Cenozoic environmental changes along the East Antarctic continental margin inferred from regional seismic stratigraphy

We interpret ~40,000 km of multichannelseismic reflection lines collected by the Russian Antarctic Expedition along the East Antarctic continental margin between 32° E and 115°
E, and present a revised seismic stratigraphic model for depositional paleoenvironments of the region. Variations in acoustic facies characteristics
observed across major seismic horizons are correlated with paleoenvironmental changes deciphered from Antarctic
drilling data and deep-sea “proxy” records. Our results, as well as otherstudies, indicate that the East Antarctic margin
was glaciated at different times. Glacial ice first reached the western Wilkes Land margin in the Middle Eocene and
then advanced onto most parts ofthe East Antarctic continentalshelf during the earliest Oligocene. During the
Neogene, bottom currents deposited a variety of drift deposits along the margin