The seafloor geomorphology of the Windmill Islands, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica: implications for regional ice-sheet evolution

High-resolution marine sonar swath mapping, covering an area of ca. 33 km2 in the vicinity of the Windmill Islands (67° S, 110° E), Wilkes Land, east Antarctica, permits visualisation and description of the near-shore geomorphology of the seafloor environment in unprecedented detail and provides invaluable insight into the ice-sheet history of the region. Mesoproterozoic metamorphic basement exhibits prominent sets of parallel northwest-trending linear fault sets that probably formed during fragmentation of eastern Gondwana during the Mesozoic. The fault systems appear to control regional coastal physiographic features and have, in places, been preferentially eroded and exploited by subsequent glacial activity. Possibly the earliest formed glacially-derived geomorphological elements are networks of sub-glacial meltwater channels which are preserved on bedrock platforms and ridges. Subtle glacial lineations and streamlined landforms record evidence of the westward expansion of the grounded, Law Dome ice sheet margin, probably during the late Pleistocene Last Glacial Maximum, the direction of which coincides with glacial striae on onshore crystalline bedrock outcrops. The most striking glacial geomorphological features are sets of arcuate ridges confined mostly within glacially excavated `U-shaped valleys, exploiting and developed along bedrock fault sets. These ridge sets are interpreted as `push moraines or grounding zone features, formed during episodic retreat of highly channelised, topographically controlled ice-streams following ice surging, possibly in response to local environmental forcing during the mid-late Holocene. Minor post-glacial marine sedimentation is preserved in several small (1 km2) `isolated marine basins with shallow seaward sills.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2016-01-01T00:00:00
Date (Publication)
2017-05-30T14:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/90095

Citation identifier
Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.04.031

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Author

Carson, C.J.

 1
Author

Post, A.L.

 2
Author

Smith, J.

 3
Author

Walker, G.

 4
Author

Waring, P.

 5
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Custodian

EGD
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Keywords

  • External Publication

  • Scientific Journal Paper

Theme

  • Antarctic data

Theme

  • Bathymetry

Theme

  • Continental Shelf

Theme

  • geomorphology

Theme

  • marine survey

Keywords

  • AAT

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Marine Geoscience

Keywords

  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
OnLine resource

Link to Publication

Link to Publication

Resource lineage

Statement

Not applicable

Hierarchy level
Non geographic dataset
Other

External Publication

Description

Source data not available.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/2d6986d0-e7d7-f3a1-e053-12a3070ab364

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Non geographic dataset
Name

nonGeographicDataset

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/90095

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/2d6986d0-e7d7-f3a1-e053-12a3070ab364

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-22T08:43:57
Date info (Creation)
2016-03-07T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Antarctic data Bathymetry Continental Shelf geomorphology marine survey

Provided by

Access to the portal

Associated resources

Not available