project has now produced four cores. The only other core ever obtained from beneath an extant ice shelf from under the Ross Ice Shelf in the early 1970s showed no signs of life. However, several Amery cores contain diatom-rich sediments, and one contains a succession of benthic faunas that indicate progressive colonisation of the sub-ice sea floor as ice retreated and currents began to seep nutrients and plankton into the sub-ice shelf cavity.