Results of a geophysical traverse from Mount Murphy to the Hudson Mountains, Antarctica

Abstract

During the 1960–1961 field season in Antarctica an airborne geophysical traverse party made investigations along a profile from Mount Murphy to the Hudson Mountains. The bedrock is about 1000 meters below sea level as shown by seismic soundings which also demonstrate that a branch of the trough extending into Marie Byrd Land from the Ross Sea continues through to the Amundsen Sea. The rough bottom beneath the ice probably determines the irregularities of the upper surface of the ice. Bouguer anomalies indicate an approximate depth to the M discontinuity of 30 to 31 km, which is consistent with other continental margin areas of Antarctica. Aeromagnetic data have shown the absence of a thick sedimentary section beneath the ice along the profile. A broad magnetic anomaly has been shown to be caused by lithologic change at an approximate depth of 25 km.