Editing Ross Sea (section)

=== The continental shelf ===
[[File:GPM 16 fred Ross CC.pdf|thumb|Bathymetric map of the Ross Sea, Antarctica]]

The Ross Sea (and [[Ross Ice Shelf]]) overlies a deep [[continental shelf]]. Although the average depth of the world's continental shelves (at the [[Continental shelf|shelf break]] joining the continental slope) is about 130 meters,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oceanography: A view of the Earth|last=Gross|first=M. Grant|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=1977|edition=6|location=New Jersey|page=28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Submarine Geology|last=Shepard|first=F.P.|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1963|edition=2|location=New York|pages=264}}</ref> the Ross shelf average depth is about 500 meters.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://deepseadrilling.org/28/volume/dsdp28_34.pdf|last1=Hayes|first1=D.E.|last2=Davey|first2=F.J.|doi=10.2973/dsdp.proc.28.134.1975|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715031355/http://deepseadrilling.org/28/volume/dsdp28_34.pdf|archive-date=15 July 2017|df=dmy-all|title=Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 28|volume=28|year=1975|chapter=A Geophysical Study of the Ross Sea, Antarctica}}</ref> It is shallower in the western Ross Sea (east longitudes) than the east (west longitudes).<ref name=":0" /> This over-deepened condition is due to cycles of erosion and deposition of sediments from expanding and contracting ice sheets overriding the shelf during [[Oligocene]] and later time,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Bartek|first1=L. R.|last2=Vail|first2=P. R.|last3=Anderson|first3=J. B.|last4=Emmet|first4=P. A.|last5=Wu|first5=S.|date=1991-04-10|title=Effect of Cenozoic ice sheet fluctuations in Antarctica on the stratigraphic signature of the Neogene|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth|language=en|volume=96|issue=B4|pages=6753–6778|doi=10.1029/90jb02528|bibcode=1991JGR....96.6753B |issn=2156-2202}}</ref> and is also found on other locations around Antarctica.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Barker, P.F., Barrett, P.J., Camerlenghi, A., Cooper, A.K., Davey, F.J., Domack, E.W., Escutia, C., Kristoffersen, Y. and O'Brien, P.E.|year=1998|title=Ice sheet history from Antarctic continental margin sediments: the ANTOSTRAT approach|journal=Terra Antarctica|volume=5|issue=4|pages=737–760}}</ref> Erosion was more focused on the inner parts of the shelf while deposition of sediment dominated the outer shelf, making the inner shelf deeper than the outer.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Geology and Seismic Stratigraphy of the Antarctic Margin|last1=Ten Brink|first1=Uri S.|last2=Schneider|first2=Christopher|last3=Johnson|first3=Aaron H.|publisher=American Geophysical Union|year=1995|isbn=9781118669013|editor-last=Cooper|editor-first=Alan K.|pages=1–24|language=en|chapter=Morphology and stratal geometry of the Antarctic continental shelf: insights from models|doi=10.1029/ar068p0001|editor-last2=Barker|editor-first2=Peter F.|editor-last3=Brancolini|editor-first3=Giuliano|hdl = 1912/1602}}</ref>

[[File:Ross Sea Antarctica sea floor geology.svg|thumb|Ross Sea Antarctica sea floor geology showing major basins and drill sites|alt=|left|314x314px]]Seismic studies in the latter half of the twentieth century defined the major features of the geology of the Ross Sea.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Antarctic continental margin : geology and geophysics of the western Ross Sea|date=1987|publisher=Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources|others=Cooper, Alan K., Davey, Frederick J., Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources.|isbn=978-0933687059|location=Houston, Texas|oclc=15366732}}</ref> The deepest or basement rocks, are faulted into four major north trending [[graben]] systems, which are basins for sedimentary fill. These basins include the Northern and Victoria Land Basin in the west, the Central Trough, and the Eastern Basin, which has approximately the same width as the other three. The Coulman High separates the Victoria Land Basin and Central Trough and the Central High separates the Central Trough and Eastern Basin. The majority of the faulting and accompanying graben formation along with crustal extension occurred during the rifting away of the [[Zealandia]] microcontinent from Antarctica in Gondwana during [[Cretaceous]] time.<ref>Lawver, L. A., and L. M. Gahagan. 1994. "Constraints on timing of extension in the Ross Sea region."  ''Terra Antartica''1:545–552.</ref> [[Paleogene]] and [[Neogene]] -age and faulting and extension is restricted to the Victoria Land Basin and Northern Basin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Davey|first1=F. J.|last2=Cande|first2=S. C.|last3=Stock|first3=J. M.|date=2006-10-27|title=Extension in the western Ross Sea region-links between Adare Basin and Victoria Land Basin|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|language=en|volume=33|issue=20|doi=10.1029/2006gl027383|bibcode=2006GeoRL..3320315D |issn=0094-8276|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/45879/1/grl22102.pdf|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Granot|first1=Roi|last2=Dyment|first2=Jérôme|date=2018-08-09|title=Late Cenozoic unification of East and West Antarctica|journal=Nature Communications|language=en|volume=9|issue=1|pages=3189|doi=10.1038/s41467-018-05270-w|issn=2041-1723|pmc=6085322|pmid=30093679|bibcode=2018NatCo...9.3189G }}</ref>