Dredged rock samples from the southwestern Scotia Sea (SCAN 2013): remnants from the South America-Antarctic continental bridge.

MALDONADO, A.; ACOSTA, A.; GARCÍA, M.; LOBO, F.J.; MARTOS, Y.M.; PÉREZ, L.F.; PUGA, E.; BOHOYO, F.; CASAS, D.; GONZÁLEZ, F.J.; LEON, R.; MEDIALDEA, T.; SOMOZA, L.; GALINDO-ZALDIVAR, J.; REVUELTO, M.L.; REY DÍAZ DE RADA, J.; BOZZANO, G.; ELIZONDO, M.E.; ESTEBAN, F.D.; PELZMAJER, M.

BOLLETTINO DI GEOFISICA TEORICA ED APPLICATA

ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI OCEANOGRAFIA E DI GEOFISICA

Lugar: Trieste; Año: 2013 vol. 54 p. 330 - 333

0006-6729

The southern Scotia Sea contains several small ocean basins bounded by submarine banks of continental or transitional nature. The majority of the basins were developed during the Oligocene and Miocene as a result of the eastward migration of a tectonic arc over the Weddell Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.The Ona Basin is the westernmost basin bounded by the Shackleton Fracture Zone to the west, the Terror Rise to the east and the South Scotia Ridge to the south (Fig. 1). The basin is connected northwards into the western Scotia Sea. During the SCAN 2013 cruise on-board the BIO HESPERIDES two morphological and structural promontories located in the southwestern Scotia Sea were dredged in order to collect samples from the basement (Fig. 1). We show evidence of the occurrence of slivers of continental crust in the oceanic domain, which represent relict fragments of the original continental bridge between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula prior to the fragmentation and development of the Drake Passage.