Vast Hidden Structure Discovered Under Miles of Ice in East Antarctica
Researchers say the province may be one of the largest examples of distributed rotational extension in continental crust, and it may have formed during Gondwana’s breakup.
- Scientists discovered a giant, fan-shaped tectonic province buried deep beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, researchers reported Thursday in Nature Geoscience. The system spans 30 elongated valleys.
- The East Antarctic Fan-Shaped Basin Province formed through distributed rotational extension, where Earth's crust deforms outward from a fixed point. This tectonic evolution likely preceded Gondwana's breakup around 180 million years ago.
- Geophysicist Egidio Armadillo noted that 'more than 99% of the bedrock is hidden beneath the ice,' requiring researchers to integrate subglacial topography and magnetic data to map the wedge-shaped valleys.
- Extending between the Gamburtsev Mountains and the Transantarctic Range, the basins contain fault-line troughs that appear 'tailor-made to promote outward flow of ice streams from the interior,' researchers said.
- The mere existence of these basins 'could introduce widespread, systemic instability to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet' via thinner crustal layers and increased heat flow, researchers wrote. This challenges assumptions of regional stability.
14 Articles
14 Articles
A group of geophysicists has identified an extensive geological structure consisting of several interconnected basins in the Antarctic.
Scientists discover giant, fan-shaped structure deep beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
A mysterious geological structure that resembles a human hand with outstretched fingers has been revealed beneath East Antarctica. The discovery shows the frozen continent still hides many geological secrets.
Massive fan-shaped structure found hidden beneath East Antarctica
Three kilometers of ice can hide a lot, but not forever. Beneath East Antarctica, researchers have identified a continent-scale geological structure that ties together some of the region’s best-known buried basins into a single sprawling system, one that may reshape how scientists think about the continent’s deep past and its icy present. The newly named East Antarctic Fan-Shaped Basin Province stretches from Prydz Bay to the Transantarctic Moun…
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