{"id":524764,"date":"2026-06-08T16:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/524764\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T16:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:05:10","slug":"geoscientists-find-vast-fan-shaped-structure-beneath-antarcticas-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/524764\/","title":{"rendered":"Geoscientists Find Vast Fan-Shaped Structure beneath Antarctica\u2019s Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

By combining seismic, gravity and topographic data, a team of researchers from Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom found that several well-known subglacial basins in East Antarctica are part of a single fan-shaped province whose origins trace back to ancient continental stretching.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Fault-controlled<\/a><\/p>\n

Fault-controlled basins and interpreted structural frame in the newly-identified East Antarctic Fan-Shaped Basin Province. Image credit: Armadillo et al., doi: 10.1038\/s41561-026-01991-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntarctic bedrock is largely obscured by the Antarctic Ice Sheet, which covers more than 99% of the continent,\u201d said first author University of Genoa\u2019s Dr. Egidio Armadillo and colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, international compilations of radio-echo sounding data have resolved large-scale subglacial topographic features in increasing detail, revealing a wide and low-elevation sector of East Antarctica extending from Prydz Bay to the Transantarctic Mountains and from the coast inland to 85\u00b0\u2009S.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this region, most of the large subglacial basins are V-shaped and aligned along the north-south direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, the 2,000-km-long Antarctic coastline and continent-ocean boundary margin, delimiting the sector to the north, has a distinct semi-circular arc geometry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a semi-continental scale, the topography resembles a handheld fan, converging to a point located close to the South Pole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe propose that the entire region is a single physiographic unit and name it the East Antarctic Fan-Shaped Basin Province (EAFBP).\u201d<\/p>\n

The EAFBP structure includes some of Antarctica\u2019s best-known subglacial features, such as the Wilkes and Aurora basins and the basin hosting Lake Vostok, the largest known subglacial lake on Earth.<\/p>\n

Analysis suggests the structure was formed by a process known as distributed rotational extension.<\/p>\n

This is where the continental crust has spread out from a central point.<\/p>\n

The pattern is similar to a hand, with the base of the thumb as the fixed point, and fingers spreading out showing the stretching.<\/p>\n

The gaps between the fingers are like the triangular basins that form as it opens.<\/p>\n

According to the scientists, EAFBP could be one of the largest examples of rotational extension ever seen in continental crust.<\/p>\n

It may have developed through multiple tectonic phases linked to the evolution of the supercontinent Gondwana and the later separation between Antarctica and Australia and could even have influenced this break-up.<\/p>\n

The discovery also raises fresh questions \u2014 particularly around the precise age of the structure and the geodynamic mechanisms that generated it.<\/p>\n

However, the significance of the discovery extends beyond historical insight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shape of the bedrock hidden beneath the ice sheet continues to influence ice flow today, controlling the distribution of subglacial basins and lakes,\u201d the authors said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could potentially affect the stability of parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet that are particularly sensitive to climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study<\/a> was published June 3 in the journal Nature Geoscience.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

E. Armadillo et al. A fan-shaped subglacial basin province in East Antarctica formed by rotational extension. Nat. Geosci, published online June 3, 2026; doi: 10.1038\/s41561-026-01991-6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By combining seismic, gravity and topographic data, a team of researchers from Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[1204,12048,6599,226527,146126,18,9973,19,17,133],"class_list":["post-524764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-planet","tag-antarctica","tag-earth","tag-east-antarctic-fan-shaped-basin-province","tag-east-antarctica","tag-eire","tag-ice","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116715344942219257","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}