Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914

Dredging up Mawson: implications for the geology of coastal East Antarctica

“…First, how do the data fit with contemporary understanding of the bathymetry of the continental shelf? Second, can the data be reconciled with what is now known of the sub-ice geology of inland Mawson's (1914) Chapman (1922).…”

“…No record of them appears in Mawson's catalogue of the rocks collected on the expedition (Mawson 1940a) nor are they dealt with in his account of the sedimentary rocks (Mawson 1940b). One exception, however, is the report of the dredging of several small specimens of lignite or brown coal at two sites off the west side of the Mertz Glacier Tongue.…”

“…It was encountered by the US Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes in 1840; after his long exploration from the east along the ice-bound coast, Wilkes retreated and turned north at what he termed "Termination Land". Figure 3 (redrawn from Mawson 1942) shows "Termination Tongue" as part of the ice shelf. It also shows the position of the small Helen Glacier in the west, and the larger Denman Glacier to the east -the latter proving a barrier that members of Mawson's Western Party under Frank Wild were unable to cross because of its intense crevassing.…”

“…Dinocysts are most abundant in the dredge samples labelled 141 Mawson (1914Mawson ( , 1942 and Truswell (1982). Geographic features labelled from Mawson, as are routes of SY Aurora; sample numbers after Chapman (1922).…”

“…Mawson (1942), reporting in the narrative of the voyage (23 January 1912), noted that the ship's log stated that a sharp lookout was being kept for the land reported in 1840, but none was seen, and the Aurora had sailed over the site of Wilkes' Cape Carr (now designated as 66°7'S; 130°43'E).…”