@ARTICLE{Guterch_Aleksander_Polish_1998, author={Guterch, Aleksander and Grad, Marek and Janik, Tomasz and Środa, Piotr}, volume={vol. 19}, number={No 1-2}, journal={Polish Polar Research}, pages={113-123}, howpublished={online}, year={1998}, publisher={Polish Academy of Sciences}, publisher={Committee on Polar Research}, abstract={During the Polish Antarctic Geodynamic Expeditions, 1979-91, a wide geophysical and geological programme was performed in the transition zone between the Drake and South Shetland microplates and the Antarctic Plate, in West Antarctica. In the Bransfield Strait area, and along passive continental margin of the Antarctic Peninsula, 20 deep seismic sounding profiles were made. The interpretation yielded two - dimensional models of the crust and lithosphere down to 80 km depth. In the coastal area between the Palmer Archipelago and the Adelaide Island, the Earth's crust has a typical continental structure. Its thickness varies from 36 to 42 km in the coastal area, decreasing to about 25-28 km toward Pacific Ocean. In the surrounding of Bransfield Strait, the Moho boundary depth ranges from 10 km beneath the South Shetland Trench to 40 km beneath Antarctic Peninsula. The crustal structure beneath the Bransfield Strait trough is highly anomalous. Presence of a high-velocity body, with longitudinal seismic wave velocities Vp > 7,0 km/s, was detected there in the 6-32 km depth range. This inhomogeneity was interpreted as an intrusion, coinciding with the Deception-Bridgeman volcanic line. In the transition zone from the Drake Passage to the South Shetland Islands, a seismic boundary in the lower lithosphere occurs at a depth ranging from 35 to 80 km. The dip of both the Moho and this boundary is approximately 25° towards the southeast, indicating the direction of subduction of the Drake Plate lithosphere under the Antarctic Plate. Basing on the results of four Polish Geodynamic Expeditions, the map of crustal thickness in West Antarctica is presented.}, type={Article}, title={Polish Geodynamic Expeditions - seismic structure of West Antarctica}, URL={http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/110835/PDF-MASTER/1998-1-2_113-123.pdf}, keywords={West Antarctica, Antarctic Peninsula, Bransfield Strait, deep seismic sounding, crustal thickness, lithospheric structure, subduction zone}, }