ABSTRACT 



This report graphically describes the submarine topography of the eastern 

 Ross Sea and Sulzberger Bay areas of Antarctica, and explains the origins 

 of the bathymetric features. 



The principal bathymetric data used were collected from the U.S. Navy's 

 icebreaker STATEN ISLAND during the DEEP FREEZE 61 reconnaissance 

 survey conducted in December 1960. 



Recent marine sediments of the Antarctic continental shelf have been 

 rafted from land by ice. A low rate of recent sedimentation on the conti- 

 nental shelf is especially evident at the inner shelf. The prevailing marine 

 sediment of the area is glacial marine till. Hard sand surfaces occur where 

 strong currents pass over transverse ridges near shore. 



The outer shelf break averages about 255 fathoms in depth; the great 

 depth of the outer shelf is attributed to remnant isostatic depression by the 

 continental ice sheet of glacial maxima when the ice extended to the shelf 

 break. 



The great (600 fathoms) transverse depression of Sulzberger Bay may be 

 the product of erosion during glacial maxima by a locally accelerated "ice 

 stream" whose position was controlled by bedrock structure. The origin of 

 the longitudinal depressions can be attributed to erosion by continental ice 

 along zones of weakness due to lithologic changes or faulting parallel to the 

 shoreline. 



The longitudinal ridges are interpreted as end moraines formed during 

 pauses in the retreat of the continental ice sheet. The transverse ridges 

 are interpreted as lateral and end moraines of a former extension of the 

 Ross Ice Sheet. 



*4^ 



