Geochemical and geochronology of late quaternary glaciations in the McMurdo Sound Region

The history and mechanics of the late Wisconsin age lakes which have periodically filled many of the lower portions of many of the Valleys that open into McMurdo Sound was studied from samples taken from the Lake Fryxell area, Lake Bonney area, Suess Stream, Lake Chad, the Marshall Valley, the Miers Valley and Ross Island. Samples included sediment cores, lacustrine carbonates, fossil algae, modern algae, water samples and sediments and were collected for oxygen isotopic analysis.

The origin of the 40 million tonnes of salt found in Lake Bonney, cores through the beds of salt at the bottom of the lake were collected in the hope that carbonates, sulphates and other sediments might be encountered which would indicate the source, age and mechanism of the salt emplacement in the Bonney Basin.