The basin contains 1.5 km of upper Paleozoic strata. At the time these rocks were deposited, Antarctica was centrally located within the Gondwana continent, and occupied a position near the Permian South Pole.
Glacial deposits suggest conditions similar to the present.
During post-glacial time, the presence of coal, fossil plants, and the deposits of large prograding clastic wedges indicate that a dramatic change in climatic and tectonic conditions had occurred. Although Upper Carboniferous and Permian rocks in CTM contain an abundance of information, they are primarily nonmarine and lack invertebrate fossils. Due to the nature of the strata and an absence of time control, the basin's geologic history consists of numerous local mosaics. Until correlation is obtained on a finer scale, the significance of events recorded within these local sections will remain speculative. Sequence stratigraphic techniques, along with palynomorph analysis, will be applied to the study of these rocks.