Cenozoic deformation in the George V Land continental margin (East Antarctica)

This investigation is based on the analysis of multichannel seismic data collected in the continental shelf of the George V Land, between 140°E and 155°E on the East Antarctic margin. Most of the East Antarctic continental shelf is covered by permanent, thick sea and terrestrial ice and it is therefore still unexplored. This is the reason why the tectonic deformation affecting the Antarctic margin during the Mesozoic rift from the Australian plate and the Cenozoic post-rift phase is poorly known. The few coastal polynyas (such as the Mertz polynya, in the George V Land continental shelf) are the only places where the oldest sedimentary section can be studied with the existing technology. The data presented were not collected to address tectonic questions, however the relevance of this study is to document for the first time the occurrence of rift and post-rift tectonic structures in the sedimentary section near the coast, where the oldest sediment section is shallowest. These considera...