With a long histroy of geologcial evolvement, the different types of rocks distributed in the Antarctica form the distinctive character of landform and physiognomy. The samples in this rock depository cover the three types of rocks,namely, magmatic rock, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, which were mainly collected from the Grove Mountains, the Antarctic inland, and the coastal areas of the Prydz Bay in the Southeastern Antarctica including the Larsemann Hills,the Landing Bluff,the Munro Kerr Mountains , and other areas.

 

With the traditional observation method by microscope incorporating the modern surveying and drawing techniques, Chinese geologists have perfomed deep researches on the rock’s constituents, structure, conformation, geochemistry, chronology, micropaleontology, sedimental rock forming environment,cosmological nuclide exposing chronology and so on. The research fields cover tectonics evolvement and the Cenozoic Icecap inland ancient environmental evolvement. The tectonics research reveals that the main transformation of the Prydz Bay in the Southeastern Antarctica occurred in the Pan-African period, and the Prydz Bay and the Grove Mountains jointly formed an important belt, the Prydz Belt. The confirmation of the Prydz Belt offers important evidence on the junction, during the Pan-African Period, of the plates of the ancient East Gondwana. The evolvement history of the Southeastern Antarctic Icecap reveals that it has always been in the constant process of dynamic changes after it formed, and especially during the period of Pliocene violent collapse occurred: at that time its edge, 400 and more kilometers away from today’s edge, was located to the south of the Grove Mountains. The time of this ancient climate environmental affair is the same with the time when the big icecap in the Northern Hemisphere formed, and this offers important revealation to the deep research on the ancient climate change mechanism of the planet Earth system.

 

Up to now more than 1,000 pieces of the polar rock samples information have been published via BIRDS website with detailed description in words on the origin, location, mineral constituents, structure and formation with photos in appearance and microscope. In the future the rest of the samples as well as those newly collected will be available for the scientists and the researchers to use.

 

Charnockite: sample ID: GE5-3. It formed in the Cambrian Period. The geological occurrence : occurs as vein intruding into gneiss, in lark, with grain cylinder metacryst, texture, gneissic structure. It mainly consists of orthopyroxene, hornblend, biotite, plagioclase, K-feldspar, quartz, and a little Fe-Ti-oxides. Dark minerals concentrated in pile and are collected in Southeastern Antarctica Gale Escarpment.

 

Grove Mountains cold-desert soils: 16 cold-desert soil-patches were found on the southern slope of Mount Harding in 1999-2000. They commonly show widespread surface desert pavement with some water laid structures in soil layers.The soils have generally abundant water-soluble salts, with slightly acid component and negligible organic matter content. The accumulation of water-soluble salts indicates iontransportation in the frigid and arid environment. The distribution of the salts is related to the maximum content of moisture and clay mineral. Clay fraction migration occurs in the soils. As melt-water is required for the formation of these soils, while the highest temperature we recorded during austral summer in the Grove Mountains is -10 ℃, the presence of these soils indicates that a warmer climatic environment, presenting seasonal ice-thawing at least, once existed in the area.