**1. Introduction**

The Antarctic continent, comprised of two distinct physiographic and tectonic domains i.e. the West Antarctica and the East Antarctica is divided into two unequal parts by a 3500 km long Transantarctic Mountain chain extending across the continent between the Ross and the Weddell Sea (**Figure 1**). The inhospitable climate, inaccessible terrain conditions with 98% of the terrain being covered by a thick apron of ice, the scanty outcrops are the best alternative (if not the only) to peep into the Continent's geological history. The rock outcrops are exposed in discontinuous mountain chains, along the coastal fringes of Antarctic Peninsula, West Antarctica, the Dronning Maud land, Enderby Land, Princess Elizabeth Land, Wilkes Land and Victoria Land in the east Antarctic Sector, apart from the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. (**Figure 1**). The interior of the Antarctic mainland is entirely ice covered and rise as ice plateau, attaining maximum height of around 3233 m above mean sea level (m.s.l.).
