Southern Victoria Land Geology

After 100 years of geological investigations in Southern Victoria Land, no modern regional map or database of its geology exists. Fifty years of high quality, detailed work by New Zealand, American, Australian and Italian geologists completed since the International Geophysical Year in 1957/58 remain unsynthesised. This project will produce a modern 1:250,000 geological map and web-accessible GIS database of the area encompassed by Ross Island and the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) between the Convoy Rand and the Skelton Glacier. The map and digital data will provide, in one place and for the first time, essential data from basement rocks, Beacon Supergroup strata of the TAM, and from Cenozoic and Holocene glacial and volcanic deposits which bridge the Ross Sea Basin and Terror Rift.

A poster showing the map is now available as a download (see opposite). A higher resolution version is also available.  The published map, explanatory text and associated GIS will be a highly visible testament to New Zealand's ongoing commitment to Antarctic science.

Contractor GNS Science GNS Science Contact Dr Ian Turnbull

IPY Project Number: 54

Poster of the proposed Antarctic map