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Fig. 1 Bathymetry map of the Weddell Sea region of Antarctica, red lines and black lines shows
existing multichannel seismic pro
les. The green dots are the ODP leg113 drill sites
(Brown et al.
2006
). Changes in the width and depth of oceanic basins and gateways,
and changes in sea
uence ocean current transport and over-
turning circulation. The Weddell Sea has a particular signi
fl
oor bathymetry in
fl
cance to ocean circu-
lation, transport of ice masses and global climate variations due to its giant Weddell
Sea gyre. This clockwise circulating ocean gyre system is responsible for the
exchange and mixing of Antarctic Deep Water with the global circulation as well as
the transport of ice masses from the Filchner-Ronne Ice-Shelves of the Antarctic
mainland to the Atlantic Ocean. Understanding the development of the Weddell Sea
gyre system is linked to the reconstruction of the development of the paleobathy-
metry of this large sedimentary basin from pre-glacial to recent times.
The Weddell Sea basin (Fig.
1
), experienced approximately 180 million years of
tectonic, paleoceanographic and paleoclimate history, spanning from the Mesozoic
Gondwana break-up to the present it is bounded to the east by the high-elevation
Dronning Maud Land and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), to the west by the
mountainous Antarctic Peninsula and its ice sheet (APIS), and to the south by
the vast Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, which is fed by large ice-streams from both the
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