Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1986-87: VUWAE 31

Future Work

Future work on the Cenozoic history of the southwestern corner of the Ross Sea is planned on three fronts.

Work on the CIROS drill core. The range of work planned for the CIROS-1 core is similar to but more extensive than that carried out for MSSTS-1 (Barrett 1986), and should be published in a similar format.
Seismic surveys. High resolution single channel seismic survey in McMurdo Sound is planned in association with Rice University using USCGS Glacier in February 1987. The results of this work will be presented along with a review of earlier seismic surveys in McMurdo Sound in a report to be prepared by the end of 1987.
Further drilling. The strata containing the early history of the Antarctic ice sheet and the Transantarctic Mountains have still not been cored, but may be found off Cape Roberts, where seismic surveys show the older strata of the Victoria Land Basin to be dragged up along the Transantarctic Mountain Front. Sites described as CIROS-3 and -4 (Barrett 1982) were proposed to core these strata, and have been included in a more comprehensive plan submitted to the Ocean Drilling Programme in July 1986. The proposal calls for a transect of holes from the centre to the margin of the Victoria Land Basin to sample various levels in the 12-km-thick sequence in order to date the break-up history of the Antarctic plate and the early history of the Antarctic ice sheet (Cooper et al. 1986). If the proposal were accepted drilling would not be carried out before 1989.