Overview
- The peer-reviewed study published in Nature Geoscience on June 3 presents the Eastern Antarctica Fan-Basin Province (EAFBP) as a newly identified continent-scale tectonic unit beneath the ice.
- Researchers mapped more than 30 V-shaped subglacial basins arranged in a fan pattern that converge near an inferred Euler pole at about 86.4°S, 129.9°E.
- The team interprets the fan geometry as the product of distributed intraplate rotational extension tied to Gondwana breakup, with the province segmented by three concentric shear belts and transverse fault systems.
- The reconstruction uses multiple lines of evidence — deep ice drilling that reached over 3,000 meters, seismic profiles, gravity data and crustal-thickness models — which together reveal consistent basin shapes and mantle/crust anomalies.
- Many basins lie below sea level and align with major outlet glaciers such as Totten, Denman, Lambert and Amery, a layout that can channel ice toward the ocean and that researchers say should be included in future ice‑sheet and sea‑level projections.