| Abstract: | Seismic multi-channel data collected during Norwegian Antarctic Research Expeditions in 1976–1977 and 1978–1979 outline aspects of the Cenozoic depositional environment in the Weddell Sea Embayment. Acoustic basement, probably representing the East Antarctic craton, is exposed in a 50–100 km wide swath along the ice barrier between 78°S–75.5°S on the eastern side of the Crary Trough. The shelf prograded westward and northward from the craton into a subsiding basin colinear with the Transantarctic Mountain Range. Measured sediment thicknesses exceed 5 km. During middle and late Tertiary times a submarine fan complex—the Crary Fan—developed on the southeastern margin of the Weddell Sea Embayment. The glacially eroded Crary Trough is located at the contact between the craton and a sedimentary basin to the west. The entire sedimentary section is undisturbed by faulting or folding, which indicates that any movements related to Cenozoic uplift of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains and/or relative motion of East Antarctica had little effect in the area north of the Filchner Ice Shelf east of 41°W. |
