Antarctica as an exploration frontier - hydrocarbon potential, geology and hazards / Антарктида как исследовательский рубеж - углеводородный потенциал, геология и опасности

During the 1987 United States Antarctic Program-Polar Duke Cruise, 3200 kilometers of seismic reflection profiles were collected on the northern Antarctic Peninsula shelf. These data, plus the results of land-based studies (from Polish and U.S. scientists) and ocean drilling (DSDP Leg 35) were used to reconstruct the tectonic and climatic development of the shelf and to assess possible hydrocarbon prospects of the region. The study area consists of a foredeepened shelf, typical of the Antarctic continental shelf. The continental margin has evolved from an active margin to a tectonically passive one as the Aluk Ridge was gradually subducted at the Antarctic Plate Boundary. This transition was diachronous, q.s the timing of ridge subduction proceeded from south to north (oldest to youngest). Thus, the shelf is segmented both tectonically and sedimentologically as the extent of tectonic deformation and post-tectonic sedimentation varies correspondingly. Besides the obvious tectonic controls, major changes in shelf sedimentation also took place due to climatic changes during the Cenozoic. Antarctica is unique in that as its climate cooled and ice sheets formed, the source of terrigenous organic carbon to the shelf was completely eliminated. Also, streams and rivers were gradually eliminated (by early Neogene) so that running water was no longer contributing to the transport of terrigenous sediments to the shelf. The shelf was later overdeepened by glacial erosion (middle Miocene?). By the late Miocene there was an intensification of oceanic circulation and an increase in the flux of organic-rich, siliceous biogenic sediments to the continental margin.  <...>