Abstract: Wilkes Basin is a large subglacial basin located in the hinterland of the Transantarctic Mountains. Because of its special geographical location, the basin plays an important role in studying the formation of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains and, indeed, the geologic evolution of Antarctica as a whole. However, because of the lack of extensive geological and geophysical investigations, the structural characteristics and origin of the basin are still controversial. Based on aeromagnetic anomaly data of the southern Wilkes Basin and surrounding areas, several main faults in this area are identified using a Euler inversion algorithm. The strikes of these faults are mostly nearly north-south, coincident with the direction of the Mertz Fault, which indicates the possibility of fracture control during the evolution in this region. This study is an important reference for future studies of the Wilkes Basin.

Key words: Wilkes Basin, aeromagnetic, fault