Australian-Antarctic Basin

Australian-Antarctic Basin

 

a vast depression in the floor of the Antarctic Ocean situated between the continental slope of Antarctica, the underwater Kerguelen-Gaussberg Ridge, and the Australian-Antarctic Rise. It is 4,500 km long and 1,500 km wide. The relief of the basin is hilly. Closer to Antarctica, great areas of the basin are flat abyssal plains. The bottom surface is composed of diatomic, clayey-diatomic, and aleuritic-clayey silts. In the northwestern part of the basin, near the Kerguelen-Gaussberg Ridge, trenches reach a depth of 5,648 and 6,089 m. A large part of the bottom has been leveled out through accumulation. The bottom soil is composed of diatomic, clayey-diatomic, and aleuritic-clayey silts.