CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE MARINE GEOLOGICAL RESULTS AROUND THE SYOWA STATION OBTAINED DURING THE FIRST SERIES OF THE JAPANESE ANTARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITIONS (1956-1962) (Reports read at the Symposium on Polar Oceanography)

Abstract

The first series of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions was completed in 1962, and the second series started in 1965 This is a critical review of all papers on marine geology so far published by Japanese scientists, and also of some papers by American and Soviet scientists related to the Japanese works It is the writer's desire that the review, pointing out the problems to be solved, might be of some use for the second series of the expeditions Conflicting interpretations of the results among the scientists are discussed They are, (1) origin of very deep continental shelf (What is the cause of very deep continental shelf around the Antarctica ? Fault or isostatic subsidence due to very thick continental ice cap, or else?), (2) glacial basins or submarine canyons (Are the depressions in Amundsen and Lutzow-Holm Bays glacial basins or submarine canyons formed by subaerial erosion or faulting?), (3) Tertiary ice-rafted gravels (If the gravels are Tertiary in age, they are very important to the geological history of Antarctica), (4) Quaternary marine sediments on the East Ongul Island (Are they really raised beach deposits or sediments deposited at depth of about 100m?) The other topics here included are (1) grain size, heavy mineral, clay mineral, and organic material distributions of the sediments, (2) total carbonate and organic production, and (3) oceanographic interpretation of Foraminifera distribution