The Scientists' Bookshelf: Antarctic Map folio Series. Folio 12: Geologic Maps of Antarctica

Summary

Richard Lee Armstrong reviews Geologic Maps of Antarctica, Folio 12 of the Antarctic Map Folio Series, edited by Vivian G. Bushnell and Campbell Craddock and published in 1970. The folio synthesizes research through approximately 1967, drawing on systematic mapping during and after the 1957–58 International Geophysical Year. Its twenty-five contributors represent eight countries; Soviet research is extensively cited despite the absence of Soviet contributors. Coverage reaches approximately 70 percent of exposed Antarctic bedrock, though unevenly. Seventeen regional geological maps compiled in 1965–69 use scales of 1:1,000,000 and 1:500,000, standardized symbols and colors, and accompanying accounts of exploration, stratigraphy and structure, with references and radiometric-age tables where data permit. Armstrong praises their cartographic quality and substantial previously unpublished information. Craddock’s subsequent 1:10,000,000 continental maps present geology, tectonics, fossil localities, radiometric ages and a Gondwanaland reconstruction; R. Nichols contributes a geomorphic map and text emphasizing glacial erosion. Armstrong notes that the Antarctica–Africa fit remains hypothetical, some areas are unmapped or known only through reconnaissance, and the Ross orogen’s boundary with the East Antarctic shield remains unresolved. He particularly questions the limited age evidence supporting a separate Borchgrevink orogen. He regards the folio as a valuable synthesis and cartographic achievement that identifies concrete problems for further geological and geochronological investigation.