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The seafloor geomorphology of the Windmill Islands, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica: implications for regional ice-sheet evolution

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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High-resolution marine sonar swath mapping, covering an area of ca. 33 km2 in the vicinity of the Windmill Islands (67° S, 110° E), Wilkes Land, east Antarctica, permits visualisation and description of the near-shore geomorphology of the seafloor environment in unprecedented detail and provides invaluable insight into the ice-sheet history of the region. Mesoproterozoic metamorphic basement exhibits prominent sets of parallel northwest-trending linear fault sets that probably formed during fragmentation of eastern Gondwana during the Mesozoic. The fault systems appear to control regional coastal physiographic features and have, in places, been preferentially eroded and exploited by subsequent glacial activity. Possibly the earliest formed glacially-derived geomorphological elements are networks of sub-glacial meltwater channels which are preserved on bedrock platforms and ridges. Subtle glacial lineations and streamlined landforms record evidence of the westward expansion of the grounded, Law Dome ice sheet margin, probably during the late Pleistocene Last Glacial Maximum, the direction of which coincides with glacial striae on onshore crystalline bedrock outcrops. The most striking glacial geomorphological features are sets of arcuate ridges confined mostly within glacially excavated U-shaped valleys, exploiting and developed along bedrock fault sets. These ridge sets are interpreted aspush moraines or grounding zone features, formed during episodic retreat of highly channelised, topographically controlled ice-streams following ice surging, possibly in response to local environmental forcing during the mid-late Holocene. Minor post-glacial marine sedimentation is preserved in several small (1 km2) `isolated marine basins with shallow seaward sills.

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Title The seafloor geomorphology of the Windmill Islands, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica: implications for regional ice-sheet evolution
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/a2f2ec0d-82ba-4035-930f-a2f102aaa3a6
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 22/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        110.0,
        -67.0
      ],
      [
        111.0,
        -67.0
      ],
      [
        111.0,
        -66.0
      ],
      [
        110.0,
        -66.0
      ],
      [
        110.0,
        -67.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "The seafloor geomorphology of the Windmill Islands, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica: implications for regional ice-sheet evolution". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/the-seafloor-geomorphology-of-the-windmill-islands-wilkes-land-east-antarctica-implications-for