Palynology of seafloor samples collected by the 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic expedition: Implications for the geology of coastal East Antarctica

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Abstract
Fifty‐three sea‐floor samples close to Antarctica collected by Douglas Mawson during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1914 have beeen analysed for recycled palynomorphs. The distribution of the recycled microfossils provides a broad guide to the position of hidden sedimentary sequences on the Antarctic continental margin. The samples were dredged off the East Antarctic coast between 91°E and 146°E. In three distinct ‐areas, concentrations of recycled palynomorphs suggest the presence nearby of eroding sedimentary sequences. Near the western edge of the Shackleton Ice Shelf the recycled suite suggests Early to Late Permian, Late Jurassic to mid‐Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary sediments, with evidence for marine influence only in the Tertiary. Samples from the outer edge of the continental shelf and slope east of Cape Carr indicate Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary sequences, and the same age span is suggested by samples from the western side of the Mertz Glacier Tongue; in this area radio echosounding has suggested that inland sedimentary basins intersect the coast. The sedimentary sequence predicted for the Shackleton Ice Shelf area probably faced the open Indian Ocean, at least since the Mesozoic. Cretaceous sequences predicted for the other localities occur at points on the Antarctic coast where they would be expected on the basis of most reconstructions. The area east of Cape Carr has as its conjugate’ coast part of the Great Australian Bight Basin; that off the Mertz Glacier, the area west of the Otway Basin. At both these areas on the southern Australian margin thick Cretaceous rift‐valley sequences occur.