Polish Polar Research

Starostinella nordica gen. et sp. n. is described from the uppermost Permian (Kapp Starostin Formation) of the Kapp Starostin (Isfjorden) in West Spitsbergen. The new genus is attributed to Trachypsammiidae Gerth - a family incertae sedis among Cnidaria. Members of the Trachypsammiidae have been previously associated with different higher rank taxa within the Cnidaria, or their skeletons were interpreted as a result of symbiosis of a cladochonoidal organism (Tabulata) with an indeterminate hydroid or stromatoporoid. S. nordica gen. et sp. n. seems to support the latter assumption. Hydrocoralla of S. nordica have a simpler structure than those of other Trachypsammiidae and are branching like those of Cladochonus. Their thick-walled, horn-shaped hydrocorallites are surrounded with a very thick cortical zone of sclerenchyme organized into trabecular microstructure. The proper corallite wall is fibro-radial in structure, sharply distinct from the outer cortical zone.

Four Geodynamical Expeditions of the Polish Academy of Sciences carried through wide research seismic program in West Antarctica in 1979-1991. Three of these expeditions operated in the Bransfield Strait. The experiment of deep refraction and wide-angle reflection in West Antarctica focused on deep structure of the lithosphere, mainly of the Earth's crust. The network of deep seismic soundings (DSS) profiles covered all the Bransfield Strait. Five land stations on the South Shetland Islands, three stations on the Antarctic Peninsula and nine ocean bottom seismographs (OBS) recorded seismic waves, generated by explosions in a sea. The Bransfield Rift and the Bransfield Platform form a marginal basin against a volcanic arc of the South Shetland Islands. The paper presents new results of 2-D seismic modeling for network of five selected profiles. Four of them, ranging in lenght from 150 to 190 km, crossed main structures of the Bransfield Strait and the fifth, which connected the other ones and was 310 km long, ran along the Bransfield Rift. Two or three seismic models were presented for each profile. Finally, mutually corrected and controlled 2-D models of described profiles were constructed. They all presented spatial complex structure of the Earth's crust in a young rift of the Bransfield Strait, including extent of its main element i.e. anomalous high velocity body (HVB) (Vp > 7.4 km/s), detected in 10-30 km depth range except profile DSS-4 (southwest part of the Bransfield Strait). This inhomogeneity is interpreted as intrusion of the upper mantle (?asthenosphere) during stretching of the continental crust. The Moho discontinuity was found at depth 30-35 km, with velocities equal to about 8.1 km/s.

Henryk Arctowski Station, the research station of the Polish Academy of Science in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, West Antarctica, is one of the most heavily visited bases in Antarctica. Between the seasons 1991/92 and 1996/97, 12884 tourists were recorded. A specially designed tourist trail was marked to divert visitors toward alternative attractions, not only the station buildings. Tourist management goals include: environmental protection, minimising waste and pollution, respecting the rules relating to protected areas, and prohibition of collections and souveniring.