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73-617: Mount Petras lies in the coastal region of Marie Byrd Land , Antarctica , and is located within the McCuddin Mountains together with Mount Flint which lies northwest of Mount Petras. The complex Mount Petras-Mount Flint- Reynolds Ridge is also known as Petras Range. It lies 200–250 kilometres (120–160 mi) inland from the Amundsen Sea coast. It is an angular mountain consisting of rocky spurs in an area of 5 by 8 kilometres (3.1 mi × 5.0 mi), which form two ridges form

146-566: A camp was operated at the Ford Ranges (FRD) in western Marie Byrd Land, supporting a part of a United States Antarctic Program (USAP) airborne survey initiated by UCSB and supported by the UTIG flying out of Siple Dome. In 2004–05, a large camp, Thwaites (THW) was established by the USAP 150 km (93 mi) north of NBY, in order to support a large airborne geophysical survey of eastern Marie Byrd Land by

219-498: A coincident decrease in the number of orcas. The report recommended a full moratorium on fishing over the Ross shelf. In October 2012, Philippa Ross, James Ross' great, great, great granddaughter, voiced her opposition to fishing in the area. In the southern winter of 2017 New Zealand scientists discovered the breeding ground of the Antarctic toothfish in the northern Ross Sea seamounts for

292-702: A proposal for a Ross Sea MPA at the September 2012 meeting of the CCAMLR . At this stage, a sustained campaign by various international and national NGOs commenced to accelerate the process. In July 2013, the CCAMLR held a meeting in Bremerhaven in Germany, to decide whether to turn the Ross Sea into an MPA. The deal failed due to Russia voting against it, citing uncertainty about whether

365-431: A semicircular ice-filled bowl. Two other summits are 2,325 metres (7,628 ft) high Putzke Peak northeast of Mount Petras, 2,716 metres (8,911 ft) high Schwob Peak south and 2,440 metres (8,010 ft) high Peter Nunatak southeast. Other outcrops occur farther southwest at Navarrette Peak , southeast at Wallace Rock and northeast at Erven Nunataks . The existence of an explosion crater on its northern side

438-481: A series of reference points and benchmarks throughout much of Marie Byrd Land during 1966–1968. USS  Glacier  (AGB-4) explored the parts of the Walgreen Coast and Eights Coast in 1960–61. It had parties of geologists and surveyors along that were deployed to outcrops on land. This expedition to the far eastern reaches of Marie Byrd Land determined that Thurston Peninsula as proposed by earlier expeditions

511-668: A stratigraphy for most of the older glacial sequences, which comprise Oligocene and younger sediments. The Ross Sea-wide major unconformity RSU-6 has been proposed to mark a global climate event and the first appearance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Oligocene. During 2018, Expedition 374 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), the latest successor to the DSDP, drilled additional holes (U1521–1525) in

584-563: Is a seamount named in association with Marie Byrd Land; name approved June 1988 ( Advisory Committee on Undersea Features , 228). Not comprehensive. Byrd Station was the template for the doomed Antarctic bases in: Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica , between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment , and is

657-545: Is a crustal dome, with its "summit" in the area of Mount Petras; the dome was probably formed by the impingement of the mantle plume under the crust and volcanism may have spread outwards away from Mount Petras. Argon-argon dating has yielded ages of 36 and 29-27 million years for the volcanic rocks, making them the oldest in Marie Byrd Land. The volcano probably formed at the surface, perhaps in contact with an early Oligocene ice sheet or more likely mountain glaciers, as

730-401: Is about 500 meters. It is shallower in the western Ross Sea (east longitudes) than the east (west longitudes). This over-deepened condition is due to cycles of erosion and deposition of sediments from expanding and contracting ice sheets overriding the shelf during Oligocene and later time, and is also found on other locations around Antarctica. Erosion was more focused on the inner parts of

803-474: Is part of the volcanic province of Marie Byrd Land, which may be a product of a mantle plume . Other volcanoes in this province of West Antarctic volcanoes are the Ames Range , Crary Mountains , Executive Committee Range , Flood Range , Hobbs Coast nunataks, Kohler Range , Mount Murphy , Mount Siple , Mount Takahe and Mount Waesche . Some of these volcanoes are still active today. Marie Byrd Land itself

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876-407: Is regarded by marine biologists as having a very high biological diversity and as such has a long history of human exploration and scientific research, with some datasets going back over 150 years. The Ross Sea is home to at least 10 mammal species, half a dozen species of birds, 95 species of fish, and over 1,000 invertebrate species. Some species of birds that nest in and near the Ross Sea include

949-546: Is restricted to the Victoria Land Basin and Northern Basin. Basement grabens are filled with rift sediments of uncertain character and age. A widespread unconformity has cut into the basement and sedimentary fill of the large basins. Above this major unconformity (named RSU-6 ) are a series of glacial marine sedimentary units deposited during multiple advances and retreats of the Antarctic Ice Sheet across

1022-572: Is smaller. Prominent ranges include the Ford Ranges in western MBL, The Flood Range , the Executive Committee Range, and the Kohler Range . The Ford Ranges are the most extensive and include more than six individual named mountain groups. The Executive Committee Range includes five volcanoes, some proposed to be dormant or active. The Flood Range comprises a linear chain of Neogene and Quaternary age volcanoes. The Fosdick mountains in

1095-656: Is the Russian station Russkaya , which was occupied 1980–1990 and is now closed. East of the Siple Coast off the Ross Ice Shelf, Siple Dome was established as a summer science camp in 1996. Ice cores have been drilled here to retrieve the climate history of the last 100,000 years. This camp also served as a base for airborne geophysical surveys supported by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). In 1998–1999,

1168-620: Is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd , who explored the region in the early 20th century. The territory lies in West Antarctica , east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean portion of the Antarctic or Southern Ocean , extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of

1241-421: Is usually free of ice during the summer. The southernmost part of the Ross Sea is Gould Coast , which is approximately 200 miles (320 km) from the geographic South Pole . The Ross Sea (and Ross Ice Shelf ) overlies a deep continental shelf . Although the average depth of the world's continental shelves (at the shelf break joining the continental slope) is about 130 meters, the Ross shelf average depth

1314-590: The Adélie penguin , emperor penguin , Antarctic petrel , snow petrel , and south polar skua . Marine mammals in the Ross Sea include the Antarctic minke whale , killer whale , Weddell seal , crabeater seal , and leopard seal . Antarctic toothfish , Antarctic silverfish , Antarctic krill , and crystal krill also swim in the cold Antarctic water of the Ross Sea. The flora and fauna are considered similar to other southern Antarctic marine regions. Particularly in Summer,

1387-610: The Bindschadler and Whillans ice streams are the most extensive. The seven ice streams discharge 40 percent of the WAIS. Besides the Ross Ice Shelf, significant ice shelves on the coast of the Southern Ocean include the Sulzberger , and Nickerson . Due to the burial of the continental basement of MBL by the WAIS, mountain ranges are exposed towards the coast of MBL where ice thickness

1460-763: The Cretaceous suggesting extreme stretching of the Ross Embayment during that time. Marie Byrd Land – Rocks exposed in western Marie Byrd Land on the Edward VII Peninsula and within the Ford Ranges are candidates for basement in the eastern Ross Sea. The oldest rocks are Permian sediments of the Swanson Formation, which is slightly metamorphosed. The Ford granodiorite of Devonian age intrudes these sediments. Cretaceous Byrd Coast granite in turn intrudes

1533-671: The Ferarr volcanic rocks of Jurassic age are separated from the Ross Supergroup by the Kukri Peneplain . Beacon rocks are reported to have been recovered in the drill cores of the Cape Roberts Project at the western edge of the Ross Sea. The Ross Sea circulation, dominated by polynya processes, is in general very slow-moving. Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is a relatively warm, salty and nutrient-rich water mass that flows onto

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1606-607: The Fosdick Mountains in 1934. Aerial exploration discovered lands farther east along the Ruppert Coast . The Third Byrd Antarctic Expedition, also called the United States Antarctic Service Expedition , took place from 1939 to 1941. This expedition established two base camps 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) apart. West Base was near the former Little America base (68° 29' S, 163° 57' W) and East Base

1679-635: The International Geophysical Year (IGY; from July 1957 to end of 1958) that saw several exploratory overland traverses with tractor trains ( Sno-cats and modified bulldozers ). Starting in January 1957 (pre-IGY) Charles R. Bentley led a traverse from Little America V to the new Byrd station along the route blazed by United States Army engineers a few months before (the Army-Navy Drive ). His team conducted measurements of ice thickness and of

1752-707: The International Union for Conservation of Nature definition of a marine protected area , which requires it to be permanent. Beginning in 2005, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) commissioned scientific analysis and planning for Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Antarctic. In 2010, the CCAMLR endorsed their Scientific Committee's proposal to develop Antarctic MPAs for conservation purposes. The US State Department submitted

1825-682: The Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast . It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W. The inclusion of the area between the Rockefeller Plateau and Eights Coast is based upon Byrd's exploration. Because of its remoteness, even by Antarctic standards, most of Marie Byrd Land (the portion east of 150°W) has not been claimed by any sovereign state . It is by far the largest single unclaimed territory on Earth , with an area of 1,610,000 km (620,000 sq mi), including Eights Coast , immediately east of Marie Byrd Land. In 1939, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt instructed members of

1898-491: The Southern Ocean Observing System . The Ross Sea is one of the last stretches of seas on Earth that remains relatively unaffected by human activities. Consequently, the Ross Sea has become a focus of numerous environmentalist groups who have campaigned to make the area a world marine reserve, citing the rare opportunity to protect the Ross Sea from a growing number of threats and destruction. The Ross Sea

1971-580: The Transantarctic Mountains on the western side of the Ross Sea are possible basement rock below the sedimentary cover of the sea floor. The rocks are of upper Precambrian to lower Paleozoic in age, deformed in many places during the Ross Orogeny in the Cambrian . These miogeosyncline metasedimentary rocks are partly composed of calcium carbonate , often including limestone . Groups within

2044-521: The United States Antarctic Service Expedition to take steps to claim some of Antarctica as United States territory. Although this appears to have been done by members of this and subsequent expeditions, these do not appear to have been formalized prior to 1959, when the Antarctic Treaty System was set up. Some publications in the United States have shown this as a United States territory in

2117-571: The West Antarctic Ice Sheet . Most of the volcanic rocks are hawaiite with some mugearite , while the basement is rhyodacitic and mostly consists of a Cretaceous volcanic complex that makes up the bulk of Mount Petras. The basement also includes schists , paragneisses and gneisses . The mugearite occurs in the form of a lava flow , while the hawaiites form volcaniclastic deposits as tuff breccias and lapilli tuffs. Moraine debris and talus cover exposed rocks. Mount Petras

2190-467: The Amundsen Sea. It entails marine, airborne, and on-ice geophysical exploration that will illuminate the character of Marie Byrd Land bedrock geology and the nature of the eastern boundary of the province. The goal is determining the stability of the glacier and prediction of global sea level rise from shrinking of the WAIS. Adjacent to the continent, Marie Byrd Land is bordered by the Amundsen Sea in

2263-677: The Earth's magnetic and gravity field. The following summer season (1957–58) he led a second traverse out of Byrd Station that visited volcanoes of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province for the first time. The traverse reached the Sentinel Mountains beyond eastern Marie Byrd Land before returning to Byrd Station. Bentley led a third traverse out of Byrd Station to the Horlick Mountains in 1958–59. These three traverses led to

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2336-694: The Fosdick Mountains. The United States Navy mounted several expeditions to Antarctica in the period 1946 to 1959. These expeditions ( Operation Highjump led by R. E. Byrd, Windmill , and Deep Freeze I–IV) included aerial photography using the Trimetrogon system of aerial photographs (TMA; vertical, left, and right oblique images over the same point) over portions of coastal Marie Byrd Land. The U.S. Navy began construction of Byrd Station at 80°S, 120°W with traverses out of Little America V in 1956–57 during Deep Freeze II. These efforts were in advance of

2409-686: The Marie Byrd Land Dome. A digital map of Antarctica includes the geology of Marie Byrd Land. The geologic history of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica was summarized in a 2020 publication. Prominent glaciers that drain the WAIS in MBL include the Thwaites, and also the Pine Island Glacier , both of which empty into the Amundsen Sea. Of the seven ice streams that drain into the Ross Ice Shelf,

2482-506: The New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research as having an area of 637,000 square kilometres (246,000 sq mi). The circulation of the Ross Sea is dominated by a wind-driven ocean gyre and the flow is strongly influenced by three submarine ridges that run from southwest to northeast. The circumpolar deep water current is a relatively warm, salty and nutrient-rich water mass that flows onto

2555-822: The Priestley and Campbell glaciers. For thirty miles along the lower Skelton Glacier are the calcareous greywackes and argillites of the Skelton Group. The region between the lower Beardmore Glacier and the lower Shackelton Glacier sits the Beardmore Group. North of the Nimrod Glacier are four block faulted ranges that make up the Byrd Group. The contents of the Queen Maud Group area are mainly post-tectonic granite . Beacon Sandstone of Devonian - Triassic age and

2628-420: The Ross Sea is dominated by a wind-driven gyre . The flow is strongly influenced by three submarine ridges that run from southwest to northeast. Flow over the shelf below the surface layer consists of two anticyclonic gyres connected by a central cyclonic flow. The flow is considerable in spring and winter, due to influencing tides. The Ross Sea is covered with ice for much of the year and ice concentrations and in

2701-563: The Ross Sea. The far western coast of Marie Byrd Land was seen from the decks of Robert Falcon Scott 's ship Discovery in 1902. He named the peninsula adjacent to the Ross Sea King Edward VII Land and the scattered outcrops that were within sight, the Alexandra Mountains . In 1911, during Roald Amundsen 's South Pole expedition, Kristian Prestrud led a sledge party that visited these isolated outcrops ( nunataks ) in

2774-522: The Ross System include the Robertson Bay Group, Priestley Group, Skelton Group, Beardmore Group, Byrd Group, Queen Maud Group, and Koettlitz Group. The Robertson Bay Group compares closely with other Ross System members. The Priestley Group rocks are similar to those of the Robertson Bay Group and include dark slates, argillites , siltstones , fine sandstones and limestones. They can be found near

2847-629: The UTIG. In 2006, a major encampment, WAIS Divide (WSD) was established on the divide between the Ross Sea Embayment and the Amundsen Sea Embayment, in the easternmost portion of Marie Byrd Land, in order to drill a high resolution ice core . Drilling and coring ended in 2014. In 2018, the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration commenced with a large and ongoing physical presence onshore of

2920-498: The WAIS have been proposed to follow rift valleys , now buried by ice, which formed in the WARS. The WARS contains a volcanic province with volcanoes active from the Eocene epoch to a few thousand years ago. A mantle plume was discovered deep below Marie Byrd Land. Heat from the plume has been proposed responsible for uplift of a significant portion of West Antarctica to form

2993-481: The calm. The coastal parts of the sea contain a number of rookeries of Adélie and Emperor penguins, which have been observed at a number of places around the Ross Sea, both towards the coast and outwards in open sea. A 10-metre (32.8 feet) long colossal squid weighing 495 kilograms (1,091 lb) was captured in the Ross Sea on February 22, 2007. In 2010, the Ross Sea Antarctic toothfish fishery

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3066-439: The central Ross Sea for determining Neogene and Quaternary ice sheet history. The nature of the basement rocks and the fill within the grabens are known in few locations. Basement rocks have been sampled at DSDP Leg 28 drill site 270 where metamorphic rocks of unknown age were recovered, and in the eastern Ross Sea where a bottom dredge was collected. In both these locations the metamorphic rocks are mylonites deformed in

3139-548: The commission had the authority to establish a marine protected area. In October 2014, the MPA proposal was again defeated at the CCAMLR by votes against from China and Russia. At the October 2015 meeting a revised MPA proposal from the US and New Zealand was expanded with the assistance of China, who however shifted the MPA's priorities from conservation by allowing commercial fishing. The proposal

3212-405: The continental shelf at certain locations in the Ross Sea. Through heat flux, this water mass moderates the ice cover. The near-surface water also provides a warm environment for some animals and nutrients to excite primary production. CDW transport onto the shelf is known to be persistent and periodic, and is thought to occur at specific locations influenced by bottom topography. The circulation of

3285-410: The continental shelf at certain locations. The Ross Sea is covered with ice for most of the year. The nutrient-laden water supports an abundance of plankton and this encourages a rich marine fauna. At least ten mammal species, six bird species and 95 fish species are found here, as well as many invertebrates, and the sea remains relatively unaffected by human activities. New Zealand has claimed that

3358-425: The discovery of the Bentley Subglacial Trench or Trough, a deep bedrock chasm between MBL and the Transantarctic Mountains of East Antarctica. During 1958–1960 TMA flights and a traverse out of Byrd Station visited and mapped the Executive Committee Range. TMA were flown in western Marie Byrd Land in 1964 and 1965. Following these efforts the United States Geological Survey (USGS) mounted land surveys to establish

3431-408: The discovery of the Rockefeller Mountains and the Edsel Ford Ranges farther to the east. Byrd named the region after his wife Marie. A geological party led by L. Gould briefly explored parts of the Rockefeller Mountains. The first deep overland exploration occurred during the second Byrd expedition (1933–1935) when a sledge party led by Paul Siple and Franklin Alton Wade reached as far east as

3504-416: The east and the Ross Sea and Ross Ice Shelf in the west. Mountain ranges are prominent along and near the coastline with a few exceptions. Marie Byrd Land is covered by the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The WAIS in Marie Byrd Land drains off the continent to the east into the Ross Ice Shelf via seven ice streams . Along the coast of the Southern Ocean and the Amundsen Sea, ice drains via glaciers,

3577-453: The first time underscoring how little is known about the species. On 28 October 2016, at its annual meeting in Hobart , a Ross Sea marine park was declared by the CCAMLR, under an agreement signed by 24 countries and the European Union . It protected over 1.5 million square kilometers of sea and was the world's largest protected area at the time. However, a sunset provision of 35 years was part of negotiations, which means it does not meet

3650-521: The hinterland of Bakutis Coast . Byrd Station was the only major base in the interior of West Antarctica for many years. In 1968, the first ice core to fully penetrate the Antarctic Ice Sheet was drilled here. The year-round station was abandoned in 1972, and after operating for years as a temporary summer encampment, Byrd Surface Camp, Byrd Station was reopened by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) in 2009–2010 to support operations in northern West Antarctica. On Ruppert Coast of Marie Byrd Land

3723-435: The intervening period, and the United States Department of Defense has stated that the United States has a solid basis for a claim in Antarctica resulting from its activities prior to 1959. The portion west of 150°W is part of Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand . Five coastal areas are distinguished, which are listed from west to east: Marie Byrd Land was first explored from the west where it could be accessed from

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3796-399: The late Cretaceous and Eocene -late Cenozoic , continental rifting occurred in the Ross Sea and West Antarctic Ice Sheet area. Beginning with the Oligocene , an ice sheet began to develop in Antarctica and acquired present-day dimensions during the Miocene or Pliocene . Mount Petras was discovered during the 1939-1941 United States Antarctic Service Expedition and named after

3869-499: The major one being the Thwaites . West Antarctica and Marie Byrd Land have elevations of up to 1.5 to 2 kilometers on the surface of the WAIS. In contrast, East Antarctica has interior elevations on its ice sheet of over 4 kilometers. The West Antarctic Rift System (WARS ) that evolved over the last hundred million years, includes all or part of Marie Byrd Land. The WARS extends from the Ross Sea continental shelf east into Marie Byrd Land. The ice streams and glaciers that drain

3942-518: The mountain ranges within the northern Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land (FORCE expedition; Ford Ranges Crustal Exploration). GANOVEX VII a multinational expedition led by Germany visited Edward VII Peninsula in 1992–93. Colorado College geologists led expeditions to the Ford Ranges in 1998–2001 (Ford Ranges), 2005–2007 and 2011–2013 (Fosdick Mountains). Marie Byrd Land hosted the Operation Deep Freeze base Byrd Station (NBY; originally at 80°S, 120°W, rebuilt at 80°S, 119°W), beginning in 1957, in

4015-507: The northern Ford Ranges are a 30-kilometer-long span of Cretaceous metamorphic rocks. Most other exposed rock in MBL is Paleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rock and granitoid , and Mesozoic granitoid. Away from the coasts, the WAIS buries individual mountains and ranges that are not named, the exception being major features such as the Bentley Subglacial Trench. Marie Byrd Seamount ( 70°0′S 118°0′W  /  70.000°S 118.000°W  / -70.000; -118.000 )

4088-450: The nutrient-rich sea water supports an abundant planktonic life in turn providing food for larger species, such as fish , seals , whales , and sea- and shore- birds . Albatrosses rely on wind to travel and cannot get airborne in a calm. The westerlies do not extend as far south as the ice edge and therefore albatrosses do not travel often to the ice-pack. An albatross would be trapped on an ice floe for many days if it landed in

4161-501: The older rocks. The Byrd Coast and older formations have been cut by basalt dikes . Scattered through the Ford Ranges and Fosdick Mountains are late Cenozoic volcanic rocks that are not found to the west on Edward VII Peninsula. Metamorphic rocks, migmatites , are found in the Fosdick Mountains and Alexandra Mountains . These were metamorphosed and deformed in the Cretaceous. The Ross Supergroup system and Beacon Supergroup – Ross System rocks exposed in Victoria Land and in

4234-479: The pilot of the expedition. It was visited in 1959, 1967–1968, 1977-1978 and 1993-1994 by field expeditions. During the 20th century, Mount Petras was viewed as a volcano that had formed deep under ice on a Cenozoic marine erosion surface covering West Antarctica, which had then been deformed by tectonic uplift. Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land ( MBL ) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica . With an area of 1,610,000 km (620,000 sq mi), it

4307-420: The region bordering the eastern Ross Sea and Ross Ice Shelf. At the same time the first Japanese Antarctic Expedition led by Nobu Shirase landed a shore party on the peninsula. Dean Smith was the pilot during aerial overflights in 1929 with Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition (1928–1930). It originated from Little America near Amundsen's original base camp Framheim in the Bay of Whales, led to

4380-399: The rocks display evidence that the volcanic eruptions took place in shallow water, most likely meltwater . The basement rocks have yielded Cretaceous ages and contain zircons of Devonian - Carboniferous age, with some rocks reaching ages of 1364 million years. The volcanic history of Mount Petras is important for reconstructing the volcanic and glacial history of Marie Byrd Land. During

4453-420: The sea comes under its jurisdiction as part of the Ross Dependency . Marine biologists consider the sea to have a high level of biological diversity and it is the site of much scientific research. It is also the focus of some environmentalist groups who have campaigned to have the area proclaimed as a world marine reserve. In 2016 an international agreement established the region as a marine park . The Ross Sea

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4526-413: The sea floor of the Ross Sea during the Oligocene and later. Drill holes have recovered cores of rock from the western edges of the sea. The most ambitious recent efforts are the Cape Roberts Project (CRP) and the ANDRILL project. Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 28 completed several holes (270–273) farther from land in the central and western portions of the sea. These resulted in defining

4599-427: The shelf while deposition of sediment dominated the outer shelf, making the inner shelf deeper than the outer. Seismic studies in the latter half of the twentieth century defined the major features of the geology of the Ross Sea. The deepest or basement rocks, are faulted into four major north trending graben systems, which are basins for sedimentary fill. These basins include the Northern and Victoria Land Basin in

4672-420: The south-central region little melting occurs. Ice concentrations in the Ross Sea are influenced by winds with ice remaining in the western region throughout the austral spring and generally melting in January due to local heating. This leads to extremely strong stratification and shallow mixed layers in the western Ross Sea. Observation and data access in the region is coordinated by the Ross Sea Working Group of

4745-434: The southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who visited this area in 1841. To the west of the sea lies Ross Island and Victoria Land, to the east Roosevelt Island and Edward VII Peninsula in Marie Byrd Land, while the southernmost part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf , and is about 200 miles (320 km) from the South Pole . Its boundaries and area have been defined by

4818-414: The volcanic province during the period 1989–1991. The SPRITE project (South Pacific Rim International Tectonic Expedition) explored regions and surroundings of the Hobbs Coast in 1990–1993. Members of both projects were from the U.S., Britain, and New Zealand. During the Austral summers of 1989–1990 and 1990–1991, a geological party from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) explored several of

4891-522: The west, the Central Trough, and the Eastern Basin, which has approximately the same width as the other three. The Coulman High separates the Victoria Land Basin and Central Trough and the Central High separates the Central Trough and Eastern Basin. The majority of the faulting and accompanying graben formation along with crustal extension occurred during the rifting away of the Zealandia microcontinent from Antarctica in Gondwana during Cretaceous time. Paleogene and Neogene -age and faulting and extension

4964-457: Was a complex expedition involving remote helicopter camps and airborne geophysics. Several geological expeditions explored Marie Byrd Land during the period 1978–1993. New Zealand geologists surveyed the Ford Ranges and Edward VII Peninsula in two expeditions, 1978–79 and 1987–88. Exploration of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province began in earnest by U.S. geologists in 1984–85. The WAVE project (West Antarctic Volcano Exploration ) focused on

5037-404: Was discovered by the Ross expedition in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano ; in the east is Roosevelt Island . The southern part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf . Roald Amundsen started his South Pole expedition in 1911 from the Bay of Whales , which was located at the shelf. In the western parts of the Ross Sea, McMurdo Sound is a port that

5110-399: Was in fact an island ( Thurston Island ). In the same season a geological party led by Campbell Craddock explored the Jones Mountains in the adjacent region. The United States Byrd Coastal Survey during 1966–1969, led by F. A. Wade, conducted geologic mapping of the Alexandra and Rockefeller Mountains and the Ford Ranges and produced a series of 1:250,000 geologic maps of the region. This

5183-466: Was independently certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, and has been rated as a 'Good Alternative' by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program . However, a 2008 document submitted to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) reported significant declines in toothfish populations of McMurdo Sound coinciding with the development of the industrial toothfishing industry since 1996, and other reports have noted

5256-417: Was inferred by González-Ferran in 1972. Both basement and volcanic rocks emerge from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet as a nunatak . The volcanic and basement rocks are separated by an unconformity at 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) elevation. The highest summit of Mount Petras lies on the western ridge at 2,867 metres (9,406 ft) elevation above sea level of which about 900 metres (3,000 ft) are above

5329-606: Was near the Antarctic Peninsula on Stonington Island (68° 12' S, 67° 3' W). Exploration flights out of these two bases led to the discovery of most of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province (e.g. Executive Committee Range ) and much of the coastal region including the Walgreen, Hobbs, and Ruppert Coasts. During the expedition trail parties from West Base visited the northern Ford Ranges and south slopes of

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