Hidden Basin Network Beneath East Antarctica Could Reshape Ice Flow

Researchers mapped a continent-scale bedrock system under East Antarctica—the East Antarctic Fan-Shaped Basin Province—comprising 30 pull-apart basins formed by distributed rotational extension. Using airborne gravity, magnetic surveys and seismic imaging, they suggest thinner, younger crust under much of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which could alter ice-flow patterns and heat transfer, with implications for ice-sheet stability and sea-level rise. The study, published in Nature Geoscience, challenges the idea of a single, stable crust beneath East Antarctica and underscores how hidden geology can influence the fate of Earth's freshwater ice.