Neogene Sediment in McMurdo Sound

The initial geophysical surveys of McMurdo Sound by Robinson (1962, 1963, 1964) were continued by Pederson et al. (1981), Wong and Christoffel (1981), McGinnis et al. (1983, 1985), Stem (1984), and Davy and Alder (1989). The scope of the geophysical studies of McMurdo Sound was enlarged by Kim et al. (1986), Davey (1987), and by Cooper et al. (1987, 1991) to include the crastal sfructure and sediment fill of the Victoria Land Basin north of McMurdo Sound. 

Our interest is focused on the age and provenance of the sediment in McMurdo Sound because the sediment records the erosion of the Transantarctic Mountains by glaciers and the concurrent volcanic activity during the Cenozoic. Both sediment sources are represented in the cores of the MSSTS-1 and ClROS-1 and ClROS-2 drill holes described in publications edited by Barrett (1986,1989). 

A reconstraction of the topography of McMurdo Sound by Kyle (1981) based on K-Ar dates of volcanic rocks indicates that at about 5 Ma (early Pliocene) 

Faure and T.M. Mensing, The Transantarctic Mountains Rocks, Ice, Meteorites and Water, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-9390-5 19, Springer Science-l-Business MediaB.V. 2010 

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