Over the past twenty years, nine legs of the Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP) and its predecessor the Deep Sea Drilling Project have been conducted at high southern latitudes (>45°S). Only four have taken place near the margins of the Antarctic continent (>60°S), the last off the Amery Ice Shelf in 1988. At present, JOIDES Resolution is drilling on the Chile Rise-Chile Trench triple junction (46°S), but she will return to lower latitudes at the end of this leg (#141). The Planning Committee of ODP has already approved a schedule that precludes a return to the Antarctic prior to the 1994–95 austral summer at the earliest. Few proposals for Antarctic drilling have even been submitted in recent years; none has received high ranking. This should be a matter of considerable concern to the Antarctic earth sciences community. The JOIDES Resolution is an international asset with a unique sampling capability but the lifetime of the ODP may not extend beyond 1998.

The James Ross Island area is recognized as one of the geological treasures of Antarctica. It exposes a section of over 6 km of Cretaceous and Tertiary marine sedimentary strata with an important content of reworked Upper Jurassic rocks near the base. This sequence has produced some of the most remarkable fossil finds in the Southern Hemisphere. The list is extensive and includes a wealth of marine invertebrates, plesiosaurs, dinosaurs, land mammals and birds, giant penguins, whales, and fossil leaves and wood. The sediments record a long history of submarine fan, shelf and deltaic deposition in a back-arc environment, and the contained fossils provide valuable information on Cretaceous and Tertiary climates, and biological evolution at high palaeolatitudes.

Tintinnid ciliates were present throughout the upper (100m) water column of the ice-edge zone when sampled in autumn 1986 in the Weddell Sea. Biomass ranged from 0.02 μgC1−1 under the sea-ice to 1.3 μgC1−1 in the ice-free water column. Cymatocylis, Codonellopsis, Laackmaniella and a small Salpingella were the most abundant and/or largest biomass contributors. The under ice assemblage was characterized by low biomass and dominated by small species (Salpingella and Codonellopsis); the ice edge stations were dominated by these same taxa but in higher abundances while the open water assemblage was characterized by high biomass and dominated by Cymatocylis, the largest taxa. All taxa exhibited maximum concentrations in the upper 50m of the water column. Both krill and salps grazed upon the Cymatocylis and Codonellopsis without preference in both the ice covered and open water regimes.

Brown trout were introduced to the Van den Boogaard River on subantarctic Marion Island in 1964, and a small population became established. The last individual was seen in 1984, and the species is now considered to be extinct on the island. Their diet was exclusively allochthonous, with snails and spiders predominating. Ages estimated at six to eleven years showed that spawning must have occurred since the original introduction. Since the Van den Boogaard River enters the sea via a waterfall, it is postulated that trout were not able to practice an anadromous life-style, and that this, as well as other factors connected with the impoverished nature of the stream, led to dwarfing of the resident population. No further introductions of alien fish to Marion Island should be contemplated.

During a three month research cruise near the island of South Georgia, sea surface temperature (SST) increased from c. 2°C to over 4°C. Satellite derived SST show that this corresponded to a rapid southward and eastward shift of isotherms in the northern Scotia Sea, which could have resulted from changes in the wind field. At the same time, observation from the ship of seabirds close to the island indicated changes in the abundance of some non-resident species, whereas resident breeders from South Georgia, such as black-browed albatrosses (Diomedea melanophris) and prions (Pachyptila spp.) which were foraging locally, were present at consistent density in both halves of the survey. Blue petrels (Halobaena caerulea) left the area after breeding, so were associated only with the low water temperatures during the first part of the cruise. In contrast, great shearwaters (Puffinus gravis) and soft-plumaged petrels (Pterodroma mollis) migrated into the area later in the survey. These birds were almost certainly non-breeders which were feeding in the warmer water which had moved towards the island.

The nutrient status of microalgae inhabiting sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica was evaluated during the peak and decline of the spring bloom in November and December. Natural populations of microalgae were analysed for C, N, chlorophyll a, protein, lipid, polysaccharide, and low-molecular-weight carbohydrate content, and for the distribution of 14C-labelled photosynthate into macromolecular fractions. Ratios of N:C and protein to carbohydrate (PR:CHO) were similar to values reported for nutrient-limited phytoplankton. Biochemical ratios and 14C-photosynthate allocation patterns suggest that microalgae from congelation ice habitats may be more nutrient-stressed than those from underlying platelet ice habitats. This trend would be consistent with the presumed gradient of seawater nutrient influx through the platelet layer to the bottom congelation ice habitat. Microalgae from congelation ice subjected to an experimental depletion of nutrients (particularly nitrate) showed decreased N:C, PR:CHO, and allocation of 14C-photosynthate to proteins. This evidence suggests that sea ice microalgae are nutrient-stressed during the peak and decline of the spring bloom in McMurdo Sound, which presumably begins when microalgal biomass concentrations and demands for growth reach or exceed the rate of nutrient supply from underlying seawater.

The movements of two wandering albatrosses, one of each sex, breeding at South Georgia, were tracked using satellite telemetry, particularly to assess whether such birds could be at risk from longline fishing operations in the subtropics. Full details of the performance (number and quality of uplinks) of the Toyocom transmitters are provided, together with data on flight speeds and night and daytime travel by the albatrosses. The female, tracked for seventeen days—covering three foraging trips totalling 13951 km - had a much more northerly distribution than the male, which made two trips to sea during the same period and travelled a minimum distance of 9280 km. On one trip the female frequented the area off Brazil known to be used for longline fisheries. The distributional differences between the sexes support earlier suggestions, based on at-sea observations, that the observed high mortality rates of South Georgian females could be due to a greater likelihood of incidental mortality in longline fishing. These results also show that the presence of females off Brazil can include birds still rearing chicks, rather than simply representing post-breeding dispersal.

Abundant immature sporophytes of the moss Pottia heimii are reported from the Lower Taylor Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys and from Cape Chocolate, Victoria Land. These finds extend the reported southern limit for the occurrence of abundant moss sporophytes to 77° 55′S.

The vascular vegetation of a mire-grassland community on Marion Island (47°S, 38°E) takes up c. 158 mg N m−2 d−1 in summer. Bryophytes take up c. 36 mg N m−2 d−1 during their peak growth period. Since inputs of N through precipitation and biological fixation are negligible, mineralization of organic N must have supplied the bulk of this N. From changes in peat inorganic N levels and rates of uptake by the vegetation we estimate mean mineralization rates of 178 mg N m−2 d−1 in summer and 55 mg N m−2d−1 in winter. In situ incubation of peat give a maximum mineralization rate of 48 mg N m−2 d−1. At this rate the small (700 mg m−2) pool of available N in the upper 25 cm of peat would be depleted by the vascular vegetation in about seven days and bryophytes would deplete the available N pool in the top 25 mm in two days. Hence the rate of N mineralization measured by incubation is much too low to account for the fluctuations in concentrations of inorganic N in the peat and the amounts taken up by the vegetation. This may be due to losses through denitrification or to the fact that soil macroinvertebrates were excluded from the incubation.

A sample of 111 fish of eight species caught in two fjords at South Georgia were examined for digenean trematode parasites. The alimentary tracts of all specimens were infected with digeneans. The dominant species was Elytrophalloides oatesi (Leiper & Atkinson) which was found in all fish, with a maximum number of 1961 specimens per fish. Other common species were; Macvicaria pennelli (Leiper & Atkinson), Lepidapedon garrardi (Leiper & Atkinson), Lecithaster macrocotyle Szidat & Graefe, Genolinea bowersi (Leiper & Atkinson) and Postmonorchis variabilis Prudhoe & Bray. Three further species, Neolebouria antarctica (Szidat & Graefe), Discoverytrema markowskii Gibson and Gonocerca phycidis Manter, were rare. Infection of the most commonly caught fish at South Georgia, Notothenia rossii Richardson, is compared with that of N. rossii at Admiralty Bay, South Shetland Islands. The species composition of common parasites was similar in both areas but conspicuous differences in the frequency of individual digenean species were found.

Pringlea antiscorbutica R. Br. (Brassicaceae) and Ranunculus moseleyi Hook. f. (Ranunculaceae) are two species endemic to the subantarctic phytogeographical zone of the south Indian Ocean (Marion and Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen and Heard Islands) (Chastain 1958). The first species is the well-known “Kerguelen cabbage”, and for this taxonomic anomaly a monospecific genus was created (Hooker 1848). The only chromosome count available is by Hamel (1951). The second species Ranunculus moseleyi was first believed to be a strict endemic of the Kerguelen Islands, and then apparently was recorded on Crozet and Marion Islands (Greene & Walton 1975).

The late Proterozoic basement of the Porthos Range northern Prince Charles Mountains, east Antarctica, is dominated by a suite of felsic to mafic granulites derived from igneous and, less importantly, sedimentary protoliths. Compositionally, they are broadly similar to granulites occurring along the Mac. Robertson Land coast and southern Prince Charles Mountains. Ultramafic to mafic orthopyroxene' + clinopyroxene granulites with relict igneous layering occur as lenses within the felsic to mafic granulites, and show compositional evidence of a cumulate origin. The felsic to mafic granulites are intruded by several large charnockite bodies that have similarities to the Mawson Charnockite, and may have formed via a two-stage partial melting process. The charnockite and host granulites are chemically very similar, and both may have been derived from a common middle to lower crustal source region. Undepleted K/Rb ratios suggest retention of original chemistry, with variations being due to fractionation processes. Normalized trace element patterns resembling modern-day arc settings suggest that the Porthos Range granulites were possibly generated in a subduction zone environment.

Detailed geological mapping and geochemical analysis of early Palaeozoic granitoid plutons and dykes from the Taylor Valley and Ferrar Glacier region in south Victoria Land reveal two distinct suites. This suite subdivision-approach is a departure from previous lithology-based schemes and can be applied elsewhere in south Victoria Land. The older calc-alkaline Dry Valleys 1 suite is dominated by the compositionally variable Bonney Pluton, a flow-foliated concordant pluton with an inferred length of over 100 km. Plutons of this suite are elongate in a NW-SE direction and appear to have been subjected to major structural control during their emplacement. The younger alkali-calcic Dry Valleys 2 suite comprises discordant plutons and numerous dyke swarms with complex age relationships. Field characteristics of this suite indicate that it was passively emplaced into fractures at higher levels in the crust than the Dry Valleys 1 suite. Whole-rock geochemistry confirms this suite subdivision based on field relationships and indicates that the two suites were derived from different parent magmas by fractional crystallization. The Dry Valleys 1 suite resembles Cordilleran I-type granitoids and is inferred to be derived from partial melting of the upper mantle and/or lower crust above an ancient subduction zone. The Dry Valleys 2 suite resembles Caledonian I-type granitoids and may have resulted from a later episode of crustal extension.

A new fossil agnathan, Turinia antarctica sp. nov., based on numerous isolated scales, comes from the lower fish-bearing beds of the Aztec Siltstone. Scales from moraine at Mount Suess, originally described as selachian or psammosteid heterostracan, are referred to the new species which shows close affinity with T. gondwana from Bolivia and T. cf. hutkensis from Iran. Reassessment of the biostratigraphy of Middle Devonian turiniid scales suggests that the lower part of the Aztec Siltstone may be of Eifelian age.

Recently, fossil land mammals have been recorded in the James Ross Island area, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, from the marine middle-late Eocene strata of Seymour Island. These include two endemic species of polydolopid marsupial: Antarctodolops dailyi Woodburne & Zinsmeister 1984, and Eurydolops seymourensis Case, Woodburne & Chaney 1988, and three partly determinate placentals identified as a tardigrade edentate, a sparnotheriodontid litoptern and a trigonostylopid astrapothere (Bond et al. 1989). The marsupials are represented by fragmentary jaw and complete dental material, the litoptern and astrapothere only by tooth fragments. All are recorded from Unit TELM 5 of the La Meseta Formation (Sadler 1988), the two ungulates at a lower level than the rest. The subject of the present note is a second tooth fragment from Seymour Island identified as an astrapothere. It is worth recording because such mammal remains are rare and it is from TELM 4, the unit below that yielding the other land mammals.

Sulphide-bearing quartz veins were first observed on Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island, at Henry Bluff in 1958 (Hobbs 1968). Subsequent mapping of the host Miers Bluff Formation (MBF) in western Hurd Peninsula either did not record veining or was ambiguous as to its distribution, scale of development and genesis (for review see Pride et al. 1990).

A time series of wind stresses computed from European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) wind data is compared to the climatology of Hellermann & Rosenstein (HR) for the Southern Hemisphere. ECMWF stresses are generally stronger, especially in the westerly belt. However they have an overall lower meridional component than the HR data. The dominance of the half annual cycle relative to the annual wave in the zonal stress at middle to high latitudes, which is documented for independent data sets, is seen in the ECMWF but not in the HR data. ECMWF winds are also compared with measurements from three expeditions to the Weddell Sea by RV Polarstern. Good correlations between Polarstern and ECMWF winds are found but for single dates the differences are above 10 ms −1. The differences are found to be uncorrelated in space and are thus due to observational errors and to the unresolved small scale variance in the ECMWF analysed winds.