Overview

• The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, buried beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, are similar in scale to the European Alps but remain hidden under kilometers of ice.
• New research published in *Earth and Planetary Science Letters* reveals the range formed between 650 and 500 million years ago during the assembly of the supercontinent Gondwana.
• The mountains rose through tectonic collision and gravitational spreading, preserving a deep crustal root in the Earth’s mantle while partially collapsing under their own weight.
• Zircon geochronology from sandstones near the Prince Charles Mountains helped establish the timeline of mountain formation and subsequent stabilization.
• Recent fieldwork near the Denman Glacier uncovered surface rocks that may be linked to the buried range, providing a rare opportunity to validate geophysical models without costly ice drilling.