Abstract - As part of the geophysical project of the 1999-2000 joint German-Italian Antarctic expedition, GANOVEX VIII-ItaliAntartide XV helicopter-borne radio echo soundings (RES) were taken to measure the thickness of the ice cover in Oates Land, Antarctica. Based on 2500 km of RES data acquired in the drainage system of the Matusevich Glacier, maps of ice thickness and bedrock elevation were compiled. Maximum ice thickness was 2500 m, with an average ice cover of 2000 m in the south eastern part of the survey area. A remarkably deep graben structure beneath the Matusevich Glacier can be followed to 70°S, where it bends to the west and joins the Wilkes Basin. The subglacial relief between the Lazarev Mountains, at the western flank of the Matusevich Glacier, and the Archangel Nunataks at the eastern side of the Wilkes Basin shows a relatively uniform hilly landscape, separated from the USARP Mountains by the Matusevich drainage basin.



*Corresponding author (volkmar.damm@bgr.de)