Geophysical study of the Ross Sea (Antarctica): two integrated sections

Some multichannel seismic lines, recorded by the Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale (OGS) of Trieste during the 1987/88 cruise in the Ross Sea on behalf of the Italian "Programma Nazionale di Ricerche di Antartide" (PNRA) are displayed together with gravity and magnetic data to obtain two geological sections, in an attempt to present the general framework of the Ross Sea region. The first section has a south-north trend and crosses the Victoria Land Basin and the Ross continental slope. The second one has an east-west trend and crosses the Eastern Basin and the Central Trough. The structural configuration of the area is typical of a rifted passive margin. The rifting stopped before the break-up of the continental crust and the formation of the oceanic floor.