The influence of climate and tectonics on uplift and denudation of the Terra Nova Bay Region (Transantarktisches Gebirge)

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The Terra Nova Bay region forms a segment of the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) in the western Ross Sea that is characterized by extreme landscape contrasts. There, a high Alpine coastal morphology developed in immediate vicinity to high-elevated inland plateaus and deep, structurally defined glacial troughs. Structural geology, geomorphological observation and sampling of basement and cover rocks in this region during the expedition BGR GANOVEX X (2009/10) will provide the ground truth for the subsequent application of thermochronological techniques (fission track and (UTh- Sm)/He analyses). Based on these data and thermal history modelling, the regional uplift and denudation history of the Terra Nova Bay region will be constrained with the four main topics: (1) the evolution of a Cretaceous “Victoria Basin” on the continental crust of SE Australia and the western Ross Sea, (2) the diachronous rifting processes across the two escarpments of Pacific passive margin and West Antarctic rift shoulder/ TAM, (3) timing and amount of the final denudation of the TAM since the Eocene/ Oligocene, and (4) quantification and explanation of development of landscape contrasts within the Terra Nova Bay region resulting from the interplay between climate, tectonics and lithology. This aspect also comprises implications for the long-term climate evolution on the margin of the East Antarctic Craton.