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Science 13 September 1985:
Vol. 229. no. 4718, pp. 1082 - 1084
DOI: 10.1126/science.229.4718.1082
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Articles

Seismic-Reflection Signature of Cretaceous Continental Breakup on the Wilkes Land Margin, Antarctica

STEPHEN L. EITTREIM 1, MONTY A. HAMPTON 1, and JONATHAN R. CHILDS 1

1 U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025

The passive (rifted) continental margin of Wilkes Land, Antarctica, is characterized on seismic reflection records by (i) in the south, a block-faulted sequence of highly stratified continental beds overlain by two distinct unconformities; (ii) a transitional, greatly thinned continental crust overlain by material interpreted to be flood basalt; and (iii) in the north, oceanic crust with a boundary ridge at its edge. The Mohoroviccaronicacute discontinuity can be followed across the continent-ocean boundary and shows a progressive thinning of continental crust to a minimum of 2.5 kilometers at its northern edge.

Submitted on March 11, 1985
Accepted on June 13, 1985


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Volcanism and continental break-up: a global compilation of large igneous provinces.
M. F. Coffin and O. Eldholm (1992)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 68, 17-30
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