Antarctic Map Folio Series

Summary

Vivian C. Bushnell reports on published and planned folios in the American Geographical Society’s Antarctic Map Folio Series. Folios 12 and 13 appeared in August. Geologic Maps of Antarctica, prepared since 1965 with contributions from 25 geologists in eight countries, contains 17 regional plates, mostly at 1:1,000,000, five continent-wide plates, and a Gondwanaland map. Bushnell argues that geological similarities between Antarctica and other southern landmasses support the Gondwanaland hypothesis. Folio 13 combines A. L. Gordon and R. D. Goldberg’s 18 plates on circumpolar waters—standard-level temperature, salinity and oxygen distributions, a station map, and meridional profiles—with K. Hunkins’s plate showing seasonal sound-channel velocities and variations in channel depth. Bird and fish folios are scheduled for the next few months. The bird maps, compiled under George Watson’s supervision, show breeding sites and specimen and sighting records; a bibliography will document breeding localities and northernmost records, and some southernmost records, while Watson will supply explanatory text. Hugh DeWitt’s fish maps locate coastal and deep-water occurrences, with other researchers’ data still to be added. Further folios in preparation cover bathymetry and subglacial topography, marine sediments and fossil foraminiferal localities, exploration and scientific investigation, and Antarctic mammals.