A new magnetic map of the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula

As part of the Antarctic Digital Magnetic Mapping Project (ADMAP) workers from VNIIOkeangeologia (Russia), the British Antarctic Survey (UK) and the Naval Research Laboratory (USA) have brought together almost all of the available magnetic data in the area 0-120degreesW, 60-90degreesS. The final map covers the whole Weddell Sea and adjacent land areas, the Antarctic Peninsula and the seas to the west, an area comparable in size with that of the USA. This paper describes the methods used during the compilation of the map and reviews briefly some of the main features shown on it. Distinct magnetic provinces are associated with Precambrian rocks of the East Antarctic craton, highly extended continental crust in the Weddell Sea embayment, the arc batholith of the Antarctic Peninsula, and oceanic crust of the northern Weddell Sea, which was created as a direct consequence of South America-Antarctica plate motion and oceanic crust generated at the Pacific-Antarctic ridge. The magnetic anomaly map thus provides an overview of the fragmentation of south-western Gondwana and the tectonic development of the Weddell Sea sector of Antarctica. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.