Seafloor bathymetry and sediment sampling from the southwest corner of McMurdo Sound

A seafloor bathymetry and sediment sampling program was conducted in McMurdo Sound aboard the USGS GLACIER to take deep water samples not accessible from the sea ice, to sample off Granite Harbour and to obtain continuous depth records from previously uncharted areas in Western McMurdo Sound. Four deep water grab samples were taken in the Bird Basin on the Western side of Ross Island and Beaufort Island (854-889m). Several samples from slightly shallower depths were also taken along the western side of McMurdo Sound for foraminiferal studies. Bathymetric surveys were carried out in Granite Harbour with with a line run east from Cape Roberts. The work in Granite Harbour also involved the setting of a sediment trap to be retrieved in November 1983 and the recovery of 13 bottom samples, mainly grab samples with 2 cores 60cm long and 20cm across for detailed sedimentological study. Results of the cruise appear in several different places. Please see listed related metadata entries on the AMD.