Recent Contributions to the Antarctic Geology - An Indian Perspective

Abstract

Indian geoscientists have been studying Antarctic geology for three and a half decades in Antarctica. The studies were mainly carried out in campaign mode for long but have now assumed greater focus as these have started investigating
scientific questions of global interests. Starting from early report of anorogenic magmatism in the central Dronning Maud Land (cDML), identification and description of magmatic charnockites representing a chemically distinct magma to characterizing and confirming the continuation of East African Orogen in Antarctica. These studies represent some of the key contributions besides providing the baseline geological maps of the cDML area. The establishment of permanent station at the Larsemann Hills has allowed wider India-Antarctica geological correlation.The land-sea-ice interface in the cDML and use of marine sediments as archives of ice-sheet fluctuations as well as providing clues to the sub-ice geology is demonstrated from the Wilkes Land sector in east Antarctica. These ice-sheet proximal deposits allow reconstruction of time-constrained advance and retreat of the east Antarctic ice sheet.

The contributions include study of Quaternary deposits, especially the lake deposits which have significant bearing on understanding the ice sheet behavior during late Quaternary. Increasing participation in global scientific programs,
multidisciplinary studies and active involvement in Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) specially in geoscience augurs well for future progress of Antarctic geoscience studies in India.