Continental Shelf Record of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet Evolution: Seismo-stratigraphic Evidence from the George V Basin

The late Quaternary ice sheet/ice shelf extent in the George V Basin (East Antarctica) has been reconstructed through analyses of Chirp sub-bottom profiles, integrated with multi-channel seismic data and sediment cores. Four glacial facies, related to the advance and retreat history of the glaciated margin, have been distinguished: Facies 1 represents outcrop of crystalline and sedimentary rocks along the steep inner shelf and comprises canyons once carved by glaciers; Facies 2 represents moraines and morainal banks and ridges with a depositional origin along the middle-inner shelf; Facies 3 represents glacial flutes along the middle-outer shelf; Facies 4 is related to ice-keel turbation at water depths 775 m, with drape/sheet and mound characters and numerous undisturbed sub-bottom sub-parallel reflectors (Facies MD1);
b) a fluted sediment drift deposit at water depth