ABSTRACT
The Southern Ocean lies between Antarctica and the subtropical convergence (~40 to 50° S). To the north it continues into the southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Around Antarctica the shelves are deep (300-500 m) and particularly wide in the Weddell Sea and Ross Sea. In these two areas the Antarctic Ice Shelf floats on the sea over large areas and extends to a depth of >400 m below the surface. Indeed icebergs and sea-ice plough furrows in the sea floor at depths down to 500 m. They gouge tracks a few metres deep and tens of metres wide and produce diamictites over 50% of the shelf (Bames and Lien 1988).
