Conclusions

1. The texture of the Miocene core from MSSTS 1 suggests moderately rapid sedimentation from debris laden melting ice below wave base. The diamictites were probably deposited when the glacier front was closer and soma intervals may have resulted from grounding of the ice, but there is no clear evidence of this.
2. Extensive and complex soft sediment deformation within Units 9 and 10 may have resulted from shearing by ice, or slumping due to depositional instability. For Unit 10 the alternation of inclined and horizontal layers with no indication of ice contact suggests the latter.
3. Composition of the core suggests it was derived from the Transantarctic Mountains to the west, mainly from the Devonian quartz sandstones of the Beacon Supergroup below 142 m, in contrast to a significantly higher basement component above that level.
4. The degree of lithification suggests that the sequence below 12 m has been buried at least a kilometre at some stage in its history.

TABLE 5 Summary of Core Sampling

Figure 9 Stratigraphic column for MSSTS 1.